Trend 2: Women's increased access to these resources

The proliferation of women-founded web businesses is especially impressive considering that women receive far less of the venture capital pie than men. Internet startups with women CEOs represented only six percent of the companies receiving venture capital funding in 1999.

Even if they have a solid business plan and a great team, women entrepreneurs often don't have the thick Rolodex, powerful mentors, and knowledge that are critical to landing equity financing. The venture capital arena has one of the chummiest buddy networks around and women simply haven't been as plugged in to it as men. And VCs and angel investors like to bet on winning horses; they usually favor entrepreneurs with track records. As newer entrants to the technology arena, women have had limited access to capital because of this bias toward proven entrepreneurs.

The good news is that brighter days are ahead for women-led startups and their access to venture capital. With venture funds swelling and a shortage of people working in the technology sector, venture capitalists are increasingly funding women-led startups. Even though only six percent of the Internet startups funded in 1999 had women CEOs, this is off the charts compared to the number of women CEOs in the Fortune 500. There are only three: Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard, Andrea Jung of Avon, and Marion Sandler of Golden West Financial Corporation. Moreover, the percent of women-led Internet startups receiving funding has been inching upward. Eight percent of the internet companies landing venture capital in the second quarter of 2000 were women-led and just five percent of them were in 1998.

More Internet startups where women play key roles in top management are also securing funding (see Figure I-1). In the second quarter of 2000, 48 percent of the Internet startups funded had women in top-tier management positions, a higher percentage than ever before.

Moreover, it seems that the Internet sector is unusually female friendly. VC-backed, non-Internet startups have had a lower percentage of women CEOs and fewer women in top management (see Figure I-2).

The reason for the relatively high percentage of Internet startups with women in top-tier management positions could be because there simply weren't enough qualified men to fill the glut of new management positions that emerged with the Internet boom of the late nineties. Moreover, within the last few years, new titles that describe positions that women may have held for some time (such as chief marketing officer) have recently turned up on the management map.

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