When It Comes to Women Business Owners and Babies, VCs Ignore Them

The struggles of a breast-pump startup underscore venture capitalists blind spot when it comes to women and babies.

Venture capitalists, however, do not appear to share my [author at The New Yorker magazine] enthusiasm for breast-pump #disruption, perhaps because the industry is ninety-three per cent male. 

Read more about why mothers who are business owners don't seem to be worth anything to venture capitalists.

Screenshot: Medela

Stand Like a Rock

©2017 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." -- Thomas Jefferson

Inspiring Quotes from Women Business Owners and Leaders

As Sara Blakely (pictured), founder of Spanx says, "Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else."

Discover other inspiring quotes from women business owners and leaders.

Making the U.S. Tax Code Fairer to Women Entrepreneurs

With Congress putting the finishing touches on a tax plan that’s aimed at overhauling the system, there is one other reform Caroline Bruckner thinks they should consider: making the U.S. tax code fairer to women entrepreneurs.

Currently, federal tax incentives targeted to help small businesses grow and access capital either effectively exclude or bypass altogether the majority of women-owned firms, according to groundbreaking research I [Caroline Bruckner, Executive in Residence, Department of Accounting and Taxation, American University] conducted on how the tax code affects women business owners through American University’s Kogod Tax Policy Center. 

For the first time, Caroline's research considered specifically whether women business owners can (or do) take advantage of tax breaks intended for small businesses.

Read more about how the US tax code bypasses women entrepreneurs.