Women make up a small percentage of executives at venture-backed companies, and in male-dominated industries, women can still face special challenges, Sandy Lerner says. After Lerner launched Cisco Systems with Len Bosack in the 1980s, some venture capitalists said the company would be unable to get funding with her as a founder. "I think that some things have changed [in venture capital], but there are some fundamental things that have not changed," Lerner said at a Women 2.0 conference.