Multiple studies have documented that female founders in VC pitches receive more risk-focused questions ('what could go wrong?', 'how will you defend against competition?'), while male founders receive more opportunity-focused questions ('how big could this become?', 'what's the upside?'). The difference correlates with valuations and funding decisions.
Where the bias shows up
Question categories tracked across hundreds of pitch decisions. Same business descriptions, different questions by founder gender. Promotion-focused questions correlated with higher funding amounts; prevention-focused questions correlated with lower amounts.
How to redirect
Female founders can recognise prevention questions and redirect: 'That's a real risk; here's the mitigation. The bigger opportunity is...' Don't just answer the risk question; pivot back to opportunity framing.
Investor pattern-matching by gender is documented but unconscious. Naming it and redirecting often produces better outcomes within the same conversation.