CEO @switchthefuture, GP at W Fund (Invest w/ us!), OG in gender/inclusion in startups & tech, future OG in VC. Love bubbly, hilariousness, music, and life.
Articles by Kate Brodock
The power of feminine traits in leadership
Leadership qualities are not inherently masculine or feminine, but a blend of traits and skills that can be harnessed by anyone. However, there’s been a growing appreciation for the unique strengths often associated with feminine traits and their impact on leadership effectiveness. At this point, the benefits of women in leadership are undeniable (though we’re biased). We won’t list the research that points to that.
Congratulations investors. We've now stooped to a new low of 1.9%.
ICYMI, the startup investing ecosystem took a nose dive. Again. It was a nose dive of about 0.5%, and represents the amount of US-based venture capital dollars allocated to women-led startups in 2022. 1.9%. 1.9%. And that’s down from 2.4% in 2021, which was down from 2.7% in 2020, the highest it’s ever gotten. 2.7% in and of itself is pathetic. I’ve been sitting on this data for a little bit, because it never gets any easier to continue to digest and internalize as our reality.
Letter From the CEO: Welcome to Switch
Hello, and welcome to Switch! If you’ve followed Women 2.0 for the past few years, you probably know we usually take March – Women’s History Month – in stride, and don’t make a big hullabaloo. The way we see it, every single day we work on behalf of and celebrate women, as we focus on creating a world where women don’t even need a month to have to be elevated in the public’s eye, where our global status quo is one of equality and equity. Call me idealistic….
Curious Conversations, Seek & Listen
Gaper podcasts is home to the largest and most talked-about collection of shows across all subjects. From globally recognized names to the most authentic independents, this is a place where every voice matters. And that says it all.
The Pandemic Disproportionately Impacted Women-Owned Businesses. Here’s What You Can Do.
The pandemic impacted businesses of all kinds across the country, but it was particularly stressful for women entrepreneurs. The U.S. lost 140,000 jobs in December 2020, all of which were held by women. On top of that, the pandemic forced many mothers to help their kids with online classes and further highlighted the unequal load of domestic labor that women carry. Women have been expected to “do it all” over the past few decades, but the pandemic has exposed the systemic barriers in place.
Founders - It’s (still) OK to not be OK
Are you struggling more than you did last Spring? It is OK and you are not alone. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I was doing pretty good in March and April and over the Summer.” “I can’t figure out why I am just so physically and mentally depleted right now. Shouldn’t I have felt this way months ago and be over by now?” “I am having a hard time feeling motivated and inspired right now — which is weird for me.
Why we desperately need women to design AI
by Kate Brodock Photo by Siyan Ren on Unsplash At the moment, only about 12–15% of the engineers who are building the internet and its software are women. Here are a couple examples that illustrate why this is such a big a problem: Do you remember when Apple released its health app a few years ago? Its purpose was to offer a ‘comprehensive’ access point to health information and data. But it left out a large health issue that almost all women deal with, and then took a year to fix that hole.
This One's For You!)
Photo by August de Richelieu from Pexels Moving the diversity needle in the startup space requires a multifaceted approach. The importance of investing in women and other traditionally underrepresented founders simply can’t be overstated – as my Founding Partner at the W Fund, Allyson Kapin (also CEO & Founder of Women Who Tech), urgently put it this morning (“Why The Next Jeff Bezos Won’t Be a White Man“). But that’s not enough.
How to Make Deeper, Longer-Term Changes to VC Investor Diversity (Partners: This One's For You!)
Moving the diversity needle in the startup space requires a multifaceted approach. The importance of investing in women and other traditionally underrepresented founders simply can’t be overstated – as my Founding Partner at the W Fund, Allyson Kapin (also CEO & Founder of Women Who Tech), urgently put it this morning (“Why The Next Jeff Bezos Won’t Be a White Man“). But that’s not enough.
YC Demo Day Goes Virtual. For Better, or for Worse? (And Women Founders!)
