{"id":30475,"date":"2020-11-21T05:50:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T10:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=30475"},"modified":"2020-12-30T11:50:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T16:50:24","slug":"swing-out-sister-how-women-founders-can-shine-in-2021-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/swing-out-sister-how-women-founders-can-shine-in-2021-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Swing Out Sister: How Women Founders Can Shine in 2021 and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to December 2020 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/h6>\n
Above: A tree planting event at a World Tree farm with investors: (<\/em>from left to right)<\/em> Michelle Bonsu, Marlene Lewis, Kevwe Omologe, Emily Lewis.<\/em><\/h6>\n

\"Dr.Cathy\u201cSisters are doin\u2019 it for themselves,\u201d sang Aretha Franklin in 1985. \u201cWe\u2019re standing on our own two feet and ringing our own bell.\u201d That powerful call to women to stop hiding in the shadows of men is now thirty-five years old. Yet, it is still as relevant today as it was then.<\/p>\n

While many women have come out of the kitchen and into the boardroom, there is still a long way to go. While women represent 40 percent of entrepreneurs1<\/sup>:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Female founded start-ups received only 2.7 percent of venture capital in 20192<\/sup><\/li>\n
  • Women entrepreneurs received only 9 percent of the investment overall3<\/sup><\/li>\n
  • Only 12 percent of venture capital decision makers are women4<\/sup><\/li>\n
  • Only 7 percent of Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs5<\/sup><\/li>\n
  • Women make $0.82 for every dollar that men make6<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    These are pretty gloomy statistics, especially when women-founded companies have a proven track record for performance:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Investments in companies with female founders perform 63 percent better7<\/sup><\/li>\n
    • 70 percent of the most successful funds have female partners8<\/sup><\/li>\n
    • 80 percent of purchasing decisions are made by women9<\/sup><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      So, what\u2019s a girl to do? How do women founded companies make their mark in what is still very much a man\u2019s world?<\/p>\n

      This year World Tree became the highest funded female-founded company on Wefunder<\/em>. We raised over $2 million and became the third most funded company on the platform ever. Here are three things I\u2019ve learned on our investment journey.<\/p>\n

      Prepare to Knock Their Socks Off<\/h2>\n

      I joined World Tree as Chief Operations Officer in 2015, alongside founder Wendy Burton. Our vision was to transform forestry with a fast-growing tree that we would give to farmers for free, train them to grow, and harvest for profit.<\/p>\n