Women should find themselves a male co-founder (and vice versa)

Article originally published in 2017

I believe very strongly in the need to be aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses in order to be able to seek out someone who will complement and strengthen us. And what duo can complement each other better than a man and a woman?

A new report on the place of women in Canadian startups has just been published: Where Is The Dial Now? Co-produced by #movethedial, PwC Canada and MaRS, as well as Ceridian, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA), the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, the main aim of the report is to create a starting point. The authors hope to give the Canadian tech community the facts, so they can think about solutions: “We have all the resources we need, whether through education, networking, mentoring, professional sponsorship or funding. We have the talent, the gas pedals, the investors, the networks and the institutions,” explain the report’s authors.

The report shows that only 5% of Canadian technology companies have a female founder. When companies with male and female co-founders are taken into account, the percentage of tech companies with at least one female founder rises to 13%. Could this be a possible solution to the problem: gender diversity? Diversity is where you thrive.

Some programs don’t accept solo founders, like the smart city gas pedal InnoCité, for example. Should there be a rule that only startups with a mixed founding duo are accepted into entrepreneurship competitions? After all, at Startup Weekend Femmes, for example, only teams headed by women are accepted. Are we on to something here?

Having a mixed founding duo has big advantages, and here’s a non-exhaustive list.

1. Gain respect from external stakeholders, like these two female founders who invented a male co-founder so that suppliers would speak to them respectfully and they would get the service they paid for.
2. Being able to apply for women-only programs and grants. Last week, the Business Development Bank of Canada announced a $70 million envelope to be invested over five years in early-stage women-led technology companies across all sectors.
3. Startups founded by women fare better than those founded by solo men. After examining data from 300 companies over 10 years, First Round Capital learned that startups with at least one woman outperformed those founded by men by 63%. The data also showed that women were present among the ten most successful companies.

Highlights from Where Is The Dial Now?

• Only 5% of Canadian technology companies have a CEO. When the startup has a mixed duo of co-CEOs, this statistic rises to only 6%.
• Women make up 13% of the average tech company’s executive team, while 53% of tech companies have no female executives at all.
• On average, only 8% of directors on the boards of Canadian technology companies are women. 73% of boards have no women at all.
• Around 30% of Canadian venture capital firms have a female partner, and on average, 12% of partners are women.