Susanne Althoff

Launching While Female Susanne Althoff

Journalist and professor Susanne Althoff investigates the obstacles women and nonbinary entrepreneurs--especially those of color--face when launching, funding, and growing their companies, obstacles that persist in a start-up world engineered by and for white men. Through interviews with over a hundred founders across the country and in all industries, Althoff paints a picture of an entrepreneurial system rife with bias and discrimination, where women receive less than 3 percent of this country's venture capital, struggle to find mentors in the wake of #MeToo, and are dismissed as "mompreneurs." But more equitable business and entrepreneurship structures will benefit all people, she demonstrates, not just those hoping to fund a startup. By exploring some of the practical ways we can open the entrepreneurial system to everyone, Launching While Female provides a rallying cry and a way forward for women entrepreneurs and their allies, showing that change is urgent and within our reach. By exploring some of the practical ways we can open the entrepreneurial system to everyone, Launching While Female provides a rallying cry and a way forward for women entrepreneurs and their allies, showing that change is urgent and within our reach.