Diversity Has a Seat at My Table

Dare to ask and do not take ‘no’ personally. This is the motto I was raised by. This line has been the little voice in my head during negotiations, each time I struggled, each time I knew a change was necessary, and each time I took on a new challenge—even when I took on a new profession.

This notion has become so inherent to me, that I am continuously surprised when I meet people who do not share this motivation to dare, to ask, to try. Not that they do not want to. Many times they simply do not know how. These people I’m referring to, whom I so desperately want to help get to where they want to be, are mostly women.

Adi Levanon. Photo: People Photography

I am not saying that women, in general, do not dare. Many women I know take huge risks, have a ton of grit and tenacity, and are not afraid to dare. But then, there are also women that share a characteristic which I believe has stopped them from reaching the heights of their potential.

As I dug deeper into why I keep seeing this dissonance amongst talented women, I realized that it is a piece of a broader picture. Founders of startups and large tech companies, recruiters and headhunters have told me that women do not apply for roles as much as men do. When women do apply, in many cases their resumes do not highlight successes as bluntly as men’s resumes do. The difference in approach between the sexes comes through as well in salary requirements and in performance during interviews.

In June, The Boston Consulting Group, together with global startup accelerator MassChallenge, published a report listing how companies founded by women differ from those founded by men. The main finding was that female-founded companies received less venture capital dollars, and yet made more revenues. Most intriguing was the data they collected from conversations with female founders, mentors, and investors who work with MassChallenge.

Two things really stood out to me. The first was that more female founders reported being asked during their presentations to establish that they understand basic technical concepts, whereas their male co-founders were not. The second was that male founders are more likely to make bold projections and assumptions in their pitches. While men tend to overpitch and oversell, women are generally more conservative in their projections.

I see a pattern in this data. It is clear to me that for a large number of girls and women around the world, there is a gap between dreams and reality. Even when women dare, they face tougher barriers than their counterparts, and often are hesitant to show their successes.

To me and my lifetime mantra, these facts simply must be challenged. I want to bring a real change that will increase diversity. I believe this issue needs to be addressed both top-down and bottom-up. More woman sitting on investment committees of institutional investors and family offices will lead to more women that are general partners at funds, that will hopefully lead to more venture capital invested in female founders. On the other hand, more women studying computer science and engineering will lead to more female-founded startups and more woman who take on product-oriented and team-leading roles, which will then lead to more successful businesses—diversity has been known to generate good returns— that take on more venture capital dollars.

I have met amazing women who are focusing on making an impact through the top-down approach. I have decided I want to make an impact from the bottom-up. I want to focus on the recruitment of women into tech companies—from early-stage startups to large scalable businesses. As an early-stage investor in both the U.S. and Israel, a major part of my job has been about understanding people. Reading the team. Recognizing talent and potential for the long haul. I have focused a lot of my time helping with recruitment for portfolio companies and founders who want to expand locally and globally, trying to find the right talent to fit their company’s DNA.

I have met too many women who:

· Want to enter tech companies or startups but do not know how.

· Want to transition to a new profession within tech but do not believe they have the experience or capabilities to make it happen.

· Want to transfer to a different role within their company but lack the belief that they can make it happen.

· Want to understand why they have not been successful in reaching their desired role despite their ongoing pursuits.

I believe that focusing on these issues, by working with both founders and recruiters at tech companies, along with the women themselves, can really make a difference for all those involved. If you are a founder who believes that more women employees would positively impact your business — feel free to reach out to me. I’d be more than happy to see how I could help with this change. If you are a woman and you relate to the patterns listed above— I would be thrilled to talk to you and work with you on the change you envision.

My email: adi@bringonsynergy.com

Adi Levanon has been an early stage investor in venture capital funds in Israel and New York City, acting most recently as venture partner in New-York based fund Symmetrical Ventures. She holds a bachelor of law and business from IDC Herzliya and is a candidate of the Kellogg executive MBA program.