Financing on her terms: How women entrepreneurs navigate funding beyond the traditional Pecking Order Theory
(2025) ENTN19 20251Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Access to financing for women entrepreneurs plays a fundamental role in the creation and development of their startups. Our study found that women founders, specifically within tech startups, face barriers and challenges when searching for and navigating different types of financing options. There is a gap in the literature regarding gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance and limitations of traditional theories, such as the Pecking Order Theory (POT), which explains how firms follow a financing hierarchy, prioritizing internal funds, then debt, and turning to equity only as a last resort. The purpose of this study is to understand the navigation of the funding process for women tech entrepreneurs in Sweden and Denmark by using the... (More)
- Access to financing for women entrepreneurs plays a fundamental role in the creation and development of their startups. Our study found that women founders, specifically within tech startups, face barriers and challenges when searching for and navigating different types of financing options. There is a gap in the literature regarding gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance and limitations of traditional theories, such as the Pecking Order Theory (POT), which explains how firms follow a financing hierarchy, prioritizing internal funds, then debt, and turning to equity only as a last resort. The purpose of this study is to understand the navigation of the funding process for women tech entrepreneurs in Sweden and Denmark by using the POT as a theoretical starting point to examine their financial choices and adaptive strategies in a gendered entrepreneurial context. The research is based on twelve semi-structured interviews with women founders in the tech sector through a qualitative abductive study, conducted using a thematic analysis. The findings reveal that participants do not follow the traditional POT hierarchy. Instead, they adopt adaptive strategies that prioritize self-financing, grants, and conditional equity, while largely avoiding debt due to perceived risk and autonomy concerns. Strategic use of incubators, networks, and hybrid financial instruments also emerged as critical enablers within the Nordic funding ecosystem. This study challenges the universality of the POT by demonstrating that women founders follow a gendered and adaptive funding logic that departs from the traditional financing hierarchy. The study provides actionable insights for investors, incubators, and future women entrepreneurs. These include the development of gender-responsive funding instruments, inclusive investment criteria, and mentorship models that address credibility gaps and systemic bias. By developing a Gendered Adaptive Pecking Order Model, this study offers a reimagined theoretical framework that reflects the lived experience of women tech founders, enriching the literature on entrepreneurial finance through a gendered perspective. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9203701
- author
- Velarde, Marcela LU and Andersen, Hjalte Ebsen LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- ENTN19 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Entrepreneurial finance, Women entrepreneurship, Funding strategies, Pecking Order Theory, Gendered financing constraints.
- language
- English
- id
- 9203701
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-24 10:01:11
- date last changed
- 2025-06-24 10:01:11
@misc{9203701,
abstract = {{Access to financing for women entrepreneurs plays a fundamental role in the creation and development of their startups. Our study found that women founders, specifically within tech startups, face barriers and challenges when searching for and navigating different types of financing options. There is a gap in the literature regarding gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance and limitations of traditional theories, such as the Pecking Order Theory (POT), which explains how firms follow a financing hierarchy, prioritizing internal funds, then debt, and turning to equity only as a last resort. The purpose of this study is to understand the navigation of the funding process for women tech entrepreneurs in Sweden and Denmark by using the POT as a theoretical starting point to examine their financial choices and adaptive strategies in a gendered entrepreneurial context. The research is based on twelve semi-structured interviews with women founders in the tech sector through a qualitative abductive study, conducted using a thematic analysis. The findings reveal that participants do not follow the traditional POT hierarchy. Instead, they adopt adaptive strategies that prioritize self-financing, grants, and conditional equity, while largely avoiding debt due to perceived risk and autonomy concerns. Strategic use of incubators, networks, and hybrid financial instruments also emerged as critical enablers within the Nordic funding ecosystem. This study challenges the universality of the POT by demonstrating that women founders follow a gendered and adaptive funding logic that departs from the traditional financing hierarchy. The study provides actionable insights for investors, incubators, and future women entrepreneurs. These include the development of gender-responsive funding instruments, inclusive investment criteria, and mentorship models that address credibility gaps and systemic bias. By developing a Gendered Adaptive Pecking Order Model, this study offers a reimagined theoretical framework that reflects the lived experience of women tech founders, enriching the literature on entrepreneurial finance through a gendered perspective.}},
author = {{Velarde, Marcela and Andersen, Hjalte Ebsen}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Financing on her terms: How women entrepreneurs navigate funding beyond the traditional Pecking Order Theory}},
year = {{2025}},
}