Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
Women represent less than 10 percent of high-level venture capitalists, and they have been leaving the industry at twice the rate of men. Meanwhile, only 5 percent to 9 percent of venture capital went to women-led companies over a 40-year time period.
That’s the finding by Nancy Carter, a professor at the University of St. Thomas College of Business, and four of her colleagues around the country, who released this spring a study funded by the Kauffman Foundation.
The study seeks to explain why women are starting businesses at a faster rate than men, but those businesses tend to stay smaller over time.
One conclusion: “Social networks are the way to access venture capital,” Carter says. “If women aren’t part of that network, then they won’t get access.”
Now Carter has co-written a book that tries to tell business owners what to do about these facts. It’s called “Clearing the Hurdles: Women Building High-Growth Businesses.”
Carter says the first step to getting venture capital funding is to find out whether your type of company is even a candidate.
“They need to understand that VCs tend to invest in very narrow segments,” Carter says. “Look at the companies that got funding. What industry are you in? Is it funded by equity?”
If the answer is yes, keep researching. “Now I can find out what social networks those people are in,” Carter says, referring to venture capitalists. “Then you can become part of those groups.”
Nancy Carter, University of St. Thomas: 651.962.4407; nm******@******as.edu
