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Hi John,

This week's newsletter features insights on how VC scrutiny of pitch decks varies depending on founding team demographics, as uncovered in our latest research on bias in the early-stage fundraising process. Also, we feature a VC's perspective on this research, plus the tech stacks that four emerging fund managers use to manage their funds.

Comparing decks across the gender breakdown reveals that certain deck sections mattered more for each demographic. Investors spent the most time overall scrutinizing the team sections for all-female decks, averaging 130% more time on this section than for all-male teams and 157% more than for mixed gender teams. For all-male teams, the team slide was one of the least important.

For the product section, the disparity went the other way: VCs spent 105% more time scrutinizing the product sections of all-male decks than all-female decks (and 78% more time than mixed gender product sections). For all-female teams, the product section was one of the least scrutinized.

VCs also spent more time on the traction sections of all-female decks than for all-male or mixed gender decks. They averaged 76% more time on all-female traction sections versus all-male ones, and 56% more time versus mixed gender ones.

As we saw in our 2020 report, VC time spent on the business model section also varied with team demographics. VCs spent about the same amount of time scrutinizing the business models of all-male and mixed gender teams (58 and 57 seconds, respectively). However, investors averaged 80 seconds (43% more time) on this section for all-female decks.

These disparities are significant because they appear in some of the most important deck sections. As our research has shown, the product and business model sections have become crucial for early-stage pitch decks. Additionally, since VCs are investing in individuals as much as businesses at these early stages, the team section remains especially meaningful.

Overall, the relative importance of the team, traction, and business model slides for all-female teams suggests that investors were especially concerned with whether these teams had the right members to monetize a product and find a lasting fit among customers.

Read all 12 pages of our new Funding Divide research, along with our past research and thought leadership from both founders and investors. If you're an early-stage founder, you can take our brief survey to help us continue this research.

Pitch Deck Interest Metrics Update

As we get closer to Q2, both founders and investors may be keeping their fundraising powder dry until the marketplace looks more optimistic. Investor interactions are down 2.27%, Time Spent per deck dropped 3.7%, and Founder Links Created plummeted 12.96%. Here's the full analysis of last week's activity.

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