Julia Boorstin CNBC Media & Tech Correspondent & Author, "When Women Lead"

Gender Representation Statistics

• Female CEOs currently represent 8.5% of the Fortune 500 (an all-time high).
• Female founders received only 2% of total venture capital funding last year.
• Co-ed founding teams captured 15.5% of venture capital, while 82% of the $330 billion deployed in the US went to all-male teams.
• In the fintech sector specifically, women raise only one in every 10,000 Series B dollars.

Venture Capital Trends and Bias

• Female founders are disproportionately asked about downside risk ("worst-case scenario") in meetings, whereas male founders are asked about upside potential ("best-case scenario").
• Funding gaps are most acute at the Series B stage; women reach equal investment parity with men only at the C stage when track records are established.
• The odds for female founders in fintech Series B rounds are described as "very much stacked" against them, necessitating alternative fundraising strategies.
• One specific founder overcame the Series B bottleneck by bypassing traditional VCs to aggregate smaller checks from a network of 90% female investors via Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).

Ellevest Investment Thesis and Algorithm

• Ellevest, co-founded by Sally Krawcheck (former CFO of Citi and head of Merrill Lynch), operates on the data-driven thesis that diverse teams drive strong returns.
• The firm launched a $1 billion investment strategy with Goldman Sachs grounded in the belief that betting on women generates superior outcomes.
• Ellevest challenges the industry hypothesis that women are naturally "risk-averse," positing instead that traditional algorithms fail women because they are calibrated for male life trajectories (shorter lifespans, fewer career breaks, higher peak salaries).
• Because 80% of women die single and live 6–8 years longer than men, standard retirement models risk leaving women with insufficient funds.

Risk Perception and Behavioral Economics

• Research indicates women are "risk-aware" rather than "risk-averse," seeking to understand plain-English risk scenarios (e.g., "how bad could it get?") before investing, whereas men often make educated guesses and proceed.
• Women often disengage from investment processes if onboarding questions feel complex or if they cannot immediately answer risk tolerance inquiries, a behavior attributed to socialization regarding perfection.
• 90% of financial advice media content for women focuses on spending and scarcity, compared to 75% of content for men which focuses on abundance and positive wealth building.

Market Impact and ROI Data

• Female-led public companies typically outperform peers by 20% in the two years following the appointment of a female CEO.
• First Round Capital data from its first decade showed female-led portfolio companies were 63% more profitable than male-led counterparts.
• Co-ed teams draw significantly more venture capital than single-gender teams, indicating a market preference for diverse leadership.

Societal and Economic Trends

• The "Ellevest Women's Financial Health Index" reports a "double whammy" for women: higher vulnerability to inflation and slower re-entry into the workforce post-pandemic.
• Women tend to allocate wealth to families, communities, and nonprofits at higher rates than men, creating a societal multiplier effect.
• There is an estimated $11 trillion in assets held by women and $30 trillion in baby boomer wealth projected to transfer to women, creating a massive shift in capital allocation potential.

Forward-Looking Statements

• The speakers anticipate that economic downturns will force investors to rely more heavily on data, potentially overcoming historical biases against female-led companies.
• There is a strategic push to change women's mindset regarding money from "scarcity" to "abundance" to unlock the potential for $11 trillion in women's wealth to be invested rather than held in cash.
• Future growth is expected in "femtech" and health-tech sectors focusing on previously overlooked areas like reproductive health, menopause, and fertility.
• The speakers believe systemic change must originate in the startup and VC space rather than relying on the rapid evolution of traditional corporate America.