The Unspoken Bias in Tech

Maren Thomas Bannon is an investor in female led startup companies. She writes about venture capital on Forbes. Her recent story details the bias of both age and gender in tech companies.

The data says ageism starts young in tech

There’s no getting past the fact that tech is a young industry. Studies show that age bias is rampant in tech not just once one hits their 40s, but by age 36. When VC firm First Round Capital polled a wide range of US startup founders in The 2018 State of Startups report, age was cited as the strongest investor bias against founders, with 89% of founders saying older people face discrimination in tech, followed by gender. And older women have double the odds. In a 2017 Indeed survey, 43 percent of tech workers said that fear of losing their jobs due to age is a real fear.

Jane VC’s survey of early stage founders last month found that the amount of venture funding raised by both male and female early stage founders dropped by over 40% after age 45. Aside from the hard metric of dollars raised, entrepreneurs of both genders report feeling significantly less supported by the venture community once they reach 45

Other points in the article reinforce the practice in tech:

Pregnancy and ageism create a double penalty for women.

“Celebrity” founders such as Mark Zuckerberg have put a focus on youth for investors and those doing the hiring.

The disregard for work-life balance leaves employees anchored to the office with food and lifestyle covered, but leaves few options for employees with family commitments.

Research indicates that age and gender diverse teams are more productive .

Tech’s myopic view causes it to miss out on many billion dollar opportunities.

Maren Thomas Bannon is Co-founder and Partner at Jane VC, an early stage venture fund to invest in visionary female led startups. Find out more at janevc.com.

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Photo by Tech Jobs Tour on Flickr

Photo by #wocintechchat on Flickr