From: http://www.bizjournals.com/

BOSTON — At the end of September, women-led startups will have the chance to compete for a $250,000 investment — the largest purse ever awarded in a women-focused pitch contest.

And it’s happening because one middle-aged white guy had an epiphany during a panel discussion.

The man is John Burns, president of Breakaway Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital and branding firm. The panel discussion was put on by the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College. The topic was the exceedingly low percentage of VC dollars going to companies run by women — 2.7 percent to be exact.

“I just got to thinking about it, and you know the crazy thing is, I’m not so sure that percentage is all that different than the number of women walking through the door pitching for money,” Burns said. “There’s not enough women entrepreneurs coming into the top of the funnel to spit out more women with VC dollars at the end.”

And the problem goes beyond female entrepreneurs. According to the Diana Project, Babson’s landmark study of women and entrepreneurship, the number of female VC partners fell from 10 percent in 1999 to 6 percent in 2014.

Burns, the father of four daughters between the ages of 11 and 6, wanted to change those numbers. So he partnered with Babson to create the Babson Breakaway Challenge, which has two parts: There’s a VC internship for women, and then there’s a pitch contest for female entrepreneurs — with a $250,000 investment at stake.

The internship portion closed back in March, but female entrepreneurs can submit applications for the pitch competition until Sept. 10. So far, nearly 350 applications have come in.

After Sept. 10, the applicants will be narrowed down to 22 semifinalists who will take part in a demo day in Boston on Sept. 23, when six finalists will be selected.

Those six will then pitch for the grand prize on Sept. 30 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

Susan Duffy, executive director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson, was at the panel discussion back in 2014 and saw Burns’ awakening firsthand.

“He was looking down and kind of looked up into the sky, like, ‘Ah!’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m witnessing this guy getting it,’” Duffy recalled with a laugh.

His desire to partner with Babson gave the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership the chance to help fix the problem it has shed light on through the Diana Project.

“The true difference is not only the size of the purse but the fact that we’re getting at both sides of the problem, and we’re just the people to do it,” Duffy said.

While the winner of the pitch competition is yet to be selected, the winner of the internship is already hard at work at Breakaway. Her name is Annie Colcord, a Babson MBA. She was one of just 21 women who applied for the internship — compared to the 350 going for the $250,000 investment.

So growing that pool is the bigger challenge going forward, Duffy said.

“This is a very lucrative, very important career, and so many women are qualified to do it,” Duffy said. “Having a non-inclusive venture capital environment is limiting the deals that are coming to the VCs, so it’s not good for them. It is limiting opportunities for women who would be great VCs. And it’s limiting the capital that’s coming to women-led deals.”

And at Breakaway, an internship can be a path to a full-time job. Case in point:Margo Layton, the first female intern at Breakaway, who Burns brought on board shortly after his panel discussion epiphany.

A few months after her internship began, Burns hired Layton as a full-time member of the investment team.

Burns calls Layton “Exhibit A” that the lack of women in VC is a problem that can be fixed.

Duffy calls Burns a “next gen VC” who isn’t bound by old paradigms and can recognize a huge opportunity when he sees one.

“And what we hope is that it’s just the beginning, and that in the future, there are three or four VC companies and each of them is putting up $250,000,” Duffy said.

But they’ve got to get through this one first.

Duffy said they are expecting a surge in applications as the Sept. 10 deadline approaches. Burns said they are looking for women with talent, drive and passion who’ve identified a big market opportunity in the consumer space and a unique and compelling solution to a need in that market.

“We’re not looking to necessarily fund one-off proprietorships. We’re looking for women who have big dreams and want to pursue a venture capital opportunity,” he said.

Those women won’t just have to pass muster with Burns. There are three other judges who will have the final say in who wins the $250,000 investment: Linda Pizzuti Henry, the managing partner at Boston Globe Media Partners; Alicia Syrett, an angel investor and founder and CEO of Pantegrion Capital; and Nicole M. Stata, the founder and managing director of Boston Seed Capital.

“We have been working our butts off to get this accomplished,” Duffy said. “And we’re excited that we’re going to accomplish something that is really great for the entrepreneurs, but it’s really important from an awareness point of view, letting people know there’s still a considerable gender gap in capital and we need more women VCs.”