Did you know that only 8% of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 have female CEOs but that they’ve outperformed the 92% male-led companies over the past ten years?

Over the last ten years, the difference in returns is clear:

▶ 384% from female-led companies vs.
▶ 261% from male-led companies.

A few notable companies with women CEOs are General Motors, UPS, Citi, and CVS Health 👏

When I often talk to entrepreneurs, investors or people in the community, people ask, “Do you have any data to back up your thesis that female founders can/do perform better?”

The chart below is one of them, + there’s a lot more.

What we learn from charts like the one below is:

🔶 8% (41) of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 are women-led ♀
This number itself is shocking, just like all the other statistics, showing that women are underrepresented in Boards, Management layers and generally among founders

Not all 41 companies have had a woman as CEO for the last 10 years, but the main point is that the type of company that would appoint a woman as CEO is more likely to have been forward-thinking even before bringing her on.

However, if you compare the 41 companies to the period when they had a female CEO, in that case, the women-led companies outperform the male-led companies and the market as well.

🔶 92% (459) of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 are male-led ♂
Men are overrepresented, and if you believe this chart + a lot of research done on women-led vs. male-led companies, it’s clear investors/shareholders could be losing out not having more companies be women-led

A lot of VC’s are opening their eyes to the fact that we need to invest more in women and I’m particularly proud that we at BackingMinds have been strong believers in this thesis for 7 years.

💡 In regards to the future:

1) We hope to see more VC’s drive this change in the early stage of the company lifecycle
2) We hope more companies/startups will address their gender imbalance in the near future
3) We hope more companies/startups address all forms of diversity at the highest levels of leadership – gender, ethnicity, age, backgrounds etc.
4) We hope to see more women go for leadership roles

The change needs to be accelerated.