The
Management Department
Department
Seminar Series
SARAH KAPLAN
University of toronto
Tuesday,
October 23rd
2018
Room LE
CLUB at 10:00 am
Theme: “ACCELERATION
AS MITIGATION: WHETHER AND WHEN PROCESS SOLUTIONS CAN ADDRESS GENDER BIAS
IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP”
Abstract: Increasing attention – both in the
scholarly literature and in the world of policy makers and practitioners – is being paid to the challenges facing
female entrepreneurs. What was once
assumed to be a merit-based system for
encouraging and rewarding entrepreneurs is now
understood to operate in gendered ways that in many
cases disadvantage female founders. These
effects occur across the entire pipeline,
beginning with the dearth of women seeking to start high growth companies, to the lack of funding
opportunities and mentorship. There are substantial
differences in the number of startups led by women,
their levels of relevant experience and the
amount of funding – both debt and equity – they
seek and receive. Some have argued that
women tend to found lower potential startups.
Yet, even controlling for quality, we see many
implicit biases in how female founders are
treated. One important approach to redressing
inequalities might be through the use of accelerators.
Entrepreneurship accelerators are
proliferating in
both developed and developing economies as different cities, regions and sectors seek to increase economic growth and
employment. Accelerators are designed to give a boost to startups by providing in a concentrated way the
mentorship, networks, training and financing
required to be successful. The presence of
accelerators could have the potential to solve some of the challenges female entrepreneurs face,
however preliminary evidence suggests that they, for the most part, seem to be perpetuating the
gendered dynamics that exist in the entrepreneurial
system. On the other hand, there is no
systematic research on how accelerators do or might address the gendered dynamics of
entrepreneurship. Because accelerators are seen as such an important policy tool for increasing
entrepreneurial success, it is imperative that we develop and analyze systematic data on accelerators and their
effects, particularly on female founders. In this study, we will draw on what is known to date
on female entrepreneurs and more broadly on the
research on gender in organizations and the
economy to understand the dynamics of acceleration
in entrepreneurship. Using a longitudinal
database of over 3,000 ventures in nearly 50
accelerators, we trace the effects of selection into
the accelerator and the acceleration process on outcomes for women-only, women-led, and male-only
venture teams. We couple survey data
with interviews of accelerators to understand
whether and when acceleration can be a tool for
mitigating gender bias in female entrepreneurship.
