Marina Gerner is the author of The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs That Could Change Everything in Women's Health. She holds a PhD from the LSE, is a professor at NYU, and has been a journalist for over 15 years — bringing academic rigour and accessible storytelling to the systemic barriers facing women's health innovation.
The origin story — 9 in 10 first-time mothers experience a birth injury. The last major innovation in standard birth care was the epidural, popularised in the 1950s. That gap is what sent Marina down this rabbit hole.
Why stigma is the root cause — When a topic is too uncomfortable to discuss, problems go unrecognised and unfunded. One investor is quoted saying he doesn't want to talk about vaginas at his Monday morning partner meeting.
The VC funding reality — Only 0.25% of all companies receive VC. Of that, just 2–4% goes into women's health. Female founding teams get roughly 1–2% of all VC despite making up 20–40% of founders.
The gender congruence trap — Female founders raise more easily in fashion, beauty, and children's products. Women's health sits in an awkward middle — too stigmatised for some investors, too hardware-heavy for others. A double bind Marina calls the \"lack of fit bias.\"
The craft beer study — Consumers expected beer made by a woman to taste worse and paid less for it. Two things closed the gap: external validation and domain expertise in the evaluator.
Promotion vs prevention questions — Investors ask female founders how they'll handle losses; they ask male founders what success looks like. When you get a prevention-based question, answer with a promotion-based frame.
Practical strategies — Apply for awards and grants actively. Look up previous recipients and reach out. Grants are non-dilutive funding and a powerful third-party validation signal — a dual benefit many founders underestimate.
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