News
Female start-up entrepreneurs in the limelight
30 Apr 2021
Never before has the LMU EC Accelerator had such a high proportion of female founders. Nonetheless, the start-up scene is still a pretty tough place for women.
"We've never had so many female entrepreneurs," Anna Paulsteiner is delighted to report. "It's really quite exceptional." According to Paulsteiner, whose background is in operative management, since the LMU EC Accelerator was established to help guide young start-ups as they put their business ideas into practice, this is a first: nine of the last batch of 17 participants were women.
An astonishing number, especially after a look at the German startup scene. Deutscher Startup Monitor reports that, in 2020, a mere 11 percent of all start-ups were led by all-female teams, mixed teams accounted for 20 percent, while a whopping 69 percent were founded by all-male teams. This means that the women's quota of German start-ups is currently at 15.7%.
The number of female start-up entrepreneurs has risen by just two percent in eight years
But why do so many more men than women launch start-ups? "There are a whole host of reasons," says Paulsteiner, "which can be traced all the way back to how children are raised and socialized. Generally speaking, boys are encouraged to take risks, while girls are taught to be friendly and industrious. However, a willingness to take risks is a key character trait for a start-up venture." Moreover, most start-ups are launched between the ages of 30 and 40, when couples are more likely to have a young family. Women still tend to be the primary caregiver for children and do most of the household chores.
These roles do not show any signs of changing so far. "Since 2012, the proportion of female founders has risen from 13 to just under 16 percent, an increase of roughly 2%," Paulsteiner says. "That's relatively little growth in eight years."
Admittedly, even if they already have a start-up idea, women have to overcome many more obstacles than their male colleagues. For example, female-led start-ups are granted considerably less investor capital. "This is because women are more likely to found companies in the green economy or social entrepreneurship segments, rather than scalable high-tech projects," Paulsteiner explains.
Batch 2020/2021 female entrepreneurs of the LMU EC Accelerator
Yet investing in a female-led start-up pays dividends. "Studies have found that women generate substantially higher revenue from capital expenditure than men." Nevertheless, men prefer to invest in their male colleagues—and female investors are still rather thin on the ground. According to Paulsteiner, society's attitude would have to undergo fundamental change to encourage more women to venture onto the start-up scene.
"Moreover, apart from excellent child care, we need more flexible working hours for a better work-life balance, juggling the demands of a start-up and a family. "Women's networks are also very useful. There are already quite a few, such as Businettes, women’s hub, and women.start.up! Networks of this kind are becoming more common in the start-up scene. We have organized our own female founder meet-up and try to offer active support to female entrepreneurs by this means." This event also included pitch training for female entrepreneurs, for example.
"Furthermore, we are working on a number of different initiatives and content formats to systematically raise awareness of our services among women," says Paulsteiner. "We aim to encourage and help women to step into the limelight, turning their own start-up ideas into reality."