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Penn Venture Lab launches initiative to address gender bias in entrepreneurship

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2024 Startup Challenge presented by Venture Lab at The University of Pennsylvaia
James Graves @ Venture Lab at The University of Pennsylvaia

via Kelly Yang, The Daily Pennsylvanian

The Oct. 2 virtual panel will feature Venture Director at HearstLab Eastin Rossell and senior associate at True Wealth Ventures Abbie Strabala. The event is geared towards educating founders and joiners about the intricacies of pitching femtech products — those which involve technology addressing women’s health issues — particularly in an environment where investors may not represent the products’ users.

Venture Lab Associate Director Rebecca Winkler, who is one of the program’s lead organizers, described the process of developing the initiative, particularly citing student consultations during the summer. She said that during these consultations, students expressed concerns about confidently conveying the value of their products.

“The programming for this year is in response to the gaps that have been identified,” Winkler said. “The genesis of [this initiative] was to support founders and investors who want to ensure that they’re able to provide an equitable evaluation of these products and services when they’re not part of this target demographic, or just being able to navigate their own internal potential biases.”

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