Entrepreneur Renee LaBran says in her very first job after graduating, her male boss asked her to stop being so "colourful" in the way she dressed and to try "blend in" more Credit:Jason South But LaBran has made a point of not blending in. She later held a number of executive positions with the Los Angeles Times before becoming a founding partner at Rustic Canyon-Fontis Partners, a private equity firm based in Pasadena, and advisor and mentor to start-up CEOs at Idealab, a 21 year-old tech incubator. She also sits on the board of the Women Founders Network - a virtual accelerator that connects female start-ups with mentoring and potential funding. Despite spending the past two decades working to helping women better pitch themselves for VC funding, one of the running themes during her talks has been sexual harassment in her industry. She says until overarching misogyny and gender discrimination is stamped out, women's progress in corporate America and entrepreneurship will stall.

American VC fund manager and entrepreneur Renee LaBran also sits on the board of the Women Founders Network - a virtual accelerator that connects female start-ups with mentoring and potential funding. Credit:Jason South Speak up and be heard When asked about the Harvey Weinstein case she says, "it's horrible", but the one thing it has done is make women speak up and be heard. "We are focused on statistics and all these reasons why there's not women in venture capital - things like implicit bias used against women," she says. "But on top of that, there's this whole layer of blatant sexual discrimination and harassment that people just don't want to hear about.

"Now all of a sudden it's right in front of everyone's face. All this stuff is coming out. We've talked about this for years but now it's out there. And that forces people to take action." I think it [sexual harassment] was all swept under the rug before, but at least, for the moment, you can't sweep it under the rug Renee LaBran "I think it was all swept under the rug before, but at least, for the moment, you can't sweep it under the rug." The Weinstein Company fired Harvey Weinstein. Credit:AP The Harvey Weinstein scandal follows a trail of similar cases plaguing Silicon Valley over the past two years, most of which have surfaced in the past 12 months.

Silicon Valley discrimination To recap some of the major cases making media headlines: Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, who in 2015 lost her historic gender discrimination lawsuit against former employer and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, told the New York Times this year that it she's not done fighting - her case had put "Silicon Valley on notice" and paved the way for women to come forward. Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao lost her historic gender discrimination lawsuit against former employer and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Credit:Bloomberg In February Susan Fowler, in a blog post accused Uber of fostering a toxic culture of sexism and harassment, after which Uber's former CEO, Travis Kalanick resigned, and some 20 other employees were ousted.

By July allegations against Binary Capital co-founder Justin Caldbeck and 500 Startups founder Dave McClure surfaced and both stepped down from their roles. (Before the New York Times published the expose on McClure, he apologised in a blog "I'm a Creep. I'm Sorry"). In August Google engineer James Damore was fired after sharing his anti-diversity memo in which he argued that women are less biologically suited to coding jobs. In September, CEO of $4 billion lending start-up Social Finance, Mike Cagney, announced that he was stepping down as its executive chairman and planned to depart by year's end. This month Amazon's TV and film studios CEO, Roy Price, was suspended following accusations from producer Isa Hackett accused of making unwanted sexual remarks towards her (reportedly Price told her "You will love my dick" as the two shared a taxi in San Diego in 2015). And this week, Silicon Valley heavyweight Robert Scoble responded in a blog to accusations of sexual assault and harassment. He says he didn't sexually harass anyone.

LaBran says had not all these allegations surfaced, the whispers would have gone on. Silicon Valley heavyweight Robert Scoble responded in a blog to accusations of sexual assault and harassment. He says he didn't sexually harass anyone. Credit:Louise Kennerley Women judged harshly by VCs While more female-focused VC funds have sprung up, she says women are often still judged in ways that men are not. In the United States female entrepreneurs get about 2 per cent of all venture capital funding, despite owning 38 per cent of businesses in the country.

The vast majority of seed investors are men, and successful angels tend to invest in entrepreneurs they know - other men. This creates a "vicious circle rather than a virtuous cycle" she says. LaBran notes a recent study published in the Harvard Business Review that found male and female entrepreneurs get asked different questions by VCs — and it impacts how much funding they get. The study's authors found that investors tended to ask men questions about the potential for gains, and women about the potential for losses. For example, men were asked questions like, "how do you intend to monetise this" whereas females were asked "how long will it take you to break even?". She says despite those biases she encourages and mentors women not to give up, but work even harder to break through. "When women come in and pitch they have to know their [business] numbers inside out, they have to know their market inside out. You have to be able to take it." It's not necessarily fair, but she says aspiring female entrepreneurs have to be realistic about the barriers, since "the guys with the money" still hold the power.