It’s that time of the year again: Y Combinator’s Winter 2020 Demo Day. We’ve attended this for the last couple of years, and this year was an entirely different experience in light of our current WFH situation brought about by Coronavirus. Instead of having founders pitch on stage for a minute or two in front of a massive crowd, Demo Day is virtual and only takes the form of a single slide company summary, along with a few lines about the company and the team.
Passion matters. If you’re comfortable with an unreliable, moving target.
Laura Huang, a preeminent Harvard Business School professor and Advisor to Women 2.0, shows that success is about gaining an edge: that elusive quality that gives you an upper hand and attracts attention and support. Some people seem to naturally have it. In her new book Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, from which this essay is excerpted, Huang teaches the rest of us how to create our own from the challenges and biases we think hold us back, and turning them to work in our favor.
Killer business advice from 10 black women founders
It’s Black History Month. A perfect time to celebrate some of the amazing black women founders we’ve had the pleasure of hearing from in our pages over the past several years. How Mented Got From Prototype to Being a VC-Backed Consumer Brand KJ Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Mented, talks about fundraising, convincing investors, product testing, influencer strategy, and more.
Is Company Data Stored in Your Phone? It’s Time to Take These Precautions
You’re always in the loop because you’ve always got your phone. But could your phone be compromising personal and company data? By Aisha Visram (Founder, Mobile Guroo) By now you’ve ditched that New Year’s resolution not to use your iPhone in bed because… well, it was never gonna happen anyways. Your phone keeps you connected to every email, every little win (and failure) and every notification that pertains to the success of your business.
Networking, Mentorship And Careers: Let's Add Men To The Equation
Laura Sydell, a longtime technology reporter for NPR who covers the intersection of technology and culture, was recently interviewed for an insightful piece on women in programming and engineering.
What Startups and Toddlers Have In Common
We lump too many things under the term ‘startup,’ Diana Kander argued at Big Omaha recently. What we really need to do instead is distinguish between businesses that are at the conception and toddler stages. By Jessica Stillman (Editor, Women 2.0) You have an idea for a startup. Great! This is fabulous news and you’re probably flush with excitement, plans and hopes for the future. You are, in short, much like a woman happily standing in her bathroom with a positive pregnancy test in her hand.
Conference Call: How to Create a Culture of Belonging in Your Workplace
If you lead diversity, equity and inclusion work in your organization, you’ll know that this work can be both rewarding and difficult. It can often come with a limited workplace foundation, a steep learning curve, and few resources to work with. Hopefully there’s and equal “pull” from leadership, but not always. So, how can we further build upon the concepts of diversity and inclusion, and be more strategic about creating a workplace culture of belonging?
3 Ways to Communicate Effectively While Still Being Yourself
The most authentic, compelling communication starts with you: the real you. By Alison Davis (Founder & CEO, Davis & Company) This post originally appeared on Inc.com It’s simple: The most effective way to get your audience’s attention is to make communication about audience members’ needs and interests. But here’s where you – the person creating the communication – come in. Your audience wants to hear from you, not from the company or department you work for.
Be Fearless: Five Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose [Book Review]
Every day that has gone by since I read Jean Case’s Be Fearless, I’m reminded of how important her message is. Today, it was a citation from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce reporting that “13% of Americans, roughly 1 in 10, still believe that men are better “emotionally suited” for politics”, perpetuating the image of the hysterical female not able to take what comes at her and turn it into an actionable breakthrough and constructive purpose.
Conference Call: Gender and Culture in the VC Industry
Besides being a moral issue, gender equality in venture is a huge business opportunity that most venture capital firms are ignoring. But unconscious bias and other factors can lead venture capitalists to leave a lot of money and (female) talent on the table. Fortunately, behavioral science offers us a proven roadmap to sustainable, systemic improvement on gender diversity.
