Why We’re Holding Ourselves Accountable To Do #MoreThanTalk About Diversity
Real Talk…
We’re going to be open with you. Only 9% of our 122 active portfolio companies are female founded… and just 3% of our total companies are solely led by women.
Though we’re not far off from industry averages, we feel strongly that these numbers should be higher.
To provide full context, Crunchbase reported in 2019 that the total number of VC-backed companies with female founders rose to 17%*, but that only 2% of those companies did not have a male co-founder.
While the gender imbalance in our portfolio is not deliberate, it is common and likely to persist if we don’t do #MoreThanTalk about our desire for a better ratio.
That’s why we’re choosing to make a commitment rather thana marketing campaign this International Women’s Day.
What is #MoreThanTalk?
The idea is simple — We’re committing to give female founders in crypto a direct line to our investments team.
Why is it called #MoreThanTalk?
VCs are always saying that diversity matters and that they want to back more female-led companies, but they rarely do the work of creating the bridges required to bring more women into their networks. We know that we need to do more than talk about our desire for a more diverse portfolio, so we’re taking action and using the hashtag #MoreThanTalk to gently encourage others to do the same.
How Does This Work?
The process is super straightforward.
1. Women entrepreneurs who are seeking funding will submit an “investment request” via the form at morethantalk.co
2. Each submission will be treated like it came through a warm intro (this is key!)
3. After reviewing their submission, our team will reach out to set up a 30 minute call
4. During the call we will provide thoughtful feedback about their product and pitch, and will share next steps for our investments process if it’s a good fit
Can you really guarantee everyone such a high level of attention?
We believe we can. If it’s true that only 5% of crypto-holders are women, and only 17% of the world’s total number of startups are female founded, the number of women building companies in our space is quite small today.
Spending a few hours a week in calls with potential investments in order to grow an under-represented demographic of entrepreneurs seems like a small task.. especially when we think about how their success will create pathways for others. If this becomes overwhelming or we struggle to keep up our end of the arrangement, we’ll reset expectations and revel in the growth that’s occurred!
Love this! How can I help support the initiative?
Referrals
Send this post as a nudge of encouragement to the brilliant women you know who are building (or considering building) companies in the space and tell them that the team at DCG wants to hear from them. *Be sure to remind them that their pitch doesn’t need to be perfect and polished…!
Awareness
So that all of the women in your network are aware of this opportunity, please retweet this tweet or adapt it to share with your followers. You never know who’s working on what behind the scenes.
Encourage Other Investors To Join The Movement
Share this post with crypto VCs you admire and tell them that you think it would be great if they partnered with DCG on this initiative to set up their own “direct line”. The greater the size of the group of participants, the greater the impact. They can email network@dcg.co to get involved.
Details and submission form can be found at https://morethantalk.co/
To keep up to date on initiatives and news coming from Digital Currency Group, visit dcg.co and follow us on Twitter
