This week, host Eve Young, economics correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, interviews Dr. Karny Ilan, CEO and co-founder of femtech startup Feminai.
As a team of female co-founders, the Feminai team ran into interesting reactions from potential investors, including meeting investors who told them that they needed a man on their team, Ilan explained on the podcast.
Ilan, along with her co-founders Shani Klein Antman and Gal Yanuka, are entrepreneurs in women's healthcare, having met at an entrepreneurship course at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Already, Feminai has made waves with a breakthrough technology: An at-home breast cancer test.
This tech will allow for easier detection and early treatment of the most common type of cancer for women.
"In the academia world, women are right now being pushed forward, women are encouraged to do things," Ilan said. But in business, women are seen in top positions with much less frequency, to the point where it became a disadvantage."
In the academic world, "people were praising us for being these three young intelligent women. But once we came out of it, and we met with real investors [and] real companies, suddenly we noticed how the fact that we're three women is very weird for people and they're not sure how to handle us."
Ilan recounted meeting with investors, who asked her and her co-founders "Who's the man who thought of this idea? Who is building the technology?"
For many of these investors, the fact that there were only women among the co-founders and start-up leadership was a disadvantage.
"I've heard, 'You need a man on the team. You need an old man with white hair on the team.' It's all sorts of different things," Ilan noted.
She recounted one experience of going on a roadshow in the US, where she was the only female founder. The fact that women entrepreneurs are so rare is even joked about by other female start-up founders.
"Usually, when you talk to female founders, they will always say the biggest advantage is that the toilets are always empty," Ilan said. "There's never a line because there's no other women in the building."
Over time, Feminai was able to overcome many of these obstacles, and have managed to have more success with investors.
One of the most notable of these investors is Gili Elkin, a co-founder and general manager at ICI Fund.
"Something super unique about her is that she's there to give all these women that were kicked out of other VCs for being women a chance," Ilan said. "I think she's the only VC in Israel that ,if you look at her portfolio, it's mostly women."
This reflects what Ilan says is the best solution: Getting more women into the room.
"I don't think the problem was with the people in the room. I think the problem is that there just aren't women in the room," Ilan explained. "So people are not getting used to different habits."
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Your go-to podcast for all things to do with innovation in Israel. Join Eve Young as she delves into the heart of Israel's tech and business scenes and uncovers the groundbreaking ideas and visionary minds working to shape the future. Join her each week as she shines a spotlight on the latest trends and entrepreneurial spirit propelling Israel to the forefront of global innovation.