Valued member of the Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp team and Director of Technology Innovation, Transfer & Acceleration at IESE Business School, Luca Venza spoke to us about the bootcamp’s proactive efforts to rebalance gender disparity; “It’s no longer a secret that in the venture community, women-led teams or dual-gendered teams out-perform single sex male-led teams in the starup world. The question is, what are we doing about it?” Pinpointing a requirement for diversity in evaluation criteria as a route to systematic change, Luca Venza is adamant that entrepreneurial women are given the tools to approach investors with a tone and style that conveys their message accurately, which is what the bootcamp is all about.

“Our goal is to drive up valuation and the fundraising amounts that are raised by women-led companies, because that’s really where the gap manifests itself most clearly,” Luca explains. The Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp was designed to not just train teams on messaging communication and leadership style while increasing contact with investors, but to furnish the participants with a network of entrepreneurs to learn from. “What happens when you give a strong woman founder a strong woman founder mentor? What we’re seeing is that that is what’s having the most direct impact.”

When you have a strong reference, someone who’s selling products out in the real world, they’re going to build a much stronger bond. It’s a senior peer to junior peer kind of relationship. Both of them really appreciate that contact because the more experienced entrepreneur wishes they had had that and they’re more than happy to play that role and the newer entrepreneur can benefit from all the trials and tribulations of their mentor. That role modelling in the public domain is critically important.”

With so many incredibly successful entrepreneurs willing to play the role of mentor for new startups, the Women Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is an invaluable asset that helps to establish a network of contacts within the industry, refine messaging and give participants the confidence to stand up tall within a male dominated industry. Doing their damndest to level the playing field, it’s events like this that create a better future for women in tech.