I'll grant you it gives you more and different press. I won't grant you that press coverage matters very much when it comes to fundraising and recruiting. It matters some, but the delta created by a founder's gender multiplied by the general small impact of press is really not moving the "get off the ground" needle.
If it did, you'd see wildly variable outcomes indexed by founder gender.
Not at all for the performance of the CEO. I suspect it might be an indicator of funding if the VCs feel that would be a positive signal for them. I would love for a study to be done, but I suspect secrecy is going to be problematic for anyone studying this time period in history.
