Female Founder Syndrome

Female Founder Syndrome

By Julia Elliott Brown, Founder and CEO of Enter The Arena

Female Founder Syndrome. Is this some terrible new disease that you need to know about? Or is it actually a set of opinions, emotions and behaviours that we should embrace?

Here’s the stuff that often gets levelled at women entrepreneurs; the conscious and unconscious bias that exists:

1. We’re too risk averse to be successful entrepreneurs
2. We can’t build a scalable business at the same time as raising a family
3. We lack the confidence to go out there and raise investment finance
4. Our ambitions are too modest when it comes to financial projections
5. We’re unable to commit resources to making our dreams come true.

You know what, women entrepreneurs are sick of having labels stuck on us.

And quite frankly, those assumptions above are just not true!

Let’s turn this on its head…

1. We take calculated risks, and mitigate against things going wrong
2. We’re experts at multi-tasking and getting shit done, because we run a family as well as a business
3. We had the confidence to leave that safe corporate job to start this business in the first place, why the hell wouldn’t we have the confidence to make it a success?
4. Our financial projections are based on well thought-through assumptions, and are way more likely to actually happen than some made up ridiculous multiples based on hot air
5. Resources? We put everything into making our dreams happen – our hearts, our souls, our savings… because we are driven by passion and by making a difference in the world.

The truth is, when we’re well prepared, with the right support, and get all our ducks in a row, then we are extremely capable of totally smashing it when it comes to raising investment finance and scaling our amazing businesses.

And one of the best things about us women is, we’re good at asking for help. We know what we’re good at, and what we’re not good at. And we recognise that to get where we’re going, we have to invest in ourselves.

Do not try and do this by yourself. Raising finance is hard if you’ve never done it before. It’s a minefield. If you try and cross it alone, you’re going to get blown up. But with the right support, you can get to the other side with the money you need to grow your amazing business, and really make this happen.

If you want to raise investment, and you want to give yourself the best possible chance of being successful, then invest in the strategy, skills and support you need to get there. Invest in yourself.

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