How come women only get a fraction of the venture capital funding that men do?
That was one topic of a lunchtime talk held Thursday at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center as part of Startup Week Chattanooga, a five-day event to celebrate all things high-tech and entrepreneurial in the Scenic City.
“What are we as women doing to hold ourselves back?” asked Sheri Young, the founder and CEO of Feminology, a Chattanooga- and Nashville-based marketing and public relations firm that works with aspiring female-owned brands.
Only about 13 percent of venture capital-funded companies are owned by women, said Young.
Sheri Young One unfair stereotype that female entrepreneurs face is that they don’t think big enough, said Alex Lavidge, the entrepreneur-in-residence at The Company Lab (CO.LAB) a nonprofit organization on the first floor of the Edney Building at Market and 11th streets downtown that helps would-be entrepreneurs make their business ideas come to life.