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Funding access for women founders will not change through pitch advice alone. At a March 2024 Seattle event, former All Raise CEO Pam Kostka argued that change requires action on four fronts: who controls capital, how founders access networks, how they communicate with investors, and how care responsibilities shape their ability to build companies. Her account is an ecosystem argument—not a current measurement of funding outcomes.
What did Pam Kostka say needs to change?
Kostka spoke at a Seattle event hosted by Graham & Walker, according to GeekWire’s March 12, 2024 report. She framed the issue around four connected themes: capital, connections, communication, and care. They are ways to understand the barriers she sees, not a ranked list of proven interventions or mutually exclusive causes.
Capital: who makes investment decisions
Kostka’s first point is that changing who receives investment requires looking at who allocates it. “If you don’t change the people who are giving out the money, you’re not going to change who they’re investing in,” she said. She also called for change in the sources of limited-partner (LP) capital and the kinds of firms those LPs back: “We have to change where the LP dollars are coming from and the types of firms that they’re investing in.”
GeekWire reported that startups led only by women had received less than 3% of venture-capital dollars over the preceding decade, and that the share had declined in recent years. That is the trend as reported in March 2024, not a current 2026 statistic. The report also attributed to All Raise a figure of 13% women among decision-makers at U.S.-based venture firms managing at least $25 million, excluding healthcare firms and corporate venture-capital firms. That figure is likewise an attributed, dated statistic; the underlying All Raise dataset was not independently verified here.
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Connections: making networks overlap
Founders often depend on introductions and relationships to reach investors and other sources of support. Kostka’s recommendation was to build those connections deliberately rather than assume everyone has equal access to the same networks. “We need to be intentional about how we’re reaching out and creating overlapping networks,” she said.
For investors and established founders, the practical implication is to make introductions more accessible: widen who is invited into relevant conversations, connect founders beyond familiar circles, and share useful expertise rather than treating informal networks as the only route in. These are applications of Kostka’s proposal, not interventions the event report evaluates.
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Communication: help founders make their case
Kostka also pointed to communication in investor meetings. Pitch support can help a founder clarify the company’s story and present it in a form investors can follow. She cautioned against assuming that one approach fits every setting: “You don’t show up to the soccer field with a tennis racket.”
The distinction matters: communication coaching can help someone prepare for a meeting, but it does not replace access to investors or change who holds investment authority. The goal, as reflected in the report’s discussion of pitch support, is to strengthen a founder’s presentation without requiring her to surrender an authentic voice.
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Care: account for childcare and other responsibilities
Care obligations affect working parents’ time and ability to participate in the work and networks surrounding a startup. Kostka described the issue bluntly: “We have a looming care crisis.” Her framing places childcare and other care responsibilities within the funding ecosystem conversation, rather than treating them as problems founders should solve privately.
Who has a role in changing funding access?
Kostka’s argument does not put the burden solely on women founders. Investors, LPs, founders, and others with relevant time, resources, or expertise can contribute to other people’s success. Her call to action was: “Take the time and the resources you have and pull somebody up behind you and invest wisely in their success.”
That can mean examining who gets considered for investment, opening networks, offering practical pitch support, or recognizing care constraints when designing how people access opportunities. The event report describes these as directions for change; it does not establish which will have the largest effect or prove that any one approach closes the funding gap.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the reported figures do—and do not—show
The less-than-3% figure and the 13% decision-maker figure help explain the concern Kostka raised, but both need their original context. The first describes the preceding decade as summarized by GeekWire in March 2024. The second is attributed to All Raise and applies only to the specified U.S. venture-firm criteria. Neither should be read as a fresh measurement for 2026.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteGeekWire also referred to a Harvard Business Review study reporting that venture-capital firms with more female partners had better returns and more profitable exits. The event report does not identify the study, its date, sample, or effect size, so it cannot support a numerical estimate or a stronger claim that representation itself caused those outcomes.
For readers trying to understand the broader funding landscape, Kostka’s remarks are useful as a framework for questions about capital, networks, investor communication, and care. They are not a substitute for updated funding data or evidence evaluating the effectiveness of specific reforms.
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