The Feminine and the Workplace
By integrating the feminine with your employees and customers, you will naturally impact their engagement. The Feminine Workplace is a methodology and curriculum to create more engagement in your workplace for both women and men. Masculine or Feminine? Although traditionally masculine traits are often seen as the key to climbing the corporate ladder, it’s clear that an exclusively masculine work style is less effective than a blended approach.
Conference Call: How Becoming a Parent Affects Women and Men's Salaries and Careers Differently
Conference Call: How Becoming a Parent Affects Women and Men’s Salaries and Careers Differently The gender pay gap has been a subject of intense scrutiny, and rightly so. But beyond the simple measurements, there are lessons of intersectionality at play. Becoming a parent impacts wages; positively if you are a father, but negatively if you are a mother. Gender stereotypes influence hiring and promotion decisions. Recent research shows the impact and mechanisms behind this phenomenon.
#WomenPower Swag
It’s always difficult finding something awesome and meaningful in the clutter of consumption around us. We think something below will strike your fancy! SMASH SOME GLASS CEILINGS We’ve partnered with The Fuzzy Bee, a women-owned and led company out of Scotland – to bring you some great accessories and decor, excellent choices for the strong women and girls in your life. The perfect tote to carry your stuff to work, or your bubbly to New Years parties.
#TechTuesday: Why Data Science Proved the Perfect Fit for an Aerospace Engineer… Who’s Also a Fashion Designer
Julia Lintern talks about what ultimately drew her to data science and what she’s planning next. When was the last time you met a structural aerospace engineer? It’s surely rarer still to find one who has also launched two fashion labels, dabbling in hat design and puppetry along the way. Julia Lintern is a creative and a scientist all in one.
Recognizing and Combatting 'Diversity Fatigue'
As anyone involved in D&I efforts knows, the wins are hard fought, progress can be slow, and diversity fatigue is a real challenge. And this despite the huge amount of attention and internal action placed on D&I work.
7 Lessons I Learned My First Year as an Entrepreneur
One founder discusses the lessons she’s learned transitioning from an employee at Microsoft to starting her own business. It’s been roughly 18 months since my last day at Microsoft where I had close to 14 years of a pretty amazing ride. I got to be a part of the growing online advertising industry, work with the most brilliant minds in tech, sales and marketing, travel the world, and launch really cool products. My last day was one of the scariest and most liberating experiences I have had.
Launching a Kickstarter Campaign? Read This First
How can you get the most out of a Kickstarter campaign? And when it’s over, what next? Take it from a founder who’s been there. There’s obvious allure to raising your fledgling startup’s first funds via Kickstarter. “It’s a really nice way to get the cash up front to actually go and start making product,” says Julia Kastner, founder of Boston-based denim brand Eva & Paul.
Conference Call: Is Unconscious Bias Training Right for Your Workplace?
Unconscious bias training has become a popular approach to diversity and inclusion education. But debate continues as to how effective it truly is. So what’s the deal?
Diversity and Inclusion: Cultural Shifts Changing The Way We Do Business
This may be an obvious one (what market doesn’t rely on data?) but it’s also a tough one. Similar to AI’s role in D&I, data and analytics are best reserved for concrete numbers and tangible results. With D&I, we’re dealing with the connection between “soft” things, like humans and culture, and “hard” things, like bottom line and team performance.
Anil Dash Talks Culture in Tech, and What Could Make D&I Move Forward
Anil Dash, CEO of Fog Creek Software, opened up the third annual Tech Inclusion NY conference on 27 June. The event convenes central members the tech industry to focus on solutions to diversity and inclusion. The theme this year was “Voices of Innovation” – featuring diverse, underrepresented voices building the innovative technologies and cultures of our future. Wayne Sutton, Co-Founder and CTO at Change Catalyst and conference organizer led the discussion.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness [Book Excerpt and Review]
“White people can be exhausting” is the first line of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. If that doesn’t signal what’s to come, I’ll tell you this book is a complete page-turner. Not like “I’m sitting on a beach” page-turner (although I would read this on a beach), but “I’m feeling this at my core” page-turner.
