For International Women’s Day this year, I wanted to thank some men!

Angel Academe founder and CEO Sarah Turner writes:

I made a conscious decision about 10 years ago that I was only going to invest in tech startups with a female founder. And in 2014 I started an angel network to attract more women to angel investing. Members of the network have just invested in our 47th female founded tech startup. We’re investing in the change we want to see.

I spend most of my time speaking to women about women and the challenges women have raising investment for their businesses. Like with much about our world, the status quo was developed by and for men dating from a time when women didn’t build businesses, let alone write cheques to fund them.

We do both now. Still less than men, but that’s steadily changing. We’re building businesses, including investment organisations, that work for us. We’ve reached the highest levels in business, government and all walks of life in unprecedented numbers. Women have more money and power than ever before and a choice about what to do with it.

I believe passionately that the solutions to many of the challenges women still face will come from women. But we can’t do it alone, or rather, we don’t want to! We need men to support us, but to let us lead the way. This isn’t about making a place or 2 for us at their table, but asking if they can join ours.

Men are as much a part of Angel Academe as the female investors and founders we back. For once they’re the unsung heroes, and I wanted to take the opportunity on IWD to thank some of them:

Simon Hopkins, Bob Schukai, James Fulforth, Mark Pattenden, Dave Weller, Eric Van der Kleij, Seb Dovey, Simon Thorpe, John Souter, Chris Connelly, Alex Hirsch, Robin Beattie, Richard Madden, Sean Phelan, Garry Felgate, Simon Tinkler, and Bob Mollen!