Madison Reed CEO and Founder Amy Errett has been named one of the Bay Area's Most Influential Women in Business. The annual award, bestowed by the San Francisco Business Times' editorial board, recognizes outstanding female leaders and their accomplishments. Last year, Errett steered Madison Reed through a year of unparalleled growth, culminating in $25 million of venture capital funding from Comcast Ventures and Macerich. With this investment, Errett joined a club that is, sadly, too elite: Only 2% of female founders in the US secured venture capital financing in 2017, according to data from PitchBook as reported by Fortune.


Errett has pledged to help level the playing field for founders of all genders and ethnicities. Recently, she joined True Ventures as a venture partner focused on consumer and ecommerce startups, as well as inclusion.


"There are a lot of incredible people out there who have struggled to get funding or get jobs," she said. "I have more responsibility to really try to change that and, now in this role, more opportunity." 


Under Errett's leadership in 2017, Madison Reed launched a business model that adds to its ever-growing, "direct to consumer" business. The online startup now has a physical presence in the form of Madison Reed Color Bars. These storefront locations in New York and San Francisco give time-pressed women fast, inexpensive color services that can be booked online, to their great delight. Madison Reed Color Bars have been such a success that the company plans to open more than 20 nationwide by the end of 2019. 


The San Francisco Business Times will celebrate this year's class of the "Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business" at an awards gala on June 5, 2018, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.