Webinar: Investing overview and new models that could drastically change the ratio
According to CNN, “We all have regrets in life…But when it comes to women, there’s one point of remorse that seems to trump all others: not investing more. In fact, 41% of females identify this as their single greatest financial regret. Now, if you’re an older woman who lost out on years of returns by not investing, you may have, unfortunately, already sealed your own fate to some degree.
No, I’m not going to give up on ‘diversity and inclusion’
[PS If you’re short on time, skip to the last section!] By now, most of you have seen Jon Evan’s (great) commentary on giving up on “diversity & inclusion” , sparked by Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Ventures) declaring she would no longer speak at D&I events starting in 2019. Jon’s analysis highlights a completely valid sentiment about the industry — exhaustion — and I respect it and feel it myself. And Arlan is spot on in wanting to focus on things that create action.
The Myth of the Nice Girl, and Strategic Job Negotiation Tactics [Book Review & Excerpt]
Last night, I sent around this article to my team, which talks about society embracing masculine qualities—in men or women—and rejecting feminine qualities. The rejection was focused largely on men who exhibit “femininity,” and the double standard we place on women being encouraged to take up “masculine” qualities and men being marginalized if they take up “feminine” qualities, whether it’s wearing a pink shirt or crying.
Listen Up: How Women & Men Can Work Together
“A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they’re doing and want to be a part of that change … But I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while.” — Matt Damon on the #TimesUp Movement In an era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, it’s not surprising that even the best of men are feeling defensive — did I miss something? Should I have said something? What do I do now? How can I help without saying the “wrong” thing?
Why a history of “D&I work” may have done nothing for your company
But they didn’t do a whole lot for workplaces. They helped “us” (meaning everyone working towards a more diverse tech industry) build awareness, drive conversation forward, and raise crucial issues. This matters, and we all wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for that process. First, thank you. These dollars, for years, are what helped many organizations and companies like Women 2.0 grow. They helped communities of women around the world flourish.
Disrupters: Success Strategies from Women Who Break the Mold [Book Review and Excerpt]
I had the pleasure of reading Dr. Patti Fletcher’s new book Disrupters: Success Strategies From Women Who Break the Mold. Fletcher sets out to give readers a new way of thinking about a business world that she sees as being stacked against women (and, let’s be honest, most of us see that).
A Coach Isn't Just For Big Company Executives, They're For Founders Too
When I took over Women 2.0 in August 2016, the company had been around for 10 years, but we were straight back to startup mode, with a slim team to start (two people!) and an almost completely new business model. We had an intense focus on riding the fine line between revenues and mission that many for-profit, for-good companies often have.
A Coach Isn't Just For Big Company Executives, They're For Founders Too
When I took over Women 2.0 in August 2016, the company had been around for 10 years, but we were straight back to startup mode, with a slim team to start (two people!) and an almost completely new business model. We had an intense focus on riding the fine line between revenues and mission that many for-profit, for-good companies often have.
11 Founders Who Most Certainly Feel Awesome Going Into 2018
I’ve had my eyes on several founders this year, each who’ve made moves that are going to keep me watching with popcorn in hand going into 2018. One IPO, one acquisition, a lot of funding and innovation…… and a heck of a lot of amazing-ness. So who are they? Acquired by IKEA. Enough said. Icing on the cake? She joined Fuel Capital this Fall, which means she gets to continue her success on the other side of the table. I’m ok with that.
Why CES’s keynote line up is a deeper problem. – Kate Brodock – Medium
In case you were wondering, yes, we’ve all seen this. You’ve heard that we’ve seen it, so I’ll cut to the chase. This whole thing is head scratching: Fundamentally, you aren’t willing to hear all of this, and you aren’t willing to care enough about it. Let’s examine a few angles. We get it, sponsors get keynotes (which I would debate in another forum any day, this criteria alone makes for bad conferences, and attendees feel the loss in value).
Dudes. Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ‘em.
