Grommet CEO: Amount of VC going to women is 'damning'
By Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
Courtesy
Jules Pieri co-founded and runs a successful, venture-backed business — Somerville-based e-commerce site The Grommet. But she knows she's a unique case.
Women are drastically under-represented when it comes to both doling out venture capital and receiving it, thus hampering the amount of prosperous, female-led companies, Pieri notes.
And she wants to change that.
“Everyone in leadership has an obligation to think about what footprint they leave,” Pieri said. “This is where I want to leave a footprint.”
And clearly, she's getting noticed, recently making Fortune's 2013 list of “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.”
She'll celebrate the honor at an event in Washington this month alongside such high-profile guests as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
“I'm happy to breathe the same air as these people,” Pieri said.
But the title benefits The Grommet immensely, as well. “It helps us cut through the clutter as a company to pay attention to,” she said.
Founded in 2008, the e-commerce site serves as a platform for largely undiscovered products. In May, Japanese company Rakuten, which previously funded the company with an undisclosed sum, took a majority stake. It was then rebranded from Daily Grommet, and moved from Lexington to Somerville.
Pieri noted recent successes, including major revenue growth and an increase in employees from 12 to 50.
“We've created a model to do something big and fundamental,” she said. “We're changing how products get launched, making the playing field more fair. And we're doing it successfully, and distinctively.”
It's the kind of fair playing field she'd like to see in the venture capital space, as well. She made that point in a big way in August when, in an open blog post to President Obama, she proposed ending the carried interest tax loophole for venture firms that don't back the same amount of businesses owned and run by women as by men. In addition to Obama, she said she has other “targets” in Washington she intends to approach about the subject.
Particularly, she cited an Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation report that found that female entrepreneurs have historically received a single-digit share of all available venture capital, somewhere between 4 and 9 percent, and that women represent less than 10 percent of high-level venture capitalists.
Given that “damning” statistic, she asked, “how many women are not showing up?”
And if they are but aren't receiving funding, how many are succeeding? She pointed out that some startups “just can't be bootstrapped,” and that the venture capital process not only provides an infusion of funding, but establishes businesses as a “better media target.”
She acknowledged that the tax loophole is controversial in general, but called it ultimately good because it brings money to companies and entrepreneurs.
“I'm not interested in getting rid of it,” she said, “I just want to make it equitable.”
Considering Obama has been rather preoccupied in recent weeks, she noted that she hadn't yet received a response, but remained confident. “I will. I always get my man.”
Original story link.
Women are drastically under-represented when it comes to both doling out venture capital and receiving it, thus hampering the amount of prosperous, female-led companies, Pieri notes.
And she wants to change that.
“Everyone in leadership has an obligation to think about what footprint they leave,” Pieri said. “This is where I want to leave a footprint.”
And clearly, she's getting noticed, recently making Fortune's 2013 list of “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs.”
She'll celebrate the honor at an event in Washington this month alongside such high-profile guests as Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
“I'm happy to breathe the same air as these people,” Pieri said.
But the title benefits The Grommet immensely, as well. “It helps us cut through the clutter as a company to pay attention to,” she said.
Founded in 2008, the e-commerce site serves as a platform for largely undiscovered products. In May, Japanese company Rakuten, which previously funded the company with an undisclosed sum, took a majority stake. It was then rebranded from Daily Grommet, and moved from Lexington to Somerville.
Pieri noted recent successes, including major revenue growth and an increase in employees from 12 to 50.
“We've created a model to do something big and fundamental,” she said. “We're changing how products get launched, making the playing field more fair. And we're doing it successfully, and distinctively.”
It's the kind of fair playing field she'd like to see in the venture capital space, as well. She made that point in a big way in August when, in an open blog post to President Obama, she proposed ending the carried interest tax loophole for venture firms that don't back the same amount of businesses owned and run by women as by men. In addition to Obama, she said she has other “targets” in Washington she intends to approach about the subject.
Particularly, she cited an Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation report that found that female entrepreneurs have historically received a single-digit share of all available venture capital, somewhere between 4 and 9 percent, and that women represent less than 10 percent of high-level venture capitalists.
Given that “damning” statistic, she asked, “how many women are not showing up?”
And if they are but aren't receiving funding, how many are succeeding? She pointed out that some startups “just can't be bootstrapped,” and that the venture capital process not only provides an infusion of funding, but establishes businesses as a “better media target.”
She acknowledged that the tax loophole is controversial in general, but called it ultimately good because it brings money to companies and entrepreneurs.
“I'm not interested in getting rid of it,” she said, “I just want to make it equitable.”
Considering Obama has been rather preoccupied in recent weeks, she noted that she hadn't yet received a response, but remained confident. “I will. I always get my man.”
Original story link.
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