Looking at the stark gender divide in technology startups, different individuals will draw different conclusions. Some may chalk up the difference to hard economics; sure, gender parity is a nice idea, but if male founders bring in bigger returns, it’s not the fault of the VCs. Others have rejected this explanation and sought objective evidence on the realities of the gender gap, and their research tells a different story.

Sandy Carter, CEO and founder of Silicon Blitz and chairman of the board for Girls in Tech, spoke to Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the Girls in Tech Amplify Women’s Pitch Night 2016. They discussed her organization’s research into the issue. In fact, in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University and Cisco Systems Inc., the organization uncovered some surprising numbers. “Female founders are 15 percent more profitable than their male counterparts, but they’re 40 percent less likely to get funding,” she said.

The organization hopes to raise awareness about these numbers to affect change in funding decisions. It also hopes to use its research to help women founders identify and remedy their weak points, one of which is sales savvy. “Some of them think sales is a dirty word,” Carter said.

The path of least resistance

In the meantime, Carter said there are shortcuts for female aspirants (and male ones too) to get their ideas to market — one of which are the hackathons and pitch competitions held by large companies. “They’re looking for companies that can help them grow. So if you always thought, ‘Wow, what I’m doing, a big company should be doing,’ get involved in that,” she said.

Carter gave the example of beauty emporium Sephora’s ventures in this area. “They have an innovation hub, and they’re accelerating companies, especially female founders, who are creating products for their beauty store,” she said.

*Disclosure: Girls in Tech and other companies sponsor some Girls in Tech – Amplify segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Girls in Tech nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Girls in Tech – Amplify Women’s Pitch Night 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE