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CCSM
24,2 Funding challenges of
Latin American women
start-up founders in the
310 technology industry
Received 18 March 2016
Revised 31 August 2016
Katherina Kuschel
12 December 2016 Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
Accepted 28 December 2016
María-Teresa Lepeley
Global Institute for Quality Education, Winter Park, Florida, USA
Fernanda Espinosa
Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile, and
Sebastián Gutiérrez
Universidad Central de Chile, FACEA, Santiago, Chile and
Universidad de Santiago de Chile, FAE, Santiago, Chile

Abstract
Purpose – Women in entrepreneurship can have a significant impact on economic and social development
globally and particularly in developing countries. But the challenges entrepreneurial women face are unique
and multiple, pressing the need for research and policies to maximize impact. The purpose of this paper is to
analyze the challenges women start-up founders face to secure funding in the technology industry. The tech
industry was selected because it is a non-traditional industry for women with high potential for role models to
bridge an existing gap in information on women start-up founders to secure capital financing to attain
business sustainability. It covers venture capital investors’ role, Latin American cultural reasons, and gender.
Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on an inductive, qualitative approach and in-depth
interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs and start-up founders from Latin American countries who received
support from the Chilean Government sponsored accelerator “Start-Up Chile.”
Findings – The analysis uncovered ten aspects that impact entrepreneurial women founders’ access to
capital in three categories: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics.
Originality/value – This study identifies factors that affect women entrepreneurs in raising capital and in
facing the following challenges: first, working in a non-traditional field for women as it is the technology
industry, and second assuming a leadership role as start-up founders. The results offer recommendation with
potential to drive public policies in Latin America, which may be scalable to other developing and also to
developed countries where market systems prevail. The findings show that women entrepreneurs, but also men,
seeking start-up financing and alternatives are a viable source of employment and economic sustainability to
mitigate the effects of increasing levels of unemployment worldwide.
Keywords Latin America, Entrepreneurial ecosystem, Entrepreneurship, New high-technology ventures,
Start-Up Chile accelerator, Women start-up founders
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
In the last 50 years of expansion and consolidation of market systems as an economic
development strategy, particularly in developing countries in Latin America and Asia,
the private sector and entrepreneurial activity have experienced fast expansion as important
drives of economic activity and robust growth. Market economies in developing countries
Cross Cultural & Strategic
Management
have significantly improved living standards and the well-being of people. But in spite of solid
Vol. 24 No. 2, 2017 progress, some obstacles persist and require attention in research and academic literature. Of
pp. 310-331
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5794
DOI 10.1108/CCSM-03-2016-0072 JEL Classification — L26, J16, J24
particular concern is the participation of women in entrepreneurial activity and specifically Latin American
how to facilitate women entrepreneurs to have access to capital to start business ventures and women start-up
secure business sustainability in the long run. This paper analyzes the evolving role of women founders
entrepreneurs in start-up[1] programs and how women promote innovation in emerging
ecosystems in developing countries. “This new business model,” as it is called, has potential to
transform obsolete and inefficient market performance into more competitive approached
helping women increase participation in entrepreneurship with higher impact in economic 311
growth and broadening opportunities in inclusive societies.
Clayton Christensen (1997, 1999), the pioneer in “disruptive innovation,” has shown that
change and innovation disrupts and displaces underperforming organizations and
industries and will induce deeper and faster business transformation. Uber and Airbnb are
some examples with global impact. Consequently, an understanding of these business
disruptions will help women entrepreneurs to face the challenges of start-ups, on one hand,
and also support participation of women in leadership in non-traditional women fields, such
as high technology. The experience of women in start-up ecosystems is important because
disruptions in the global VUCA[2] environment affect people and organizations deeply and
worldwide. If women are unaware or unprepared to face disruptions, the effects will be more
costly and the benefits of innovation will be nil or few, and the same for the economy and
society. There is need for more research and information to minimize the harmful effects of
change and disruptions for women entrepreneurs (Lepeley, 2017).
In the 2016 meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2016), Klaus Schwab, one of its
Founders, indicates that sustainable solutions to foster entrepreneurship require active,
effective, and high participation of women. Furthermore, Schwab states that the forthcoming
fourth industrial revolution will be built on the digital revolution that started last century,
where, it must be recognized, women had low participation. Schwab adds that this time, instead
of segmented events, the next revolution will integrate technologies avoiding divides between
physical, digital, and biological spheres in cyber-physical systems causing major disruptions in
management, organizations, education, entire methods of production, in every industry and
governments in every country. On the positive side, leaders and organizations able to anticipate
and manage disruptions with resilience and agility will find ample opportunities for
performance improvement in competitive local and global markets, an aspect women
entrepreneurs need to acknowledge (Lepeley, 2017). On the negative side, disruptions will be
detrimental for complacent organizations reluctant to change and renew; a danger women need
to prevent (WEF, 2016).
In this new environment gender parity will be critical for women entrepreneurs to play
an important role which needs to be anchored in increasing participation in economic
activity. This paper explores ways to do it identifying challenges and opportunities
uncovered in a comprehensive evaluation of women start-up founders in technology, as a
non-traditional field for women which has been dominated by men until now.

1.1 Start-ups funding challenges: a gender approach

Most studies on gender differences in fundraising have been conducted in the USA and
finding may not apply to developing countries. Early research in entrepreneurship has been
primarily conducted on white males in the USA and do not distinguish differences between
men and women (De Bruin et al., 2006). Following moral development theory provides
insights that women generally have different socialization styles, which might explain
different approaches in entrepreneurship (Fischer and Reuber, 2003), and also differences
in start-up motivations and management style, particularly among small business owners.
Research on gender and debt capital, show that in the past women preferred other ways
to finance projects aside from bank loans based on two explanations: women were less
educated, had less business experience compared to men, and less access to debt capital; and
CCSM women credit applications were more frequently rejected for lack of collateral or business
24,2 experience. But today women in high-tech companies are equally educated as men
(Cohoon et al., 2010), and are likely to seek external financing, except for external equity
capital (Orser et al., 2006). According to Cohoon et al. (2010) women are more likely to get
early funding from business partners than men (i.e. personal savings).

312 1.2 Evolution of the global start-up ecosystem

Richard Florida, a creative innovator and analyst of start-up ecosystems, provides a background
to understand this emerging start-up business phenomenon. Although start-ups have evolved
and are still commonly associated with Silicon Valley in the USA as the world leader in
high-technology start-ups, in the last decade a fast growing number of cities around the world
have created “start-up industry” to participate in the leading developments of these ecosystems.
The 2015 the World Startup Ranking conducted by Compass, under the supervision of
Florida, reported 11,000 start-up companies leading the world start-up ecosystems.
The measure to integrate this ranking include: quality of talent, pool of venture capital (VC)
resources, experience and mentorship offered by start-up founders, market reach of the
companies, performance, and exit value of the companies[3].
In 2015, 16 of the 20 world’s leading start-up ecosystems were in the USA, Canada and
Europe with Tel Aviv, Singapore, São Paulo, and Bangalore in developing countries and the
scenery evolving rapidly. The Santiago – “Chile start-up” ecosystem, which was the focus of
this study, was among the 20 leaders in the Compass ranking in 2012, but it was excluded
from this ranking in 2015[4].
The 2015 Startup Global Report recommended policy-makers and governments worldwide
to accelerate development of start-up ecosystems to foster business, entrepreneurial activity,
and technological communities that drive economic and social development paying attention
to these elements: deploy a cross-disciplinary approach to champion innovation and
entrepreneurship; integrate private initiatives with government agencies to identify, address,
and solve key problems; and think like a start-up, not as a government agency (Florida, 2015).
The 2015 report places special attention on gender equality of start-up founders.
This challenge is creating increasing friction worldwide because there is a deep parity gap
across start-up ecosystems. The report emphasizes that no ecosystem comes close to an equal
share of men and women founders. In spite that the number of women founders in start-up
ecosystems increased 80 percent between 2012 and 2015, in 2012 only 10 percent of start-ups
had a women founder, and 18 percent in 2015 among these global leaders (see footnote 4).
The issue of start-up women founders is critical to provide role models with potential to
foster participation, and particularly in attention in developing countries. For four decades
the World Bank has promoted development and strengthening of the private sector as a
critical driver of development. A 2016 World Bank report on eight Middle East and
North African countries emphasizes an urgent need to faster development and
strengthening the private sector to create jobs that promote growth and prosperity.
Experts in the region show consensus that to achieve political stability in the region will
require exceptional efforts to foster entrepreneurial programs increasingly focused on the
participation of women and young men.
This study explores causes and effects of women in start-ups in the technology industry
and in particular analyses funding options and opportunities with the purpose to identify
constraints and struggles women entrepreneurs confront to raise capital. The subject is
important because there is limited research and information to design policies and deploy
reforms that can effectively increase women participation in entrepreneurship and
particularly in start-up ventures in non-traditional industries for women, with the purpose
to increase contribution to economic growth but primarily to expand inclusive societies in
developing countries.
2. Literature review Latin American
This section reviews literature on external sources of financing and business growth, capital women start-up
needs, and the role of networks in fundraising opportunities. It also provides an overview of founders
entrepreneurial development and contribution to economic growth of ecosystem in Latin
American countries, focusing on “Start-Up Chile” acceleration program.

2.1 Fundraising and business growth: gender differences 313

Studies reveal that women in general are less likely than men to use external sources of
financing and external equity (e.g. Coleman and Robb, 2009; Scott et al., 2003; Orser et al.,
2006). In spite of the fact that studies show that women business owners are less likely than
men to be turned down when applying for loans (Coleman, 2002; Orser et al., 2006), women
still have more trouble securing bank loans due to lack of collaterals, a situation that makes
them more reluctant to apply for institutional financing (Coleman, 2002). Women largely
rely on internal sources of financing and a lower percentage of women-owned firms use
external equity, business angels’ investment or VC (Brush et al., 2001; Coleman and Robb,
2009; Haynes et al., 2000; Orser et al., 2006). Studies show that peaking women entrepreneurs
are more risk averse than men that’s why they avoid external financing, debt and equity
with potential to hinder financial liquidity, to avoid a source of stress and concern for
women business owners in times of crisis (Lepeley et al., 2015).
Women from high-tech companies are more likely than men to get early funding from
their business partners (Cohoon et al., 2010). A Kauffman Foundation survey of 350 female
tech start-up leaders showed that 80 percent used personal savings as main source of
funding when they started the new business (Robb et al., 2014).
A longitudinal study conducted by Vanacker et al. (2011) showed that new business
ventures that use more owner’s funds (bootstrapping) than external sources of financing, hire
over time more employees, encourage customers to pay debts faster, apply for more subsidy
programs (private and public grants and acceleration funds) and exhibit faster growth.

2.2 Capital needs

A large number of studies have compared characteristics of men and women business
ownership and performance. Consistent findings show that women-owned firms are smaller
in size when compared with men-owned firms (Loscocco et al., 1991; Rosa et al., 1996;
Lepeley et al., 2015) and the same results are observed new high-technology ventures
(Kuschel and Labra, 2017).
In terms of business management, women-owned firms are led by smaller teams commonly
built on trust and cooperation. This business model includes cases of copreneurship described
by Kuschel and Lepeley (2016b) where women have founded start-ups in technology industry
associate with romantic partners, who were university classmates.
Some studies suggest that women entrepreneurs differ in their motivations from men
and prefer to have higher control of their business over faster growth (e.g. Watson, 2003).
Interestingly, BarNir (2012) found in a study on 950 individuals founding companies in
the USA that the level of human capital positively predicts the decision to create start-ups
but there are gender differences. In the case of men, human capital related to “specific”
industries and occupational background predicted technology start-up decisions, while
“general” human capital, that is education and employment breadth are better predictors of
start-ups decisions among women. This study emphasized the importance of incorporating
technology in sustainability and long-term competitive advantage of the venture.
Other studies on growth-oriented firms show no difference between men and women’s
decisions in terms of growth expectations (Brush et al., 2001; Menzies et al., 2004), and either
gender differences on business survival (Coleman and Robb, 2012).
CCSM According to Mann and Sanyal (2010), the financial structure of women-owned start-ups
24,2 does not differ from other start-ups but high-tech start-ups’ financial structure differs
significantly from start-ups in other business sectors. Additionally, start-ups characterized
as small, unincorporated, solo, first-time, or home-office-based are more likely to be financed
by self often with credit cards, family and friends’ funds, given highly specific assets and
information opacity.
314 On the other hand, start-ups with more physical assets or those where the entrepreneurs
are more educated or own similar businesses, are more likely to use external debt in the
financial structure since these assets have a high liquidation value (Mann and Sanyal, 2010).

2.3 Network
Personal network is among the most important entrepreneurs’ success factors because it
appears to substitute for lack of experience in business. Start-ups also benefit from the
expertise of partners in multiple markets, rather than over slow accumulation of personal
knowledge. In short, for start-ups to benefit from a fast and proactive approach, networks
must be large and scalable to reach multiple markets.
It seems that there are no differences in network benefits based on gender, size of the
business, or years of ownership (Miller et al., 2007). In general, social capital variables and
strategic network theory held a positive effect on network benefits, suggesting that strategic
business networks produce gains for men and women start-up founders. Nonetheless, Brush
et al. (2001, 2004) suggested that women entrepreneurs may be excluded from male-dominated
networks, and particularly those that provide access to external equity capital.
The Diana Project’s (2014) findings confirmed that only 4 percent of partner venture
capitalists are women this is important information considering that Brooks et al. (2014)
showed that investors prefer to provide financing to male entrepreneur pitches over female
counterparts. Brush et al. (2004) proposed that more women investors or “gatekeepers” can
solve these preference bias. Women investors can position themselves in existing “network
holes” (Burt, 1998) helping people previously not accepted as legitimate members of
a population.
Phelps et al. (2007) provided a framework to examine issues of growth in firms and
business effectiveness, where the tipping point is a “magic moment” when an idea, trend, or
social behavior crosses a certain threshold and spreads like wildfire (Gladwell, 2002). In this
environment the absorptive capacity of the firm is the ability to recognize the value of new
external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial improvement. This capacity –
or agility (Lepeley, 2017) – is critical for a firm to advance innovation as a function of the
firm’s collective knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Accordingly, a commercial
network may provide links and relationships that can, in turn, promote a new business
context and a broader access to networking opportunities for the entrepreneurs.

2.4 Funding entrepreneurial activity in Latin America

According to Amorós et al. (2014), the participation of women in entrepreneurship in Chile
reached 26 percent in 2013, showing a slight increase from the previous year but it is
significantly below men participation of 40 percent. In terms of necessity vs opportunity-driven
entrepreneurship, the standard categories used by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor most
entrepreneurial activity among men and women in Chile is necessity-driven, a condition highly
correlated with limited options of employment in sectors that generate higher income and this
situation affects primarily unskilled or less skilled workers.
On the other extreme of the continuum the human capital component of economic
development and growth, high skilled workers, what Peter Drucker (1954, 1959, 1964) called
the “Knowledge Worker,” Kuschel and Lepeley (2016a) address the concern on gender
differences with particular emphasis in start-ups in the technology industry.
 There is a need to create new programs to increase participation of women business owners Latin American
and entrepreneurship. Hampton et al.’s (2009) findings show that women networks in start-ups women start-up
in new technology-based ventures are important to validate business ideas that stimulate social founders
support, boost confidence and decrease feelings of isolation. This idea has induced the creation
of entrepreneurial acceleration programs in Latin America, including Start-Up Chile and 500
Start-ups in Mexico, ANII Uruguay, Wayra and in several countries in Latin America and Spain,
in addition to entrepreneurial accelerators in a growing number of universities and other entities. 315
In Chile six institutions offering grants and acceleration programs that support women
start-ups are well known: ADA Academy of Girls in Tech Chile, The S Factory of Start-Up
Chile, Link, BST Innovation, Chile Foundation, and Mustakis Foundation.
In 2010 the Chilean Government launched “Start-Up Chile” to attract world-class early stage
technology entrepreneurs from around the world to start a business in Chile. Until August
2016, Start-Up Chile had supported 1,300 start-ups from 77 countries, who receive USD40,000
in financial support that helped start-up founders to cover living expenses in Santiago, Chile[5].
Each call or badge for the “seed” acceleration program of Start-Up Chile funds around
provides about 9 percent of start-up funding to women (CORFO, 2015).
Santiago, the capital of Chile – and an increasing number of cities along the country
now – benefits from businesses created and sponsored by these government’s initiatives
which has supported national and also international participants to open businesses in Chile
to expedite international expansion in one of the most dynamic market economies in Latin
America with four decades of robust experience in the international trade.
Start-Up Chile has shown an important positive impact among Chilean participants.
One of the best examples is Leatherbee and Eesley (2014), a study exploring feasibility in
development of an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship using an interdisciplinary
sociological and psychological approach. This study uncovered that risk taking “discovery
and innovation,” behavior improves performance efficiency among entrepreneurs.
A study on effects of the Start-Up Chile Seed Acceleration Program showed improvement
in managerial capital of participants enabling access to mentoring networks that contribute to
increase social capital, and increases accountability in boards of directors (Gonzalez-Uribe and
Leatherbee, 2016).
Moreover, according to The Startup Ecosystem Report (Marmer et al., 2012, p. 118) “the
Santiago Startup Ecosystem has the same healthy mix of start-ups targeting consumers,
enterprises, and SME customers as Silicon Valley Ecosystem in the United States.”

2.5 Women founders in Start-Up Chile

The development of entrepreneurial activity in the start-up ecosystem in Chile has identified
challenges that impair entrepreneurship and low participation of women start-ups founders
based in the experience of 20 women founders who participated in “Start-Up Chile”
programs during 2011 and 2015.
The 2015 Global Accelerator Report that measures accelerator programs globally ranked
“Start-Up Chile” as number 1 accelerator in Latin America, fourth worldwide, third among
accelerators that supported more start-ups, and 4th among those with higher volume of
investment[6]. Start-up accelerators play an important in the tech industry launching new
programs to learn from experts and connecting with accelerator networks worldwide. Experts
state that affiliation in start-up accelerators help entrepreneurs get resources, reduce costs of
starting a business venture and gain access to seed capital to attain sustainability.
Accelerators are becoming the fastest option to launch successful entrepreneurial ventures
worldwide[7]. The Global Accelerator Report evaluates accelerators around the world and how
they progress funding and monetizing and are considered a fast pace growing global industry.
Chile was selected for this study in start-up ecosystems based on four decades of a solid
market system and open economy that has allowed consolidation of a robust private sector
CCSM and extensive international trade with the world contributing to robust entrepreneurial
24,2 development (Lepeley, 2005). Given Chile’s experience in entrepreneurial innovation in the
context of Latin America and the world, the findings of this study have high scalable potential
for other developing countries about the participation of women. Lepeley et al. (2015),
Sena et al. (2010), and Roper and Scott (2009) have examined women’s access to finance at the
start-up stage in small businesses concluding that women are less likely than men to seek
316 external finance and gender differences to finance start-ups adversely affect women decisions.
Some studies highlight that women entrepreneurs opt for less external sources of capital than
men, either as debt or equity (Brush et al., 2001, 2004; Gatewood et al., 2009; Robb and
Coleman, 2010), event that have been also explained as financial discrimination (Orhan, 2001).
In fact, it may be stated that “financing is a problem for all entrepreneurs but among women
entrepreneurs is commonly far more severe” (Hisrich, 1985, p. 73).
Studies show that lack of education and knowledge about how and where to raise capital
is a critical constraint among women entrepreneurs in the technology industry. This is not
surprising because there is a literature gap on women in technology, their ventures,
leadership, and managerial skills that this study is bridging with experiences of women
founders at different stages of the fundraising process.
According to First Round Capital (2015) a longitudinal study of 300 companies
revealed that start-up teams with at least one women founder performed 63 percent higher
than start-ups with male-only teams. Forbes (2015) announced that the probable cause of
this result may come from growing evidence that the diversity characteristic of women’s
experience provides more positive outcome in start-up founding teams. But the value of
women founders as value added in start-ups is not clearly recognized in the market yet.
And although there is growing evidence of early involvement in business activity, higher
education level, and better communication skills that induce more active participation in
social networks facilitate women’s involvement in the creation of a start-ups (Endeavor,
2009), there is a considerable gap in the literature about women in technology, which is
commonly associated with a male-dominated industry.
Moreover, in spite of studies conducted on women in entrepreneurship in developed
countries (Goduscheit and Norn, 2011; Sullivan and Meek, 2012; Ahl and Marlow, 2012;
Powell and Eddleston, 2013), there is very limited analysis of challenges in developing
countries that analyze gender implications in entrepreneurship (Kuschel and Lepeley,
2016a). Then lack of knowledge is a constraint to increase the number of women
entrepreneurs participating in entrepreneurship and economic activity (Cohoon et al., 2010).

3. Methodology
The analysis covers the challenges women founders face to create and fund technology
start-ups in Latin America. The information was extracted from a database of participants
in a six months acceleration program conducted by “Start-Up Chile,” a public agency of the
Department of Economics of the Chilean Government responsible for promotion of
entrepreneurship. The study examines the role of gender among Latin American women
founders raising funds to start business ventures and equity capital. The methodology is
qualitative and inductive following a constructive approach. This study derived from a
broader project conducted by the authors of this paper between 2014 and 2015 to explore the
experiences of women entrepreneurs in technology in diverse geographical areas with
special emphasis in Latin American founders.

3.1 Sample design

The sample includes Latin American 20 female entrepreneurs who lead technology-based
start-up teams and received support from the Start-Up Chile. The sample excluded
traditional entrepreneurial ventures and services non-intensive in technology.
 A Start-Up Chile anonymized database was used containing demographic information of Latin American
each start-up team participating in the acceleration program during a five-year period women start-up
between March 2010 and March 2015 (Figure 1). founders
The total number of start-up founder participants included in the Start-Up Chile were
2,173 men and women stratified in 972 start-up teams. Only women founders were included
in this study, 445 women female founders or 20 percent of the total number of entrepreneurs.
A second selection filtered female founders in the role of CEO or team leader. In total, 195 317
women were selected, representing 9 percent of the total.
The last cohort was filtered by country of origin and only Latin American natives were
selected to participate in the survey and final interview process. This cohort included a total
of 52 women founders from: Chile (50 percent), Argentina (21 percent), Mexico (10 percent),
Brazil (6 percent), Uruguay (4 percent), Ecuador (4 percent), Colombia, Venezuela, and Costa
Rica (5 percent).
In terms of education level, 33 percent of the women start-up founders had business
degree and 21 percent science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
educational background.
Invitations to participate in the survey were sent to the 52 women founders that met the
above criteria. In total, 20 responded and agreed to participate in the interview process.
Among them 19 women founders were involved in entrepreneurial activity and 1 was
employed in a business corporation.
The age range was between 26 and 33 years old. In total, 35 percent lead a start-up in the
advanced stage of “functional product with users” and 10 percent had already reached
scaling sales.

3.2 Procedure
The women in the sample were contacted by e-mail and invited to participate in an
interview and were asked to sign a consent form with objectives and scope of the study
in compliance with established ethical policies. All participants accepted to participate in
audio-recorded interviews.
Each interview followed a semi-structured script with questions on the following five
topics: motivation and previous experience as entrepreneur, funding needs and sources,
team structure, common obstacles, and networks used.

Universe: 2.173 founders

20%: 445 female founders

8.9%: 195 female founders in CEO’s

positions

Latin America (52)

Currently
Entrepreneur Employeed
(26) (5)
No answer (21)

Figure 1.
Interviewed Interviewed Participant selection
(19) (1) criteria
CCSM The following questions illustrate the approach used in the personal interviews: Why did
24,2 you decide to apply for Start-Up Chile funding? What are your future growth expectations
for this venture? As a female start-up founder, did you confront special challenges raising
capital? What advice would you give to women founders to increase success raising capital?
Interviews with the entrepreneurs lasted between 40 minutes and 1.20 hour. After the
interview, each audio file was transcribed verbatim and entered into the Atlas.ti v.7.0
318 software for qualitative analysis.

3.3 Analysis
A qualitative and “grounded” approach was used aligned with an inductive thematic analysis
described by Bryman (2012) that “involves identifying and coding emergent themes within
data” (Guest, 2012, p. 9). First, the analyst read the transcription and typed notes.
The researcher examined the main idea of each narrative. A second reading helps identify
common themes in the narrative, i.e., repeating words, metaphors, similarities and differences,
concepts or ideas (Ryan and Bernard, 2003) to compound a story of different themes.
According to Ryan and Bernard (2003) themes are fundamental concepts that characterize
specific experiences of participants gathering a general insight collected in the data.
Open coding was conducted and quotations were labeled into 1 to 3 word labels. Then,
close coding was conducted to reduce the number of codes eliminating repetition of similar
codes, comparing with the original data for accuracy and validation.
To gain better understanding of each narrative the analyst asked probing “why and
how” questions. Some examples include: Why are you raising capital? How did you choose
one funding source over another? How did you know where to find funding sources? How
can Latin American women raise capital easier?
All cases were re-grouped into categories as “country of origin,” and participation in
“Start-Up Chile program as the first funding,” followed by the second and beyond.
After asking those questions, new questions had to be addressed. What is the overall
point of each narrative? How do the selected themes relate to the central point? This
procedure was conducted for each narrative. Finally, the analyst perused annotations
(known as “memos” in Atlas.ti) and reorganized the findings in broader categories with
overall close coding, addressing the why and how questions, commonalities, differences,
patterns, and relating each of the emerging points to the research question.
The resulting major themes reflect the aim of the study and are exhaustive and sensitive
to the data.
The main idea of the narratives is to explain why start-ups needed to raise capital, why
and how the goal was achieved or not. Therefore, the main code is identified as “funding
opportunities.”
Following a “grounded approach” and the Strauss (1987) question of “what are the codes
about,” Figure 2 shows the first close coding in ten subthemes that ended up in three main
themes about “conditions”: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics of the
women founder.

4. Results
The three themes identified above are explained and supported by direct quotations. These three
categories emerged naturally from the interviews with women start-up founders. The network
topic was considered in the original script and the interviewer emphasized it.

4.1 Capital needs

The results show that different stages and types of start-ups and industries require different
amounts of capital (seed, series A, series B) aligned with different challenges. Several paths
were identified in the Start-Up Chile program (see Table I in the sample section).
 Business Stage Latin American
Industry
Capital Needs
women start-up
founders

Start-Up Chile

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Network Fundraising 319
Women Networks

Gender
Individual
Globalization Characteristics

Country
Figure 2.
Age and Experience Emerging subthemes
and themes
Perseverance

The majority of participants in the study continued working in their start-ups. In all,
25 percent did not raise external funds and relied on revenues derived from sales and
customers. The rest of the participants raised capital. In total, 45 percent applied for
acceleration funds, public grants, and seed capital in Latin America in exchange for equity
(or societal business participation). Totally, 30 percent raised private VC, half of them in
Latin America and the other half in the USA. The findings show that capital needs are
related to business stage and industry.
4.1.1 Business stage. Entrepreneurs raise capital on the basis of stage of the start-up
(i.e. product development, prototyping, market validation, scaling). The Start-Up Chile
program is a seed funding source intended for the product development stage.
Nonetheless, start-ups that participated during several generations (batches) were at
different stages and are not comparable, including some in the post-acceleration stage.
One of the participants described it like this:
I think that capital needs are contingent with the phase where the start-up is. If the women entrepreneur
has an idea of innovation and a sound value proposition, capital will really emerge […] ASI.
4.1.2 Industry. The finding showed that the software, agricultural, and biotechnology
industries have different capital needs and therefore different supply sources and
opportunities for funding.
The software industry is known as a “low-cost industry” because start-ups developing
software and applications have low fixed costs (i.e. internet connection, laptops, developers).
If chief technology officer is part of the team, the cost is only the “cost of living.”
On the other hand, biotech start-ups have high costs of implementation in laboratories
added to the time lapse a scientific test can take off may create a costly endeavor.
In addition, there are fewer grants in Chile for this industry and private corporations
related to natural resources and energies often offer grants to help the development of new
products. Participant DF produces a protein that grows in seaweed and states the
situation this way:
[A start-up entrepreneur] just can’t survive with the funds. The problem with biotechnology
companies is the generation of very long term products. It is not like to make an application
and have it for sale in 6 months. This does not happen. It may take at least two years of research
 24,2

320

Table I.
CCSM

Sample characteristics
Participant SUP Chile Business stage after Capital
ID Country Age Education background batch acceleration at Start-Up Chile Industry Cofounders + employees raised

JP Chile 31 Philosophy 3 Model validation Fashion 3 + 17 Seed

NF Chile 27 Management control engineer 4 Model validation Fashion market 1+4 –
and accountant place/decor
IN Chile 26 Industrial design 4 Functional product with users Fashion 2 + 10 Seed
CR Uruguay 28 Fashion design 4 Functional product with users Fashion 3+0 VC Latin
America
ASO Uruguay 28 Telematics engineer 4 Working prototype in Beauty and 2+8 VC USA
development/prot. valid. cosmetics
VP Mexico 32 MBA 5 Concept Financial 2+0 –
technology
CN Mexico 33 Communication studies 6 Model validation Entertainment 3+0 –
LC Argentina 32 Master on technology business 6 Functional product with users Software 4+6 VC USA
management
DF Chile 33 Molecular genetics and 7 Working prototype in Biotech 3+3 Seed
microbiology development/prot. valid.
VP Colombia 26 Languages 8 Model validation Education 2+0 –
CP Argentina 33 Business administration 8 Model validation E-commerce 1+1 Acceleration
NC Argentina 31 Communication 8 Model validation Hiring and 2+9 Seed
recruitment
PF Chile 38 Science in aerospace 9 Functional product with users Agronomy 2+3 Seed
engineering technology
ML Chile 31 Engineering 9 Functional product with users Nano-tech 2+0 Seed
DL Chile 31 Engineering 9 Scaling sales E-commerce 3 + 43 VC Latin
America
CP Chile 26 Business administration 9 Model validation Fashion/fashion 4+0 VC USA
SG Chile 26 Business administration 10 Functional product with users Hiring and 3+0 Seed,
recruitment acceleration
ASI Venezuela 26 Social work/industrial design 11 Functional product with users Health technology 5+0 –
FC Chile 26 Biotechnology engineering 11 Working prototype in Biotech 2+0 Seed
development/prot. valid.
CM Argentina 32 Business administration 11 Scaling sales Market place 4+6 VC Latin
America
 to reach expected results. But can be developed in two years. So, it is necessary to find ways to Latin American
keep research going for at least 2 years. In this industry it doesn’t matter the experience gained in women start-up
Start-Up Chile. Prospect clients matter the most DF.
founders
Lastly, the industry of agricultural technology develops hardware, sensors, and
what is known as the “Internet of Things” for small and big farmers. These start-ups
usually have high costs related to prototyping, pilot tests, massive production,
components import, assembly of components, warehousing, distribution, installing, 321
technical support, monitoring, and maintenance. Similar to the biotech industry,
it requires large amounts of capital and private companies that support Research and
Development, particularly to foster the wine industry in South American countries.
A participant describes it this way:
[The] fact in this industry is that it has many integral components. We have sensors,
communication between sensors, a base station, temperature, humidity, UV, soil moisture on three
levels, BH, electric conductivity. Therefore, expenses mount in the prototype form PF.

4.2 Networks
4.2.1 Start-Up Chile. The majority of participants in Start-Up Chile state that it opens access
to networks of well-organized women founders like Mujeres del Pacífico, Girls in Tech,
Women Who Code which served as warranty for further funding opportunities with Chilean
Government agencies that promote corporate development (CORFO), other incubators and
accelerators in Chile and abroad, such as Wayra, 500 Startups, and investors networks.
Some participants explain:
Start-Up Chile opens doors. In fact, when we were selected as semifinalists we were invited to a
demo day and we were among the finalists. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. But in that event we met
an American investor who run an accelerator in San Diego, California and he invited us to
participate in his accelerator. He offered us an initial investment fund of $US150.000 plus
$US 350.000 when we are ready for mass production ML.
Generally when you apply and win Start-Up Chile, when you talk about it, investors like it, it is a
kind of validation CR.
Having reached up to the demo day at Start-Up Chile was an achievement because only between 10
or 15 among 80 teams reach this target! For me the objective was getting there, it did not
matter whether we were in first, second or whatever place. Just participating in this event and
having opportunity to introduce our project with its metrics to interesting people and investors
from around the world, was very good, and it lead to several follow up meetings, many indeed.
When the results of the Demo Day were published more people who didn’t attend the event
contacted us. For example, TechStars NYC contacted me because they saw my video on Chile Demo
Day. We had a great deal of exposure and contacts, some better and some worse, but in short we
had improved CM.

