Only 2% of VC funding reaches female founders. Nithya Ruff argues the problem doesn’t start at the pitch table. It starts with how girls are raised and who gets to make investment decisions.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, host Dirkjan Hupkes talks with Nithya Ruff, former Head of Open Source at Amazon, chair of the Linux Foundation board, and LP in funds focused on South Asian women and diverse founders.
We cover why VC funding for female founders remains structurally stuck at 2%, what her father’s advice about financial independence built over time, and how AI and open source are changing who gets to build technology.
This episode is for female founders, women in tech, women entrepreneurs, and early-stage investors who want to understand why the funding gap persists and what structural change, not individual mindset shifts, can actually move it.
What you’ll learn in this episode
- Why the VC funding gap is an investor pipeline problem, not a founder pipeline problem, and what that distinction means for change
- How financial independence, instilled early, shapes confidence and career trajectory for women in tech
- Why women now lead the Python, Rust, Apache, and Linux foundations, while the coding side of open source remains male-dominated
- What AI is doing to the “priesthood of software development” and why it matters for non-technical founders
- Why women enter entrepreneurship later than men, and what corporate culture has to do with it
- What early-stage founders consistently underestimate beyond the go-to-market strategy
- Why building a peer support community is as important as building the product itself
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:43 Nithya’s Journey to the US
11:17 The Influence of Family on Confidence
18:06 Navigating Cultural Differences in Parenting
27:24 Challenging Gender Norms in Family Dynamics
27:40 The Funding Gap for Female Founders
33:00 The Need for More Female Investors
36:31 Empowering Women in Investment
41:53 The Startup Path for Women
47:04 Integrating Work and Life in Startups
50:16 The Open Source Model and Its Impact
56:35 AI: A Tool for Empowerment
1:01:57 Building Community and Support Systems
1:06:38 Underestimating the Go-to-Market Strategy
1:11:58 Governance and Flexibility in Startups
1:18:19 The Balance of AI and Human Connection
Show notes and Substack
Show notes: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/07/09/episode-160/
Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/womendisruptingtech/p/episode-160?r=2v0lts&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Connect with Nithya Ruff
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nithyaruff
Substack: https://substack.com/@nithyaruff779075
Connect with Dirkjan Hupkes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjan-hupkes/
About Women Disrupting Tech
Every week, Women Disrupting Tech covers the decisions, patterns, and structural realities that female founders and investors rarely discuss in public but run into every time they meet. Follow to get it in your feed.
