Sara Mauskopf
Sara Mauskopf is the co-founder and CEO of Winnie. She’s also the mom of three young children and vocal advocate for high quality child care and early education for all.
Last week I went on Bloomberg TV with Emily Chang to talk about childcare, fundraising, and a16z’s $350 million investment in WeWork founder Adam Neumann’s new company–their largest investment to date. Although going on live TV is always nerve wracking, it’s worth the butterflies to have an opportunity to speak up for underrepresented founders and shine a light on important issues. You can watch the full video here and I’ll summarize my thoughts below.
Another fundraising injustice for women founders
First of all, I want to be clear, it does not surprise me at all that Adam Neumann was able to raise a mega round of funding for his new company Flow after losing investors billions of dollars with WeWork. It’s pretty standard in venture capital to bet on bold founders, even if they’ve had past failures.
But just because investors giving Adam Neumann a second chance is unsurprising, doesn’t make it right. Women founders rarely even get first chances. In 2021, women founders raised just 2% of the venture capital. When women do get first chances, they are quick to get “taken down” at the first sign of impropriety.
What other bold founders could we uncover if we actually invested in women and underrepresented minorities? What if we gave them second chances?
Optimism about the fundraising landscape
All that said, I am optimistic about how the fundraising landscape is shifting, to the benefit of women founders. What investors are looking for in companies has changed. It’s no longer about growth at all costs, but instead about efficient growth and sustainability of that growth long term.
I think this greater focus on business fundamentals has been really positive for companies like Winnie that have always been focused on efficiency. Like many women-led companies, we are forced to be efficient and rely on our own profits to grow. It’s really business as usual for us, but now with greater respect from investors.
It’s also a good time for overlooked industries
Winnie has the double disadvantage of being founded by two women AND trying to disrupt an overlooked and underfunded industry: child care. Although child care is one of the most stable and enduring industries–it’s a $90 billion market in the US alone–that has historically not translated into venture capital dollars.
But this season of focusing on steady growth and profits means it’s a great time to innovate in entrenched industries. When you’re disrupting a massive and entrenched market like child care, it takes time. We've been building our child care marketplace at Winnie for 6.5 years so growing into being the leading marketplace in the US for group child care & early education did not happen overnight. On the other hand, startups that have done things in an unsustainable way to achieve fast growth are likely struggling in this environment.
My only regret about my appearance on Bloomberg is my answer to the question Emily asked me about how I feel about risking ever being funded by a16z by speaking out. My answer should have been: this is just not at all how funding works. Pointing out the dearth of investment going to women founders will not keep your company from getting funded (case in point: I’ve raised over $20M for Winnie by being so vocal). Don’t be afraid to speak up - we need everyone’s voices here.
