Changing the World of Entrepreneurship for Women

Whether they're working for Corporate America or starting a business, women's bank accounts are taking a hit. Despite the numbers that prove it pays — literally — to have a woman on a startup team, 87 percent of venture capital deals are given to all-male groups, according to Newsweek's cover story this week, Female Entrepreneur's Fight for Their Piece of the Pie.

As if that isn't bad enough, female founders also face awkward obstacles, like trying to pitch male investors who assume the meeting is really a date.

In a world of investors dominated by men, how's a woman with a brilliant idea supposed to get it off the ground?

Meet Deborah Jackson, a former finance executive who decided the old system wasn't working and wanted to do something about it. To help make the funding process more beneficial to women, she launched Plum Alley, a website where women entrepreneurs can seek funding, get advice from experts and sell their products.

When it comes to helping women access funding to launch and grow their businesses, Jackson's a pro. She started raising money for clients in the early 1980s at Goldman Sachs and went on to have a 21-year-career in investment banking. She also founded Women Innovate Mobile, an accelerator that invested in women-founded mobile tech companies, and is a member of Golden Seeds, the third most active angel network in the nation.

Deborah's initiatives and properties all have a common goal: to champion women to become builders of technology, companies and their own wealth and ensure their unique perspectives and values are reflected in products.

If you have questions about launching, running or funding a small business, join us Wed., May 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET in Connect: Professional Women's Network when Deborah Jackson, CEO of Plum Alley, will be answering your questions!

In the meantime, here's our Q&A with Jackson:

Whether you’re investing your time or your money, what makes an entrepreneur or their company stand out to you and want to work with them?
JACKSON: An entrepreneur that sees a special opportunity in the marketplace and has the unique expertise or background to build something and make it happen. You can begin to see if an entrepreneur will be successful based on their past accomplishments. They tend to be people who have excelled in various ways in the past, whether it be in athletics, spelling bees, contests, academia.
 
How can women entrepreneurs access more and better funding?
JACKSON: They should be thinking of funding all the time, from the earliest stages of their business, and keep abreast of all sources that are available. They should network and ask people to make introductions, know the pros and cons of raising through angel investors, banks, venture capitalists, friends and family, the different types of crowdfunding etc. They should also know platforms such as Angel.co for angel investors and PlumAlley.co for rewards-based crowdfunding.
 
How can women entrepreneurs get more visibility in the business world?
JACKSON: Participate in competitions (Startup Weekends, Techcrunch, Women 2.0, universities to name a few). Even if you don't win, you can get huge exposure. Also, write articles and contact the press. If you don't yet have contacts, try to make relationships and cultivate them.
 
What will be a signal to you that the playing field is leveled out for female entrepreneurs seeking funding?
JACKSON: When the amount of dollars going to early stage companies reflects the proportion of women-founded companies. So if 50 percent of companies are founded by women, that proportion of money is going to women.