Founding Women: Recent Episodes
The Founding Women
Founders Tracey Welson-Rossman and Shelli Pavone dive into the journey of the female founder through the lens of guests, stories, advice, funding, and more.
Today we welcome Robbie Hardy to the show. Robbie is an “entrepreneurologist” with extensive entrepreneurial, investment, startup, and board experience. She is the Founder of xElle Ventures, an Angel fund for women investors investing in female founders. She’s also the author of two books, Upsetting the Table and Fed Up to Start Up.
We get a chance to talk candidly with Robbie about the self-imposed limitations that women face, FOMO, confidence-building strategies, talking yourself up in the bathroom, taking action in the face of uncertainty, and more.
Links
xElle Ventures
Upsetting the Table(book)
Fed Up to Start Up (book)
Robby’s website
Robby’s LinkedIn
Today we welcome Jenny Fielding to the show. Jenny is one of the most active global pre-seed investors, having invested in 300+ companies as the first money in. Jenny is a co-founder of the global venture capital firm, Everywhere Ventures (formerly The Fund.)
Previously, she was the Managing Director at Techstars for 7.5 years where she led investments into companies that now have a market cap of over $10B.
We talk candidly with Jenny about the ‘table stakes economy,’ surrounding yourself with the right people, cap tables, the importance of vesting schedules, and the company ‘red flags’ she notices as a prolific early investor.
Links
- Jenny’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jefielding
- Cap Table Hygiene: a slide deck by Jenny
- Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Makingby Tony Fadell
Sharon is the co-founder and former CEO of Boardroom Insiders, a SaaS business intelligence platform that was acquired in January of 2022.
Sharon is our first guest who fully bootstrapped her company. As entrepreneurs, we’re sold a glorified path to entrepreneurship: seed rounds, A, B, C rounds, all on a prescribed timeline between raises… but this isn’t the only way to raise capital.
In today’s show, we talk to Sharon about her journey bootstrapping and ultimately selling her successful startup. We talk about some of the benefits, like full control of your company (operating without a “knee in your back”) – but also her lessons learned and sage advice for others looking to fundraise in a similar way.
Today we welcome Bridget Johns to the show.
Bridget is the CEO and Co-Founder of To & From, a gifting intelligence company that makes the gifting process simple with the help of patent-pending technology and thoughtfully curated products.
From running a corn stand at age 11 to making her mark in the startup divisions of major brands like Polo Ralph Lauren and Tiffany & Co, it’s clear that Bridget is an entrepreneur at heart. But when she could no longer ignore a persistent desire to start her own business, she took the plunge and founded To & From.
In this episode, we talk about bringing your whole self to work as a woman, being a non-technical founder, moving away from bro culture, slowing down, seeking advice from others, and what surprises her the most about being a founder (hint: everything!)
Today, we welcome Kate Brodock to our show. Kate is the CEO of Switch (formerly Women 2.0), a global brand for women in tech that’s working to create a society where gender parity, diversity and inclusion are the norm. She’s General Partner at The W Fund, which aggregates capital and deploys funds to women and diverse-led tech startups. She is also an active – and respected – voice on Twitter in the startup sphere.
Kate brings her 20+ years of experience to the show, and offers sharp advice on a variety of topics: how women can step into their economic power by embracing risks, performing cold outreach, wielding confidence, leveraging your network, and how founders can raise money in the current economic climate.
LinksKate’s company, Switch
The W Fund
Kate’s Twitter, @Just-Kate
Podcast: Pivot by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway
Book: Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Today, we welcome Carleen Haylett to our show. She’s the CEO of EnrichedHQ, a hub of curated educational content for kids in a wide variety of disciplines — like entrepreneurship and personal finance — that are not often found in a school curriculum.
“Childcare doesn’t end when your kid graduates from daycare.” Frustrated by having to source, buy, and schedule extracurricular content for her own son while juggling a busy career in enterprise sales, Carleen founded EnrichedHQ to help women thrive in their work and home life.
After pitching over 200 VCs and angel investors and closing large enterprise clients, Carleen comes to the conversation with a ton of practical, applicable advice for entrepreneurs. We cover her lessons learned making that many pitches, the differences between sales and pitching, speaking the language of VCs, putting on the monkey suit and dancing, keeping your eyes on the prize, qualifying in versus qualifying out, and how she keeps her work life separate from her role as a mother.
LinksCarleen’s company, EnrichedHQ
Carleen’s LinkedIn
Book: Digital Marketing Strategy
Today, we’re thrilled to welcome our first guest from the fashion industry: Maria Intscher-Owrang. Maria is a fashion innovator with a focus on sustainable and ethical luxury. With an impressive career spanning top fashion houses, Maria grew disillusioned with the rampant waste she saw in the industry. Thus, her foray into entrepreneurship began when she founded her cleantech manufacturing company, Simplifyber, which is overhauling the fashion supply chain and ushering in a new generation of sustainable fashion.
As Oprah once said, “No experience is ever wasted.” Shifting from the fashion industry into the startup world was a steep learning curve, but Maria reflects on the value of opening up her network, breaking down silos, and always being willing to learn. On top of her journey from an artist to a founder, we discuss transferable skills, welcoming new perspectives, how investor relationships can be like a marriage, and criticism as a form of caring.
LinksMaria’s company, Simplifyber
Recent press from Fast Company
Maria’s LinkedIn
Today we welcome Jonathan Greechan to the show. Aside from having the distinct honor of being our first male guest, Jonathan is the CEO & Co-Founder of the Founder Institute, which is the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator. He’s grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and 100 countries.
If you’re an entrepreneur or founder, chances are you’ve read content from the Founder Institute. But like all companies, the Founder Institute was once a startup itself. In this episode, we talk to Jonathan about what it took to grow the Institute into “the most raw, 'street' program out there for startups,” bad VC experiences, doing things that don’t scale, “Monday problems”, and why startups and entrepreneurs truly have the edge over big businesses in times of change and economic downturn.
In the end, we agree that the founder’s path is far from a straight line: but if we focus on solving one problem for a customer really, really well — other opportunities will present themselves.
ResourcesThe Founder Institute
Jonathan’s LinkedIn article, “Why it’s (still) a great time to launch a startup”
Jonathan’s Twitter
On today’s show we welcome Ellen Weber, a trailblazer in the field of angel investing. Ellen is the Executive Director of Robin Hood Ventures, a leading angel group in the mid-Atlantic region; and the Executive Director of Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures (MADV), which assists early-stage tech and innovation-based companies acquire funding and build sustainable businesses.
As a self-described conduit between entrepreneurs and angel investors, Ellen brings a unique perspective to the show. Over the course of the episode she breaks down the mechanics and ethos of Robin Hood Ventures, how they evaluate entrepreneurs (you might be in luck if you have a messy desk!), and how they’re revisiting some long-held investment beliefs to further diversity and inclusion. She also shares valuable advice about approaching angels, the ‘superpowers’ that she believes women entrepreneurs bring to the table, and how women can step into the investing side.
Links
Robin Hood Ventures
Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures (MADV)
Today's guest is Danielle Cohn, who is a recognized expert in building startup partnerships and leading accelerator programs. Danielle is Vice President, Startup Engagement and Head of Comcast NBCUniversal’s LIFT Labs, an award-winning program for strategic startups in media, entertainment, and connectivity.
Danielle is well-known in the startup realm as an inclusive leader and champion, so we get into what she’s seeing in the landscape of underrepresented founders and funders: the importance of on-the-ground work to attract more diverse founders, how to choose the right accelerator, and some of the subtle differences she notices between men and women when it comes to pitching. In the end, we all agree that while funding, mentorship, and allies are necessary to bridge this gap, it goes deeper: how can we get women to believe in their own ideas faster?
Follow Danielle on Twitter
Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs
Danielle’s favorite ‘Glass Jar’ gratitude meditation
Today's guest is J. Kelly Hoey, author of Build Your Dream Network: Forging Powerful Relationships in a Hyper-Connected World. While networking can be nerve-wracking at best and downright dreadful at worst, it's a critical part of the fundraising journey. Kelly offers up networking tips that are a fresh departure from the days of schmoozing at cocktail parties and handing out business cards in stale conference halls. She posits that when we stop committing 'random acts of networking,' we build our circle with intentionality, purpose, and authenticity.
- Buy Kelly's book
- Visit her website
- Follow Kelly on Twitter
Today's guest is Amber Liao, author of Still She Raises: Venture Capital for Female Founders. Amber discusses research from her book, shares stories of first-time female founders seeking venture capital investment, and reflects on transferable life lessons from her hobby, boxing.