In that series, a talented female private eye set up her own detective firm, only to find that clients wouldn't hire a woman. To combat this sexism, she recruited a handsome front man — Pierce Brosnan before he became James Bond — to play the part of her boss.
Of course, she still ran the company and did the work.
If you're a female entrepreneur looking for venture capital, a new study suggests you may want to find your own Remington Steele — a good-looking guy to be your front man — at least if you want male investors to finance your company.
This ground-breaking research — conducted by scholars from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the Feb. 20 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States — supports what women entrepreneurs have long felt, that they have a much harder time getting money just because they're female.
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Here's what authors Alison Wood Brooks, Laura Huangb, Sarah Wood Kearney and Fiona E. Murray, and editor Nancy Hopkins concluded:
"We find that investors prefer entrepreneurial pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches presented by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same," they wrote. "This effect is moderated by male physical attractiveness: attractive males are particularly persuasive, whereas physical attractiveness does not matter among female entrepreneurs."
Independent, entrepreneurial women like Stephanie Zimbalist in 'Remington Steele' from the 1980s, still don't excite venture capitalists a generation later.(Photo: The Kobal Collection, NBC-TV)
First, the authors looked at the results of real business-plan competitions and found that males were 60% more likely to win.
OK, but the reasons for that could be numerous. So, they ran controlled studies.
To begin, the researchers selected winning business-plan pitches and presented them to individuals with financial incentives to choose the most promising business concepts. The "pitch" consisted of a video presentation with a voiceover narration.
Randomly, these presentations used either a female voice or a male voice to present the exact same script. The finding? 68.33% chose the pitch from a male even though the business presentation was otherwise identical.
They then took their research a step farther. They wanted to see if both gender and attractiveness affected financing decisions.
So the authors added a photo to the voiceover presentation. They had four types of photos, attractive and less attractive males and attractive and less attractive females.
Once again, males were more likely to receive money and their pitches were considered more persuasive.
Attractive males were significantly more likely to be seen as investment worthy than less attractive males. But even less attractive males did quite a bit better than women, attractive or not.
These results are powerful because they reflect the reality that such a small percentage of women-led companies receive professional venture financing — only 13% of venture capital investments have a woman among the founding team.
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And that has nothing to do with the nature of the business. I've seen venture capitalists invest in companie! s that sp! ecialize in retail or education or other areas with predominantly female customers, yet they have no females in leadership positions or on the board.
What can women entrepreneurs do?
A woman may be the brains behind an organization, but having a handsome guy like Pierce Brosnan, with Stephanie Zimbalist in a 1982 photo for 'Remington Steele,' attracts the cash, a study shows.(Photo: NBC)
1. Find women investors. Women-led angel investor groups and early stage venture funds are cropping up all over the country.
Experienced, successful women entrepreneurs have realized a lot of money can be made investing in women-led companies. Some of the groups include Springboard, Belle Capital and Golden Seeds.
2. Start lean. Today, you can start a company with far less money.
That means you don't need to raise as much, and you're a better candidate for financing from friends and family.
3. Try crowdfunding. It's a new source of money for start-ups. If you've got a cool gizmo or product, this might be a route to go.
4. Think big. One problem women often have when pitching is that their vision isn't as big as many men — and investors want to see the possibility of big returns.
5. Join with other women entrepreneurs. Groups like Women 2.0 help women entrepreneurs succeed.
Finally, forget Remington Steele. Make it on your own.
But do diversify your team because both men and women build better companies when they have a mix of ideas, backgrounds, genders, ages and ethnicities.
Tweets about "#6WkStartup"Rhonda Abrams is president of The Planning Shop and publisher of books for entrepreneurs. Her most recent book is Ent! repreneur! ship: A Real-World Approach. Register for Rhonda's free newsletter at PlanningShop.com. Twitter: @RhondaAbrams. Facebook: facebook.com/RhondaAbramsSmallBusiness. Copyright Rhonda Abrams 2014.
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