Bloomberg West interview
Gouw and Cassidy discuss gender bias in the VC industry with Bloomberg’s Chang on Bloomberg West. Cassidy:
At the end of the day, our own data shows that women face discrimination and bias. 67% of women tech founders said they encounter that. When you try to change any ecosystem — particularly ones in The Valley — you start with what’s possible. In fact, entrepreneurship thrives on the idea of possibility. Have we faced bias? Yes. Have men faced bias, who are older than the young 22-year-old founder? They have too. The point is if we want to make progress on this issue, we do actually need to showcase what is possible. The return to possibility is one of the ways, in fact, to enable change. It is important to amplify what’s possible in the women entrepreneurs who are succeeding in The Valley every day.
Guow:
Culture is actually important in people’s ability to succeed or not succeed in a particular environment. What Sukindar wrote in Choose Possibility is important for two reasons. One, the fastest way to make a change is to start something new, and the second is it brings a positive narrative of people who are succeeding and killing and starting things in Silicon Valley.