We published a feature on Thursday morning about some of the difficulties female founders of startups have encountered while fundraising, and how those deals amounted to less than 5% of the sector’s funding in the first eight months of the year, according to The Information’s Creator Economy Database. 

One thread that emerged from our reporting is that women are often more likely to bootstrap businesses for years without taking on a lot of venture capital—and without garnering the publicity that usually comes with those funding rounds. Of course, this isn’t the case for everyone. But it’s an insight that made me think about how we view success for this fast-growing startup sector.