STEM Advice from Women in Venture Capital
Women who happen to have experience in breakthrough science
Today is the 7th annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This day was declared by the United Nations to promote gender equality, specifically by:
1) promoting equal access to science education and opportunity, and
2) encouraging women and girls to participate!
The UN advocates that science and gender equality are both vital for achieving the internationally accepted Sustainable Development Goals. Many of the 17 goals align exactly with the mission at Prime Movers Lab. At Prime Movers Lab, we invest in breakthrough scientific startups reinventing industries across the world to transform billions of lives for the better.
Another reason to care about ensuring equal access to and participation by women and girls in science? It is good for business. A 2015 McKinsey study found that gender equality could add $12 trillion in global 2025 GDP, assuming a “best in region” scenario in which all countries match the rate of improvement in equity of the fastest-improving country. Check out this cool video called the Power of Parity.
Equal Access
So why, of the thousands of companies to have gone public since Wall Street opened in 1817, do you see only 20 or so founded and led by women? This is not a percentage. Literally of the thousands, there are only about 20. The good news is the number of women founders is increasing! In the last decade, more than 15,000 companies had a woman founder, representing 10% in 2009 and growing to 20% in 2019.
The tricky part is ensuring equal access to capital. 2021 Pitchbook data suggest that start-ups led solely by women received only 2% of VC funding even though they represented 6.5% of VC-backed deals. Part of this could be driven by unconscious biases, which can cause blind spots. We can help reveal blind spots by complimenting leadership with women. Over the last couple of years, the percentage of women general partners at venture capital firms increased from 12% to 15.4%. At Prime Movers Lab, women make up 35% of investing and technical partners and 33% of decision makers.
Encouragement
Providing equal access to capital is one way to promote gender equality in science. Now we need to encourage women to pursue it! At Prime Movers Lab, we have a very diverse set of women with a range of experience in science, engineering, program management, and investing — all around discovering and applying breakthroughs science. I solicited words of advice from them. Maybe they can provide inspiration for someone you know!
Identify your strengths and use them.
Chemical engineer Dr. Carly Anderson explains that, as humans, each of us may perform better in different environments, have different ways of approaching problems, and have unique past experiences from which we have learned. Some of us focus like a laser on calculations. Some of us excel at creating structure, order, and processes to keep progress moving forward. Some of us come up with creative ideas and hypotheses or are able to communicate complex topics and motivate others.
“Especially in science, all of these skills and more are critical to do anything big. History often talks about a lone inventor. The reality is that it takes a team of people with very diverse strengths to not only make a scientific breakthrough, but to successfully use that scientific breakthrough in bringing it from the lab to a product that makes a difference!”
Carly identified her strength as a great collaborator, curious about many topics in science and energized by exchanging ideas with others. While she spent much of her PhD research in a sparsely populated laboratory, she stayed focused and motivated by building relationships with others.
“I started in a research lab that specializes in studying new materials with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR is similar to the MRI machines in hospitals). This means that I needed interesting materials to study! I had a reason to talk to my colleagues about their research, and see if there were questions we could answer together. I worked on scientific questions with polymer scientists making thermoelectrics, a physical chemist with an interesting PbSe quantum dot for solar power, a battery startup whose cathodes were degrading, and several other really cool collaborations.”
Research from HBS and others has shown that identifying and harnessing unique strengths “produces confidence and the desire to perform better.” For many of us women in science, imposter syndrome is an old friend. So, leverage your strengths to not only perform better but to acknowledge the rock star that you already are.
Whatever your strengths, practice persistence and resilience.
Systems Engineer Liz Stein says some of her biggest breakthroughs as a student and as an engineer came from continually attacking the problem. It’s not about smarts you’re born with. It’s not about if you can solve the problem — you can. It’s a matter of how you solve the problem: sticking to it and overcoming challenges.
More important than memorizing equations is knowing (1) where to look for information, (2) who to ask for help if you get stuck, (3) how to ask for help in a way that will get a response, and (4) how to break down complex problems into smaller “toy” problems to more quickly master the physics and have a feel for the ballpark number.
“I had to self-teach combustion dynamics and combustor CFD analysis! I had no mentor. No on-the-job training. I just read through the Fluent and ANSYS manuals, did all the sample problems, and wrote detailed troubleshooting tickets to their tech support. They always got back to me because I would have tried (1), (2), and (3) — and most of the time what my problem needed was a hidden feature (4) that was buried in the code! They’d tell me about how to access it. Then to get realism around my answers, I had to pull papers for physical values of chemical kinetics and mixing ratios, rather than just use the average/defaults set in the code. Designing and modeling combustors is a black art!”
To be clear, persistence and resilience do not mean attacking a problem to death and sacrificing your health. Women often feel as though they need to put everyone else first. This is not OK.
So work harder — Persistence.
But also work smarter — Resilience.
And sometimes just embrace the concept “I don’t know, but let’s find out.”
We all are faced with a time when we just didn’t know the answer. General Partner Suzanne Fletcher notes that not knowing something can be a source of power, especially if you are eager to do the work to find out. That power is making deeper connections with others, and gaining more knowledge yourself — versus losing an opportunity to grow and having a breakthrough sizzle out.
“Every day I meet with entrepreneurs working on new and cool tech. Often I’ll ask questions that are pretty basic: how something works, how it makes money, how other companies can’t copy it. The simplest questions, asked from a place of true humility, spur the best conversations. I am a deeply curious person, always eager to go deeper.”
Some of us can get caught up in thinking we have to know everything before acting. Some of us are afraid of looking ignorant, or uninformed. The courage to admit you don’t know, dig in, and enlist others is a sign of great leadership and ultimately leads to new opportunities.
Dream big, ask for help, and acknowledge your fears (but do it anyway!)
Neuroscientist Dr. Amy Kruse describes her career as exciting and fulfilling — from government program manager to startup co-founder to venture capitalist. None of this she imagined at the outset when she started her undergraduate work. Rather, throughout her life she didn’t allow herself to be limited.
“At many points in my career, I didn’t ask myself merely what I could do — but what I WANTED to do. This reframing allowed me to have big dreams and take on incredibly exciting challenges.”
Each time she thought about a new trajectory, and particularly when she was “changing lanes” between careers, she sought the advice and mentorship of individuals who knew more than she and had bigger networks. Even simple questions like — who should I talk to or what should I be thinking about? — yielded introductions and access that couldn’t have materialized on their own.
“People want to help! I am always amazed at people’s generosity whenever I have asked. And, if you tell folks about your big dreams — they might just help you get there — don’t be afraid to say it out loud. Own it. Oh, and about that fear. It’s going to be there. It’s been there at every step with me — and I’m two decades into my career. When I feel that fear, that uncertainty, I know it’s just my trusty brain reminding me to watch out. I kindly thank my brain, acknowledge the fear — “hey old friend — good to see you here!’ and then politely step past them into my future. Trust me — it’s worth it!”
The Call
Whoever says it’s a man’s world is wrong. The world’s population is actually half men and half women. So to those of you with two X chromosomes, what is holding you back? If you are a woman or girl in science, consider the advice herein and give us a call. We are interested in hearing about your mission!
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and agriculture.
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