Is the milestone-based startup funding system right for female founders? | Dirkjan Hupkes on Women Disrupting Tech

“Hi Dirkjan, (…) any inkling jumping out at you why there is such a funding gap for women-led startups?”

Silvia van Houten, Founder of GoodHout and now working at Polestar Capital

I got this question last week from Silvia van Houten. And I figured that since I’ve interviewed 38 women who are disrupting tech, I do have an inkling. 

I decided to make a short podcast episode about this topic. My first solo podcast of just under 10 minutes. 

Listen to episode 39 of Women Disrupting Tech to discover why I think that the milestone-based funding system is a reason for the funding gap.

You can also listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Goodpods.

About this Episode

The milestone-based system was developed to select winners in the software space that would dominate their market and, by doing so, generate a lot of money for investors.

In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I discuss three reasons that cause the milestone-based system to contribute to the funding gap. 

1. Women usually build businesses for impact that cannot necessarily be measured in terms of money.
2. Women are more collaborative by nature and, therefore, the system may appeal less to them.
3. Women solve women’s problems. As a result, the investors, mainly men, fail to see the business case and decide not to invest.

These points are discussed more in-depth in this 10-minute episode. I understand this is quite a complex topic, and that 10 minutes is way too short to catch all the nuances. So feel free to add context below after you’ve listened to the episode.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy?

I want to let you in on a little secret: I suffer from imposter syndrome. And, recording this episode came with an overload of it.

I had questions racing through my mind that drove me crazy:

• Is this the proper format?
• Is a solo not too boring?
• What if my audience does not like my answer?
• Did I mention having to talk for minutes without saying ‘uh’ (I wonder how all these hosts do this)? 

So, to say that I had to think twice before publishing this episode and writing you this email would be an understatement.

But I did it anyway, and I invite you to listen to the result.

What’s coming up?

This Friday, I will be interviewing Caroline Cadwell, one of the early employees of Yelp, who is now a startup founder at Unpluq. And next week, I will be talking to a Dutch VC with 30% female founders in her portfolio. 

By the way, you can binge the entire inspiring archive of episodes with over 1,000 minutes of Women Disrupting Tech content I published since September 2022 on Spotify, Google, Apple, or Goodpods. 

Feedback? Let me know!

When you’ve finished listening, I’d love for you to share your thoughts and experiences about this topic and the episode in the comments. So, if there is any research I should read and take into account, or guests that you want me to interview, please let me know.

So please do not hesitate to contact me via LinkedIn or email if you have any positive or negative feedback.