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52 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 1873 (2018-2019)
Venture Bearding

handle is hein.journals/davlr52 and id is 1897 raw text is: Venture Bearding Benjamin P. Edwardst* & Ann C. McGinley** Venture bearding, a term that we coin in this Article, describes processes of obscuring and covering socially stigmatized identities in business environments. This Article introduces distinctive identity performance strategies from the technology, startup, and venture capital context into the legal literature and discusses what their existence explains about business environments and capital formation. Venture bearding, as we use the term, describes behaviors that persons with contextually stigmatized identities adopt to access social status and capital. In some instances, women, who are stigmatized in this context, may employ men as front persons to conceal that the venture is an exclusively women- owned business. Venture bearding is a common, complex, and problematic strategy and is driven by stigma and bias in the business environment. The Article focuses on how the current startup, technology, and venture capital landscape causes persons with stigmatized identities to strategically conceal facets of their female identities in favor of presenting masculinized identities to conduct business and raise capital. The Article charts a continuum of venture bearding practices ranging from techniques to downplay a founder's identity to the actual employment of men for the purpose of deriving economic value from their identities. t Copyright @ 2019 Benjamin P. Edwards and Ann C. McGinley. * Associate Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law. J.D., Columbia Law School. Special thanks to Sarah C. Haan, Cathy Hwang, Kathrine A. Macfarlane, Elizabeth Pollman, Elizabeth Manriquez, Christine Lazaro, Jessica Brown, and others. The Article has benefited significantly from presentations and workshops with the faculties at Florida International University College of Law, the University of New Mexico School of Law, and the Rocky Mountain Junior Scholars Forum at Brigham Young University Law School. The paper also benefited from comments from participants at the National Business Law Scholars Conference and Law & Society. - William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law, J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School. Thank you to David McClure and the Wiener-Rogers Law Library at UNLV, who supported this project with outstanding research. Thank you also to our colleagues at UNLV who gave us valuable feedback at a faculty workshop. 1873

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