I am Sara Weinheimer. Founder and executive producer of BroadMic. BroadMic is a podcast with a mission, to accelerate diversity and entrepreneurship, to embolden the next generation of women to think big, and to unleash new market opportunities. Through conversations between host Kelly Hoey and female tech entrepreneurs, and Jalak Jobanputra's Broad Trends segment, BroadMic aims to create a boldly confident community of women who are hungry for actionable advice about what it means to be a successful entrepreneur. BroadMic is a legacy project for me, born out of a 30 year career, with my first 15 years spent on Wall Street as a bond trader, primarily at Goldman Sachs. And the last 15 years spent as an Angel investor, investing in female led fast growth technology startups. Prior to that, as a young woman, I chose Smith College because my feminist idols, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem went there. But, once there, being allowed to wear jeans to Friday tea, proved not quite radical enough for me, so I transferred to UC Berkeley, where the seeds of my feminist and environmentalist ideas could take root.
As a student in the College of Natural Resources at Berkeley, a program designed for environmentalists, I produced a video documentary about recycling, that led to my appointment to the City of Berkeley Solid Waste Management Commission. I also volunteered for the Women's news department at KPFA, the local public radio station. My first job out of college, was working for a solar energy startup. From that experience grew a desire to have a seat at the table in business, which motivated me to get an MBA. Then, with MBA in hand, I went to Wall Street, spending 15 years in the rough and tumble high stakes, high testosterone environment of a bond trading floor, trading millions for the Goldman partner's balance sheet. While Goldman prided itself on its team environment, the reality was that there were plenty of sharp elbows for the competition for the gold ring. This wasn't a game for me. By then, a mother of two and a prime breadwinner for my family, it was survival. But also increasingly, I needed somehow to merge the Berkeley and the Wall Street sides of my brain.
So when I discovered Angel Investing and Female Tech founders, finally, I could make both sides of my brain happy. BroadMic grew out of these origins. As an Angel investor, I've experienced firsthand the persistent bottleneck of venture capital funding for female founders. As an avid podcast listener, I hear a lot of lip service being paid to the need for diversity in tech, but there's little progress. The good news, statistics show a positive correlation between the growing percentage of female founders who are Angel backed, and the growing percentage of women who are Angel investors. No surprise, more women Angel investors equals more women entrepreneurs funded by Angels. They have moved in tandem from a mere 5% a decade ago, to 20% today. Still, not good enough. The bad news, in venture capital it's even worse. Only 6% of venture capital partners are women. Venture capital is a decade behind the Angel investors who, as we've said, are way behind the curve. On top of that, the pervasive stereotype that the media perpetrates of a white male hoodie-wearing unicorn hunting Stanford engineer exacerbates the problem. The narrative needs to change.
Women, including women of color, need to see successful female tech entrepreneur role models. As importantly, the investor community needs to see those same role models. It's a two-sided coin. So I decided to create this network, starting with BroadMic, a podcast series, where accomplished female entrepreneurs can share their actionable advice with other entrepreneurial minded women. Season one will launch March 1st and air throughout the month of March, happily, in consort with women's history month. Our guests include entrepreneurs Heidi Messer and Carley Roney. Investors Susan Lyne, Joanne Wilson and Jessica Peltz, Nelly Yusupova, founder of Techspeak for Entrepreneurs, Tami Reis, creator of #JustNotSorry and technology thought leader and venture capitalist, Jalak Jobanputra.
Today I feel as passionate as I did as a 20 year old social activist, taking a seat at the table, and changing the narrative about female and minority entrepreneurs. And I encourage you to do the same. Think broad.
