12/3/12 New play in San Francisco takes on unlikely subject: Women in venture capital - San Jose Mercury N… SIGN IN | REGISTER | NEWSLETTERS Part of the Bay Area News Group eEdition / Subscriber Services Like 34k Mobile | Mobile Alerts | RSS NEWS PHOTOS BUSINESS TECH SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING OPINION PUBLICATIONS MY TOWN HELP JOBS CARS REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIED SHOPPING Site Web Search by YAHOO! San Jose, CA Now:48°F High:63°F Low:52°F city or zip In The News: Chiefs murder­suicide Sketch in Monte Sereno slaying McAfee still on the lam Gold bars stolen Giants wait on Pagan, Scutaro Foam boxes next target? Recommend Send 16 people recommend this. 3 Sharre 7 Tweet 30 Be the first of your friends. New play in San Francisco takes on unlikely subject: Women in venture capital By Peter Delevett [email protected] Posted: 10/17/2012 03:49:07 PM PDT Updated: 10/17/2012 05:58:17 PM PDT 1 of 9 Headlines 13 things to know about California's cap­and­trade program Hewlett­Packard's $11 billion Autonomy fiasco was preceded by many red flags Butler: A matter of opinion on taxes and investments Dollar stores get spruced up; deals less clear cut Cassidy: Digital Jesuit Robert Ballecer aims to connect with people where they live Good Morning Silicon Valley blog Facebook and Zynga: friends with reduced benefits? NEXT ARTICLE INTeNchE trWip: Syria's Internet shutdown, India and online content, Facebook and sex­offende×r page Purdy: SanSili cFon rBeaatn blocgisco New Play: Women in venture capital Wiretap: John McAfee still on the lam, mayor of San Portrait of Jennifer Wilson, at the Tides Theater in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, October 15, 2012. Wilson ha4s w9ritten ra s inexcPeudros saaysbly blow new play about her failed effort to raise a venture capital fund 20 years ago. Wilson's play goes up on Oct. 19 for a twno­ opportuAnpplie tfaynmoms and fandads go goo­goo over their week run. (Josie Lepe/Staff) fanbabies! Tech» F Cileso mnatilnbauge: D tigoit aal srteitc­tloep .b..ox recommendations Follow @mercbiznews 2,892 followers mercbiznews: Biz Break: Big changes afoot for Intel, Apple soars on good day for Wall Street: Today: Intel chief Paul Otellin... http://t.co/UyU9zZLJ SAN FRANCISCO ­­ This is a love story ­­ about a woman, a man and the dream she wouldn't let go. mercbiznews: Intel CEO's early retirement a surprise: Intel announced Monday morning that CEO Paul Otellini In the late 1980s, Jennifer Wilson was working at the state of Iowa's fledgling tech­investment agency. As she and two would step down i... http://t.co/iCrVhQEz colleagues pored over potential deals, she was struck by how few of them came from women. San Jose Mercury News on So she set out to raise $20 million and launch a venture firm that would specialize in female entrepreneurs. "I figured if I Facebook could find 10 brilliant women and invest in them, I could make a lot of money," she said recently, "because there wasn't any competition." Like 34,301 But this being 1989, when venture firms were slogging through a recession, investors weren't exactly lining up to throw More on Business money at a relatively unproven fund manager. Wilson's months of fruitless struggle turned to years. SiliconValley.com | Personal tech | Tech Files Now a play she's written about that experience is set to make its debut in San Francisco. And it arrives as the role of women in the tech world is in the spotlight. Most Viewed Most E­Mailed "I think people will leave the play having a lot to mull over," said Wilson, an admitted theatrical novice. (From the last 12 hours) That the story is finally reaching an audience has much to do with the man ­­ a wealthy techie to whom a friend had 1. Editors' Picks: Top stories on introduced Wilson when she was still trying to raise money for her Sky Venture Capital. MercuryNews.com 2. Purdy: San Francisco 49ers inexcusably blow Jean Hoerni had a record of backing women entrepreneurs. He was also a Silicon Valley legend: As one of the so­ an opportunity called "Traitorous Eight" who had founded Fairchild Semiconductor 3. Cost of Dying: At­home caregivers face in 1957, Hoerni helped create the chip industry. challenges, sacrifice 4. Sorry, we could not find the Mercury News Advertisement Even though he was two decades older than her, article you're looking for Wilson says, "I figured out he was more interested in me 5. Purdy: Good and bad in 49ers' 16­13 loss to than he was in my idea. I had to decide: Do I want to Rams www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_21794791/new-play-san-francisco-takes-unlikely-subject-women 1/3 12/3/12 New play in San Francisco takes on unlikely subject: Women in venture capital - San Jose Mercury N… than he was in my idea. I had to decide: Do I want to Rams start a fund, or start a relationship?" 