S3E7: Ethan Poskanzer - The Gender Gap in Predicting Entrepreneur Success

In this episode, we are discussing innovation and inclusivity in entrepreneurship with Ethan Poskanzer.Ethan is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the Leeds School of Business, and studies how organizations can select and connect people to develop innovative ideas and how the opportunity to innovate can be democratized and made more inclusive.Host Amanda Kramer sits down with Ethan to discuss his latest research: the science behind matching entrepreneurs and mentors, some striking data in how gender factors into mentor/mentee relationships, and what we can learn from pitch evaluation & sequencing.Leeds Business Insights Podcast is a production of Leeds School of Business and is produced by University FM.EPISODE QUOTES:Why do entrepreneurs need to stick to their convictions?[00:07:38] One thing that I would encourage entrepreneurs to do is stick to their convictions about what they need help with and to reach out to people who they think can help them, because they know what's going on under the hood more than other people do.Gender differences in funding referrals[00:17:42] Women mentors are about equally likely to make a referral for a man, entrepreneur, or a woman entrepreneur. But men mentors were much more likely to make referrals for men. So that meant that through those same-gender relationships, men had greater access to this super coveted resource of introductions to investors and the opportunity to pitch their businesses for funding.Something to keep in mind in the entrepreneurial process[00:24:31] That's something important to keep in mind that an organization is designing a process to select new ideas to fund an investment that you think of. We need to be really careful about defining the criteria that we're going to use to select this. SHOW LINKS:Ethan Poskanzer Faculty Profile at Leeds School of BusinessEthan Poskanzer - Personal WebsitePaper: Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation, by Alex Bell, Raj Chetty, Xavier Jaravel, Neviana Petkova, John Van Reenen