The inaugural meeting of Capital W: The Boston Women’s Venture Summit wasn’t just another conference, it was a Silicon Seneca Falls. And if you don’t get my reference, go read about Susan B. Anthony’s conference in 1848 where women met to talk about their freedom (or lack thereof).

The event featured an impressive lineup of female investors, entrepreneurs, and business people who shared their advice and optimism. (Several men were also on hand.) And while attendees didn’t much resemble the early suffragettes, they were ready to demand their entrepreneurial freedom, be taken seriously, and find funding (event staffers wore T-shirts that read: “Girls just want to have funds”). In a post-Ellen Pao world, the message shared throughout the day was clear: Women want to access the same capital and opportunities male entrepreneurs have enjoyed for a long time.

The women who came to pitch their startups had a range of unique products: tasty snacks made of insect protein, fixes for female incontinence, and even a hangover cure.

The startup Blowfish Hangovers (Rally Labs) did a lively pitch for their hangover remedy, an effervescent tablet that promises to wipeout your alcohol-induced headache in 15 minutes. The startup Elidah got up close and personal as founder Gloria Kolb pitched a product that will help treat female incontinence, a big problem affecting one in three women.

Next, Harvard grads Six Foods pitched their unique protein chips, made from crickets, called Chirps. After her presentation, Rose Wang, the co-founder of Six Foods, told me she was thrilled to see “men and women are coming together to help, hear, and promote awesome Boston women doing awesome things.” Watching the VCs eating her cricket chips after her pitch must have been a thrill.

It was also exciting for the investors and angels who attended. Maia Heymann, Senior Managing Director of Common Angels, called Capital W an “invigorating day of positivity” and said she was thrilled to be surrounded by “exceptional entrepreneurs with big ideas… who happen to be women.”

In the hallway, I met Yooree Losordo, the owner of On The Dot Books, selling speakers’ books and asked her what she thought. “I came away with a much greater understanding of how venture capital operates,” she said, “but out of the tens of emerging female entrepreneurs I know, I can only think of one or two who may be candidates for VC.”

Diane Hessan, CEO of Startup Institute and Janet Kraus, the CEO of Peach, would likely disagree. In a panel towards the end of the day, they both urged more women to “take the money,” saying that one of the biggest hurdles that women must overcome in the world of VC is their insecurity when asking for funds.

As if to demonstrate the issue, fellow panelist Scott Friend from Bain Capital, who has backed women-led startups Rent the Runway and Manicube, opened his appointment book and noted that about 20 percent of his pitch meetings are with women. He made it clear that he takes every pitch meeting with any female entrepreneur who asks, since he believes any person can come to him with a home run startup. But he said he was “disappointed in general that the numbers aren’t more balanced.”

Among the most powerful moments of the day came during the panel on angel investment, led by Heymann. As she started her talk, she asked all of the women in the room to raise their hands if they were an entrepreneur. Three-fourths of the room raised their arms. “Raise them high,” she said, as she snapped a photo.

One hopes it will be a nice image to have someday, for posterity’s sake.

From: Betaboston.com