6. Crashes, flooding, power outages as nasty storm rolls into Bay Area She followed her heart and married the man. But in the years that followed, the dream stayed with her. News Videos » "I'd learned so much in trying to raise the fund that I needed to write about it," said Wilson, who lives in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood. Paula's Mile­High Apple After Hoerni died of a bone marrow disease in 1997, Pie Wilson landed a visiting scholar's position at Northeastern University in Boston and wrote a "depressing" book about the Sky Venture saga. Unable to interest publishers, she shelved the dream for another decade, until Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin became contenders for America's highest political posts. Despite the heady times, Wilson said, "In talking to women friends, I realized things hadn't really changed that much." Women still faced steep hurdles in starting a business or ascending to power. The numbers speak for themselves: Dow Jones this month released a survey of 21,000 companies that received venture capital between 1997 and last year. Women founded just 1.3 percent of them. Venture capitalists themselves are overwhelmingly male. Earlier this year, a female partner sued Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of Menlo Park, perhaps the world's most storied venture house. She claimed that the firm behind the likes of Google (GOOG) and Amazon was a hotbed of sexism. While defenders rose in support of Kleiner Perkins, which has far more female partners than the average venture firm, Recommendations the still­pending lawsuit renewed focus on an industry where, according to a trade association survey, only 11 percent of investors are women. Student's photo with face tattoo banned from East Bay yearbook "A lot of times, you go to these tech events and they're all white guys," said Natalia Oberti Noguera, founder of a group 3 people recommended this. called Pipeline Fellowship that this month hosted a conference in San Francisco on the dearth of female startup investors. Bowling Green to face San Jose St in Military Bowl "If we can diversify the sources of capital," she said, "we can unleash more capital for women and entrepreneurs of 3 people recommended this. color." Banned Pleasanton yearbook photo It's those kinds of conversations that Wilson hopes her play, "And That's What Little Girls Are Made Of," will spark. causes stir 15 people recommended this. Just how to turn a script into something stage­ready, though, was another challenge. A friend last year pointed her to a women's performing company in San Francisco called 3Girls Theatre; the group's dramaturge, Suze Allen, helped tighten Wilson's work and introduced her to director Jennifer Welch. Facebook social plugin Welch is a 12­year veteran of the Bay Area's arts scene and an entrepreneur in her own right: Earlier this year, she founded Tides Theatre and moved it into the former SF Playhouse space near Union Square. The play ­­ which Wilson also is underwriting ­­ will run in the 99­seat theater for the next three weekends. Press Releases Powered by "I think the story is so important," said Welch. Wilson is "bringing a unique perspective to the theater." Leveraging AIS PoE Thin Client Technology that Enhances Network Connectivity and Green Welch admits to having had some qualms about a first­time playwright who was also paying to produce the show. But, Computing Applications she said, Wilson's not a stage mom or dilettante. "It's not about ego for her. It's about empowering women in the business Toshiba MR System Expands Clinical world." Capabilities, Improves Patient Comfort at Fairview Hospital The show's production budget, Welch said, is less than $50,000, which she called "pretty standard. The play's so tightly Warner Bros. Pictures’ Acclaimed Hit “Argo” written that it doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles." Strikes Box Office Gold, Surpassing $100 Million Wilson knows some may see irony in the fact that a play about a woman's struggles to make it on her own was written by someone who married into money. Foursquare Selects Cirrus Insight via Salesforce.com’s AppExchange Hoerni, a physicist reared in Switzerland, inspired the vision for the integrated circuit by developing a way to flatten Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP Announces transistors. He later ran Teledyne's semiconductor division; founded chipmaker Intersil; and, on a trek through the Class Action Lawsuit Against SinoHub, Inc. Himalayas, met mountaineer Greg Mortenson, funding his work to build schools in Central Asia.