Gold Nuggets from Fierce Founders

Today I had the pleasure of joining an impressive panel of female founders and community builders for Scale Ireland’s International Women's Day event. There were some absolute jewels out of the conversation on funding, network, and measuring impact so I wrote them down to share with you.?On the panel was Rhona Togher, CEO & co-founder of Lios, Sandra Healy, founder and CEO of Inclusio’s, Aoife Ní Mhuirí Founder Salaso Health, Michelle McDaid, Senior Director of Engineering at Workhuman. Heather Bruton, co-founded UniPeer and Mary Mckenna, co-founder Awake Hub and Martina Fitzgerald CEO of Scale Ireland,?

Context setting

We have had a bumper two years in startup investment and I mean BUMPER! Capital investment at a European level hit a record high of $100B in 2021, 100 new unicorns were created, and funding for the early-stage startup pipeline is now on par with the US. 2021 was a watershed year for European startups according to the VC firm Atomico’s annual State of European Tech Report

However, (you knew this was coming right) Funding in minority and women-led start-ups is ‘shockingly low. According to Crunchbase Diversity Spotlight, a new feature to shine a light on inequality in VC funding, solely female founders raised just 2.2pc of all venture funding for the first eight months of 2021. ( Gasp here )

That’s a lower share than any of the previous five calendar years. ( aka this problem will not fix itself and needs intervention)

What can we do about it, you ask? A couple of practical and actionable suggestions came up at the session:

1. ?Lolita Taub has Matchmaking tools connecting founders to VC funds that support unrepresented founders. And it's free! Check it out.

2. Crunchbase has launched the diversity spotlight. Like, share, and celebrate funds that support unrepresented founders

3. To see any change in funding, women need to back women. So if you have thought about investing in startups but want a safe way to dip your toe in with some small amounts- ?Check out Awaken Hub ?- They are launching a female investor network soon. ?? (I have signed up and I don’t have bags of money lying around the house BUT I have seen some female-founded startups recently that I would LOVE to invest in early.

Having a strong network is a superpower. The panel agreed that personal network was the thing that separated the scaling founder from the struggling one. Mary McKenna said it well “ the thing that makes me really sad is when I hear a founder say they don’t have time for networking”. We are all busy but It is one of the most important things you can do.”

You cannot accelerator exponentially on your own.

So if you are sitting here saying “ but I have no network” worry not, it's easy to get one:

The Irish Tech Hub Network is the front door for the national network in Ireland. These hubs are the meccas for the VCs, Entrepreneur, and advisor communities. Join the Hub nearest to you – RDI Hub, Republic of Work, Ludgate gate, Ormeau bath, Dogpatch Labs, and Portershed. – There are whole teams there dedicated to knowing people that can move the dial for you.

Join the next Founders Circle run by RDI Hub in association with Scale Ireland. This is the largest tech founders networking event in the country and the fastest way to meet other founders just like you.

Evidence-based impact.

The panel discussion wasn’t just all about startups, the positive impact of diverse teams on the bottom line came up again and again. If we want to see a fundamental change in the workplace around diversity we need to embed tools and systems that empower us with the evidence around the value of diversity in every area of the business. Inclusio.io is a science-based, data-led diversity and inclusion tool that is designed to enhance company culture. Remember Data is power.

Community

My favorite idea out of today was a personal advisory board. "It’s not about juggling calendars to schedule regular personal progress updates with the whole board. It’s about building a support network you can turn to and lean on. Each with their own distinct skills and areas of expertise". With a personal advisory board, you avoid the "Master Mentor" and get access to the many. There is power in that as an idea.

I would love to talk to anyone that has experience with personal advisory boards – Get in touch. [email protected].

?

?

?

?

?

?