By now, you’ve probably seen this panel, which has been making the rounds: As you may or may not imagine, this panel got a bit beat up on social by both men and women. It then got canceled, and SJ issued the following statement: While I might agree that the choice of panelists could have been better (there were valid call outs of some of their records on gender equality that were worth noting), this was a bold and forward-thinking move by SJ Magazine…. and they got shut down.
Charlottesville reminded me how to have a constructive conversation
Last night I sat out in my back yard and thought about hatred. I’d been watching footage of Charlottesville?—?which, if you haven’t watched yet, stop whatever you’re doing and watch now. I cried a little (I really hate hate), and the level of what is probably immovable hatred by some of the people in this video made me temporarily want to stay in my backyard forever, shut off my driveway, and retreat. But of course, that emotion lasted about 0.5 seconds. I don’t get up every morning to retreat.
Why we desperately need women to design AI – freeCodeCamp.org
Photo by Siyan Ren on Unsplash At the moment, only about 12–15% of the engineers who are building the internet and its software are women. Here are a couple examples that illustrate why this is such a big a problem: Do you remember when Apple released its health app a few years ago? Its purpose was to offer a ‘comprehensive’ access point to health information and data. But it left out a large health issue that almost all women deal with, and then took a year to fix that hole.
Don’t just look for mentors. Look for sponsors.
The long-term impact of a sponsor is different than that of a mentor. Make sure you have both. We’re often told about the value of mentorship as women. We hear about it as we grow up, and many companies and organizations highlight the benefits of mentorships offer programs both internally and externally. Mentorship is important, but I’d argue that sponsorship is just as important (more important?
This week was a doozy – Women 2.0
Seriously, what a week. I’ve been on the phone talking, lamenting, yelling, strategizing, mobilizing…my brain. There’s a lot to say, I can’t possibly get to all of it now, and a lot of it changes with every day. But here are a few things we are thinking about: Industry culture, Silicon Valley culture, company culture. There’s a big, strong argument to be made that at least part of the blame sits on the ominous shoulders of “the space”. This was a gut-wrenching account that will make you….ugh.
Tackling the gender gap on tech teams – Code Like A Girl
About two weeks ago, we (Women 2.0) launched Lane, a tech recruitment platform for women technologists?—?developers, data scientists, product managers…. you name it (come sign up, we have some awesome hiring companies!). I’ve worked in the tech recruitment space before, and have been focused on women in tech for over a decade, so this platform felt obvious, and the timing perfect. Why?
Changing the perception of female founders – Women 2.0
Changing the perception of female foundersA few pieces of insight from Collision ConferenceThe team at Collision Conference put together a series of great roundtable discussions for women attendees. I was able to open up the proceedings yesterday for the Female Founders day (I talked about including men in the equation, and making a hullabaloo about how beneficial having women on teams is…. all stuff you’ve heard from me before!).Then I got to walk around and listen.
Real Impact In Diversity And Inclusion Means Looking At Structural Changes, Not Tactical
We get approached by a lot of companies to help them tackle this issue of gender diversity in tech as it gets played out in their world. Sometimes it's hiring (we just opened up our beta recruitment platform for women in tech to candidates), or wanting more female founders in a round of funding applications to a VC firm, or access to more senior-level women.
Women in tech: The agenda for the next year
Women in tech: The agenda for the next year International Women’s Day is always one that brings me mixed feelings. The waves usually come like this: I think about a world where gender isn’t a factor anymore. It’s what we look at when we’re driving forward at Women 2.0. Realistically, though, that’s a long way off. More practically, I use this day to look one year ahead and figure out what main pain points I’d like to change, even if just by a little bit.
Are we all different or all the same?
I got an interesting email the other day about a Women 2.0 newsletter. It was not uplifting (as many are). It was harsh, and, even though I’ve heard it before, it still made me pause and reassess. Here it was: I could have ignored it, but I chose to respond after a few days of thinking. Women 2.0 isn’t for everyone, and that’s perfectly ok. I’ve done work for women in tech and entrepreneurship for 10 years now.
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