This statement of the accelerator opening doors represents the perceptions of start-ups in
the technology and agricultural technology industries, where Start-Up Chile is well known
and has reputation. But in the biotech start-ups the situation is different. Here, the Start-Up
Chile program is not as well known. Consequently, participation in this program does not
have a significant impact on entrepreneurs’ access to funds:
It depends on the industry where you are because in our industry it is different. Start-Up Chile is
just starting to deal with biotechnology […] So it may help at the very beginning, to have a
financial support, a basis, but to advance in the scientific field it does not. For instance, the COPEC
Foundation, a large Chilean energy firm is highly recognized. Again, I think it depends on the
industry you are in DF.
CCSM 4.2.2 Entrepreneurial ecosystems in Chile, Latin America, and the USA. The Chilean
24,2 investors’ networks are different from others ecosystems in Latin America. For example,
similar to Chile, Mexico has its own entrepreneurial ecosystem:
I guess the environment changes your mindset, especially in a country like Mexico or Chile, where
people are generally risk-averse as a society […] VP.
Why not Mexico? Because in spite of the large size of the country that to many would look
322 advantageous, in terms of e-commerce, based on experience I have in the Mexican market, there
are many problems and obstacles to growth in the industry. Including bad logistics, high level of
fraud in credit cards and other areas that hinder developments in e-commerce CM.
I have noticed that when you have someone local it helps considerably, business becomes much
easier. That’s why I’m going to start looking for a country manager (to enter Mexico). It does not
need to be a fashion expert, but someone with effective business acumen CM.
Private investors and venture capitalists located in the USA are not normally willing to
support Latin start-ups that do not have a team or a customer base located in the USA.
Someone, usually an investor or a mentor from Mountain View 500 Startups program,
makes the introduction to the entrepreneur to enter this network:
As it happened at Start-Up Chile, the good thing about the accelerators is they bring you contacts
and we have guaranty of that with 500, so that open doors much easier LC.
In January (2015) we participated in the 500 Startups, an entrepreneurial accelerator in Silicon
Valley. It just finished the program with the Demo Day. We are now (August 2015) raising capital
but from another position. We now have customers, we are living here, people already invested in
us, this is totally different. Now we have 500 Startups, we belong to a signet ASO.
4.2.3 Networks support for women founders. Although there is an abundance of networks
available to women founders to find support and new contacts with customers, suppliers,
education, skill training, and industry information, only one of the women entrepreneurs in
the sample is actively participating in a formal network:
We have a discussion group where we talk regularly about many issues, and we share concerns
and opportunities about the process we are advancing as entrepreneurs. The network offers
consistent support CN.
Most women in the sample perceived participation in networks as a time consuming
disruption that does not produce significant returns or adds value to their work. Here are
some opinions of research participants:
I do understand that participation in networks is very important. But at this stage I need to
concentrate 100 percent in my start-up. I don’t want to be distracted. There are too many options in
entrepreneurship networks with potential to divert me from my target. Besides, nowadays it is
common to hear that a woman is an entrepreneurial just by attending ad hoc events, and there are
indeed plenty of events! But I am very selective. I choose carefully those that can really compensate
my time and help me advance my project CM.
I do not have active participation in networks. At one time I was in contact with Women 2.0
(a network for women founders). Once they invited me to annual event in Miami organized in
association with the Inter-American Development Bank. But I do not keep in touch with them. I do
not see much value for women entrepreneurs when institutions organize events exclusively for
women, if women entrepreneurs have to confront challenges in “men fields” ASO.
As shown by the quotations above, women in the sample do not participate actively in
networks. But the exception is to be speaker in events and to “give it back” to their communities:
When they invite me to talks on women in technology I accept because I am interested to give back
and help other women in the community LC.
The conclusion here is that the value of networking is correlated with the perceived value Latin American
this activity gives back to the founder and her start-up. women start-up
founders
4.3 Individual characteristics
Results show that individual characteristics significantly affect funding opportunity.
Participants in the study identified arguments around five main topics: gender,
globalization, country of origin, age/experience, and perseverance. The analysis of each 323
of these variables is described below.
4.3.1 Being a woman. Women entrepreneurs confront harder work requirements that are
exacerbated by the global VUCA environment and identify two options to cope with this adverse
situation. To complain and be discriminated against by customers, suppliers, and investors; or
they can use gender difference as an advantage to be prominent and out of the ordinary:
As a woman entrepreneur I have received support from many people willing to help me, including
giving me information on contacts, network, and others things. But on the other side, investors
persistently show a “macho” tendency. And I do not think they do because they undervalue woman,
but just because they don’t feel comfortable discussing topics they are unfamiliar with issues they are
unable to handle, such as entrepreneurial women’s issues they are not familiar with JP.
Being a woman introduces disparities when we are just a few among all the entrepreneurs. But in a
certain way this gives us more visibility and can help. Although initially women can find less
opportunities in men dominated environments, we can find advantages by being few to leverage
situations and increase women’s resilience ASI.
I have never felt belittled for being a woman. I never felt it is a problem being a woman. Indeed,
I always try to use it as a tool to my advantage LC.
I see an issue among women entrepreneurs, many behave in a submissive fashion “not to ask.”
Women have a tendency to wait until asked, instead of assertively saying “I want this and please
give it to me” VP.
Actually, being a woman entrepreneur in the technology industry it is not a problem. Opportunities
are greater when there are fewer women because the trend today is “if there are no women”
expectations are low. But indeed when a woman emerges in the technology industry, whatever
she says surprises everybody because it exceeds expectations men have about women. Being a
woman in the industry means to be different and this help us. I think many more doors are opened
for women LC.
Some of the 20 Latin American women entrepreneurs that participated study tried to
raise capital in the USA to secure funding for their start-ups. It was found that in the
perception of these women US investors tend to be negative with women in start-ups and
also toward the Latin America culture. They saw investors discouraged by these
characteristics; they perceive disadvantages that increase the risk. One of the women
start-up founder stated:
Coming from Latin America and being a woman seeking funds in the United States […] Last year
this thought went through my mind. Today I think it is more a mental constraint than anything
else. I mean, there may be discrimination, but what can we do? We cannot go against. Then, if we
want to raise U.S. capital we must accept the conditions rather than do something to change it.
Going against is counterproductive, I think ASO.

