Be Like an Orchestra: How to Eliminate Gender Bias in Venture Capital Funding

By Iris Bohnet, Siri Chilazi, Anisha Asundi and Lili Gil Valletta. Blind auditions, where musicians perform behind a curtain, helped increase the fraction of female musicians in the major US symphony orchestras from about 5 per cent in the 1970s to almost 40 per cent today. When orchestra directors couldn’t see who was playing, they based their selection decisions on the quality of the performance, rather than the personal qualities of the performer. An ingenious design intervention, the curtain and the accompanying research remind us that good people interested in maximising the quality of their product – such as orchestra directors seeking the best-sounding music – fall prey to bias.

In the world of early-stage investing, what venture capitalists (VCs) arguably care most about is the return on their investment. But they fall short of creating a level playing field for the most brilliant investing minds. Much like orchestras 50 years ago, US venture capital today is dominated by men – approximately 90 per cent of VC investors are men and roughly 88 per cent of venture dollars go to all-male founding teams. These venture capitalists have never had the benefit of the curtain to come face-to-face with how their biases affect their decision-making. They still believe in the power of meritocracy.