“WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GROW A STARTUP, THE PEOPLE YOU ARE GETTING ADVICE AND FEEDBACK FROM ARE OVERWHELMINGLY MEN.” This gender gap is hardly limited to Product Hunt. Men also comprise 75 percent of visitors to Kickstarter, 67 percent to Indiegogo, and 79 percent to Y Combinator’s Hacker News. And of course, they dominate the conference rooms of venture capitalists and tech companies that are making decisions on investing in new products. “When you are trying to grow a startup, the people you are getting advice and feedback from are overwhelmingly men,” Koning says. That phenomenon, known as “sampling bias,” is likely less a result of active discrimination against women, Koning says, than it is a lack of representation in the sample of people giving feedback. Nevertheless, it could have potentially serious consequences for a product’s success. Female-focused products experience less growth To test that effect, the researchers examined some 6,000 products released on Product Hunt in a two-year period between 2016 and 2018. Using machine learning, they analyzed product descriptions to classify products according to how much they appealed to female consumers. An app that allows pregnant women to request a seat on public transport, for example, was rated more than 99 percent female-focused, while an app using artificial intelligence to help managers with diversity was rated at 75 percent. “You can imagine that given the barriers women face in labor markets, they would want managers to use it more,” Koning says. When they examined product performance over time, they found that on a platform where nine-in-10 users are men, typical female-focused products showed 40 percent less growth than male-focused and gender-neutral ventures a year after launch. In addition, the female products had fewer users and lower rates of venture funding.

“IF YOU WANT A PLATFORM THAT IS MORE DIVERSE, THEN YOU NEED THE LARGER ECOSYSTEM TO BE MORE DIVERSE.”

Of course, one explanation for the discrepancy could be that female-focused products just sell worse overall. Koning and his colleagues, however, used a clever technique to test that assumption. Product Hunt sends out a daily newsletter, in which it features previously launched products. 

Of course, one explanation for the discrepancy could be that female-focused products just sell worse overall. Koning and his colleagues, however, used a clever technique to test 

Of course, one explanation for the discrepancy could be that female-focused products just sell worse overall. Koning and his colleagues, however, used a clever technique to test “WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GROW A STARTUP, THE PEOPLE YOU ARE GETTING ADVICE AND FEEDBACK FROM ARE OVERWHELMINGLY MEN.” This gender gap is hardly limited to Product Hunt. Men also comprise 75 percent of visitors to Kickstarter, 67 percent to Indiegogo, and 79 percent to Y Combinator’s Hacker News. And of course, they dominate the conference rooms of venture capitalists and tech companies that are making decisions on investing in new products. “When you are trying to grow a startup, the people you are getting advice and feedback from are overwhelmingly men,” Koning says. That phenomenon, known as “sampling bias,” is likely less a result of active discrimination against women, Koning says, than it is a lack of representation in the sample of people giving feedback. Nevertheless, it could have potentially serious consequences for a product’s success. Female-focused products experience less growth To test that effect, the researchers examined some 6,000 products released on Product Hunt in a two-year period between 2016 and 2018. Using machine learning, they analyzed product descriptions to classify products according to how much they appealed to female consumers. An app that allows pregnant women to request a seat on public transport, for example, was rated more than 99 percent female-focused, while an app using artificial intelligence to help managers with diversity was rated at 75 percent. “You can imagine that given the barriers women face in labor markets, they would want managers to use it more,” Koning says. When they examined product performance over time, they found that on a platform where nine-in-10 users are men, typical female-focused products showed 40 percent less growth than male-focused and gender-neutral ventures a year after launch. In addition, the female products had fewer users and lower rates of venture funding.