4.3.2 Globalization. Another challenge identified by the women start-up founder in the
technology industry was globalization competence. A common feature related to raising
capital in the global VUCA environment is the issue of necessary skills to deal with people
from other countries and cultures, sensitivity to cultural differences, new environments, and
new ideas that introduce surmounting amount of disruptions. The results showed that
CCSM opportunity to visit other countries while in the acceleration program and meeting new
24,2 people helped them innovate and advance their start-ups objectives:
I came here after living 6 months in Paris, 6 months in Singapore […] Chile, Mexico and Tanzania,
all were the same […] […] A person who has lived in many places can detect opportunities to do
business everywhere VP.
4.3.3 Country of origin. Findings of the study show that country of origin is directly related
324 with opportunities women entrepreneurs perceive when creating a start-up and exposed that
differences are considerable in Latin America. In Chile and Mexico idiosyncrasy, institutions
and systems are more structured and bureaucratic, and the population is more risk averse. In
contrast, in Venezuela and Argentina, which have been subject to high levels of volatility
uncertainty and risk, this environment has induced women to pursue entrepreneurial plans:
Chilean people, compared with Argentinean, behave quite different, most likely because Argentina
is a highly unstable country with a great deal of uncertainty, while Chile is more stable and
predictable. That may justify why Chileans are more risk averse that Argentineans ML.
4.3.4 Age and experience. Women start-up founders perceive that investors’ value
experience in the industry adds trust increasing investment potential. In some industries,
when women founders look very young this can be an obstacle to raise capital:
In the United States it is difficult for a woman, and even worse for a younger woman, to raise capital
in the water industry, because this is a very conservative industry highly regulated by government
policies and traditionally men dominated. I overheard comments like “she should bring some grey
hair to the table.” So someone older and with more experience generates more credibility in this
business and this facilitates to raise capital ML.
4.3.5 Perseverance. The most frequently cited condition for fundraising among women
founders was perseverance and it was also identified as the most important feature for all
entrepreneurs. Perseverance is steady persistence in a course of action to reach an objective
in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement and has been frequently associated with
success:
I think that persistence and passion are fundamental assets to be a successful entrepreneur. Women
have a lot of passion but often get scared and get afraid more easily than men. But if women know
how to handle fear, risk and hazards, which are inevitable parts of the endeavor, then persistence and
endurance are crucial to attain sustainability. To be a successful entrepreneur is not easy CR.
In the technology industry we have to bid a lot, and why not? This industry definitely isn’t easy.
It is highly competitive, many firms, lots of actors. It is quite difficult. But we have made it with
perseverance, it has not been luck. In fact, many times we wanted to surrender, but at the last
moment we said “let’s go for one more push.” Perseverance helped us go through, keep pace with
challenges, and stay fit LC.
Last year I spent 9 months in the United States [raising capital]. It was long time to spend away from
home. It was hard. I think I was depressed. I did not realize how hard it was to be alone.
My partner visited me occasionally, but I knew no one there. Sometimes, the only person I spoke to
was the coffee guy in Starbucks. It was very difficult indeed but perseverance kept me through ASO.

5. Discussion
The study has shown a comprehensive picture of the experience of women start-up founders
raising capital in the tech industry after participating in the Start-Up Chile acceleration
program. The main themes are grouped in three categories: capital needs, networks, and
individual characteristics.
Women start-up founders’ capital raising success is associated with business characteristics,
networking in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and individual characteristics.
 Not surprising, participants confirm that “perseverance” is a key element to raise capital; Latin American
while gender is important, it seems to play a lesser role. women start-up
The findings provide some explanations in relation to the query if the women founders founders
did – or not – raise capital after participating in the Chile Start-Up acceleration program and
how they evaluate the experience.
Looking from a theoretical dimension, attribution theory (Heider, 1958) states that a
person’s reactions are based on two levels of attributions: internal attribution, inferences that a 325
person behaves in a certain way led by personal attributes, such as attitude, character, or
personality; and external attributions, inferences that an individual behaves in a certain way
contingent with the situation he or she is involved in. The individual attribute of perseverance
was the best predictor to succeed raising capital, according to the participants’ responses. This
may be interpreted as an attribution error which over-emphasizes the human capital
characteristics. This coincides with Baum and Silverman (2004) who noted that venture
capitalists make an attribution error overemphasizing human capital in start-ups when they
make investment decisions.
On the other hand, gender discrimination appears to be an obstacle for women who have not
raised capital but this is probably more of perceived fear than a real obstacle.
The argument introduces a self-serving attribution bias (Rogoff et al., 2004). Fiore and Lussier
(2015) empirically tested the fundamental attribution error overemphasizing business success to
celebrity-entrepreneur disposition. The hypothesis confirmed that people attribute business
success more to entrepreneurial dispositions of a person, rather than to team behavior or external
factors. This has serious implications about the outcome and effectiveness of public policy.
In spite of evidence that women founders who raised capital agreed that being a woman
is a significant obstacle while pitching their start-up to investors most women believe that
gender should not be an obstacle. This is a challenging dilemma because founders need to
be rational and have a high level of self-esteem and confidence in order to effectively convey
these personal attributes to potential investors.

5.1 Limitations and future research

This study did not include interviews with men start-up founders who have participated in
the Start-Up Chile acceleration program. Future research could consider gender
comparisons and rates of success raising external capital to observe differences and
effects in the fundraising process.
Although the size of the sample of this study is small, it is representative of the
proportion of women start-up founders in the technology industry, projecting these findings
pioneering the importance in entrepreneurship and economic development in developing as
well as developed countries.

6. Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to explore funding opportunities for women start-up founders
who participated in the accelerator Start-Up Chile. The main interest was to examine the role
of the gender and conditions of Latin American women founders while raising capital to
grow their companies.
The inductive thematic analysis used in the interviews conducted to the 20 women included
in the study revealed ten subthemes that conditions to raise capital, which were gathered in the
three main categories: capital needs, networks, and individual characteristics.
The contribution of this study is the identification of elements that can improve public
policies and help women start-up founders in the technology industry to be more effective
fundraising capital for to attain business sustainability after participating in an acceleration
program or receiving seed capital.
CCSM 6.1 Public policy implications
24,2 The results of this study support Fiore and Lussier (2015) emphasis and attribution of
success on personal traits, and five subthemes are related to individual characteristics
increasing the potential to bias public policy. Therefore, researchers need to be aware to
interpret these results carefully.
For now, public policies to support new venture creation in Chile point to enhancing the
326 entrepreneurial ecosystem, offering grants, providing co-work space, allowing failure, and
empowering the social image of “the entrepreneur as a hero.” But female-only networks
and (pre)acceleration programs can be a double-edged sword, as women do not necessarily
feel comfortable in participating in women networks as they might be seen as “victims that
need to take care of.”
Also, attention needs to be placed on the cohort of women and men start-up founders who
do not participate in the entrepreneurial ecosystem (i.e. institutions, networks, resources) and
rely only in personal savings, “family, friends and fools” (FFF) for economic support. A new
line of research should look at this group and compare rate of success raising capital with
entrepreneurs who seeks the support of Chilean Government agencies to observe differences.
Research shows women have considerable disadvantage to get bank loans, VC and other
external sources of money needed to grow a business. But, it is apparent that women have
advantages in the fast-growing field of crowdfunding[8]. Gorbatai and Nelson (2015) show
that pitches created by women were more likely to ignite positive emotion, vividness, and
inclusiveness, and less likely to use business language, partially explaining why women did
better. Crowdfunding campaigns that used emotional and inclusive language tended to
succeed, while those that relied on dry, business language more often came up short.
Crowdfunding and FFF seems to be good alternatives to VC funding for women.
Additionally, the results induce to think that there are young people with less social capital
with good potential to establish a new business who are currently excluded of the Chilean and
Latin American entrepreneurial ecosystems, conditions that are pushing this cohort to become
necessity entrepreneurs instead of opportunity entrepreneurs. If so, are the present public
policies (i.e. Start-Up Chile program, accelerators and co-works with public funds, grants)
intended only for middle age people and higher income applicants? Is it possible to design and
deploy public policies able to motivate low income individuals to start rapid growth ventures?
Public policies in developing countries seek to increase entrepreneurial activity that
promotes economic growth with social development necessary to increase population
well-being. Lepeley et al. (2015) and Acs (2006) explain that necessity and opportunity
entrepreneurship have differential impact on economic growth. Acs (2006) adds that “when
more people become involved in Opportunity Entrepreneurship and more people leave behind
Necessity Entrepreneurship (as a more precarious source of self-employment), the tendency is
rising levels of economic development” ( p. 102).
Entrepreneurs have mixed motivations to start-up a business but it is clear that a shift
from people’s necessity-oriented into opportunity-oriented is a strong motivation when
entrepreneur ventures develop and increase sustainability (Williams, 2008).
According to Inti Nuñez (2015), Executive Director of CORFO, the public National
Development Agency responsible to finance, develop, and strengthen entrepreneurial activity
in Chile, over USD30 million have been invested between 2011 and 2015 in Start-Up Chile, with
a return estimated in USD200 million in accumulated business value in 2015.
Lepeley et al. (2015) reported on the three-decade experience of women in entrepreneurship
in Chile as one of the strongest records in Latin America. The participants in this study
perceive that entrepreneurial activity has had a great impulse in the last decade and Chile is
following on its historical consistent path.
Kuschel and Lepeley (2016a) address the concern on gender differences with particular
emphasis in start-ups in the technology industry. In spite of the fact that some authors
contend gender might not have significant impact on raising funds (Cohoon et al., 2010) the Latin American
results of this study show associations of gender to difficulties to raise capital but also women start-up
uncovered some advantages woman may have. founders
It is expected that as more women start-up founders enter the high-technology industry, they
will confront less cultural obstacles into balance equality and compensate for the “gatekeepers of
venture growth” which until now is largely dominated by men (Brush et al., 2004). This is a
concern that has received limited attention in entrepreneurship literature and requires increasing 327
awareness and research to solve this gap.
The social perception that “women should stay at home” is obsolete worldwide. In the
knowledge society this state has reached a point of no return. Therefore, public policies in
Latin America should develop accordingly to new social trends and enhance gender equality
access to capital.

Notes
1. According to Blank (2010, p. 1) “a start-up is a temporary business organization pursuing a
scalable and replicable model.” Ries (2011, p. 14) additionally stated that “a start-up is a human
institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of high uncertainty.”
2. VUCA refers to volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (Lepeley, 2016a, b).
3. The world’s leading cities for start-ups, 2015 Top 20 Global Leaders in the Tech Boom, Richard
Florida, available at: www.citylab.com/tech/2015/07/the-worlds-leading-startup-cities/399623/
4. The world’s leading cities for start-ups, 2012 Top 20 Global Leaders in the Tech Boom, Richard
Florida, available at: www.citylab.com/work/2012/11/worlds-leading-cities-startups/3937/
5. 24horas, available at: www.24horas.cl/programas/avances24/avances-24-viernes-12-de-agosto-210
3528 (accessed August 18, 2016).
6. Start-Up Chile is the number 1 accelerator in Latin America and fourth worldwide, available at:
http://startupchile.org/gust-fundacity/
7. 2015 Global Accelerator Report, available at: http://gust.com/global-accelerator-report-2015/
8. Crowdfunding is the practice of raising money through contributions from large numbers of
people, usually over the internet.

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Further reading
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entrepreneurship”, available at: www.economiaynegocios.cl/noticias/noticias.asp?id=153736
(accessed March 29, 2017).

About the authors

Katherina Kuschel holds a PhD Degree in Social Psychology from the Universitat Autònoma
de Barcelona and BA Degree from the Universidad del Desarrollo. She is a Professor of Management
at the Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile. Her areas of specialization and research are
entrepreneurship, focusing on work-life balance and women entrepreneurs in technology.
Katherina Kuschel is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]
María-Teresa Lepeley is the Founder, President and CEO of Global Institute for Quality Education,
USA, an institution with the mission to foster continuous improvement in management for sustainable
education, organizations, the economy and society. She is a Former Member of the Board of Examiners
of US Baldrige National Quality Award. She is also a Quality Management and Sustainability
Specialist. Her research and teaching fields include Human Centered Management, efficiency
innovation and entrepreneurship focused on the contribution of women entrepreneurs to economic
growth. She is a Principal Editor of the book Human Centered Management in Executive Education:
Global Imperatives, Innovation, and New Directions (Palgrave, 2016) and a Principal Editor of the book
series Human Centered Management: Meeting Global Demand for Innovation in Education and
Organizations in Sustainable Economies and Inclusive Societies (Greenleaf Publishing 2016).
Fernanda Espinosa studied Industrial Engineering at the Universidad Andrés Bello, Chile. She
works as the Coordinator for research projects on female entrepreneurship.
Sebastián Gutiérrez is a PhD Candidate in Management at the Universidad de Santiago and holds
BA Degree from the Universidad de Santiago. He is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at
the Universidad Central, Santiago, Chile. His areas of specialization and research are international
entrepreneurship, focusing on SMEs and their scaling processes.

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