The AWS workshop is called “Pitching Better: A workshop for Underrepresented Founders to Overcome Bias in Fundraising”, and it was adapted based on the research of Dr. Laura Huang, a professor at HBS who spent five years studying gender parity in the startup world. She found that women founders were often asked preventative questions (ie., “is this actually a large market opportunity?”) when pitching to investors, while their male counterparts were asked promotional questions (ie., “how big can this business get?”). This workshop has been curated to serve all URF groups. It helps URFs recognize biased questions, and arm them with tactical ways to respond. The workshop typically takes about 1 hour and is interactive. Founders have said that “this was so useful!” and have rated it on average a 4.8 out of 5.

Founder testimonials: 

• I had no idea on the prevention vs promotion questions, and I get those prevention questions all the time. This was so helpful! Thank you.
• Really eye-opening! highly recommended for every female founder. 
• I absolutely loved this workshop. Super helpful to identify preventative questions in the pitch session and turn those into promotion opportunities. Loved it! 
• Such an engaging and fun topic – I loved how they talked about the challenges but in positive terms instead of just complaining. Really good, tactical things that I was able to put to use right away 🙂 
• Invaluable and eye opening tips on how to answer questions. Positive, informative, and promoting. It was a great way to identify unbiases, acknowledge them, and respond to them in a positive way. 
• It was SO relevant and helpful with the RIP suggestions, and I practiced it yesterday in my pitch. 
• This was unexpected as a session from AWS – very thoughtful, good cadence and great engagement with the whole group. 
• it was insightful and I liked the way they broke down the questions. It makes it easier to understand what VC’s are really asking.

Blurb about the workshop:
Join AWS Startups team members for “Pitching Better: A Workshop for Underrepresented Founders to Overcome Bias in Fundraising.” This workshop is adapted based on the research of Dr. Laura Huang, a professor at HBS who spent five years studying gender parity in the startup world. She found that women founders were often asked preventative questions when pitching to investors, while their male counterparts were asked promotional questions. This challenge is not unique to women founders, but all underserved communities, including people of color, people with disabilities, and individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+. This workshop helps underserved founders recognize biased questions, and arms them with tactical ways to respond.