Launching Lead Tribe 2: Bigger, Bolder, Bad-assier??

Back in 2020, we at Blume dug deeper into a problem that perplexed us — how do we help solve the visible founder gender gap in the startup ecosystem? After conversations with many women entrepreneurs, we started ‘Lead Tribe’ — a cohort based networking and learning program for early stage women entrepreneurs.

What is Lead Tribe and why did we start?

Our conversations with founders reflected many factors they believe lead to fewer women becoming successful entrepreneurs — fewer women in engineering schools (which tend to be entrepreneurial environments), familial constraints, tougher access to capital (including at home), social conditioning at all ends, among others. The one common theme we noticed was that women often do not have the same access to networks that men have. Some of this is because of engineering school alumni groups dominating the ecosystem, and some because of our own biases as individuals. Why does not having access to networks hold women back? As founders, your peer networks are where you learn, grow, hire from, build partnerships with, and get critical introductions from. As investors, we have seen the power of such networks with our own portfolio.

With this context, we started Lead Tribe in late 2020 — designed as a 3 month program for high potential early stage women entrepreneurs. We used our learnings from backing 100+ companies over the last decade, and our network of inspiring founders, funders, and leaders, to create a platform for early stage female founders to learn and grow their networks. You can read more about our thought process for Lead Tribe here.

We wanted to achieve two outcomes from Lead Tribe:

1. Create a community of founders who both give to and take from the network — and in effect help propel each other forward.
2. Help founders get answers to their most pressing questions about company building from seasoned founders and investors — How do you sharpen your brand voice? How do you stitch together your first funding round? How do you have difficult conversations with a non-performing employee? When is the right time to invest in omnichannel distribution? How do you start selling your enterprise product in global markets?

The first cohort of Lead Tribe ran from Jan-April ‘21 with 26 strong founders. You can read more about our Cohort I alumni here and speakers here.

Cohort 2: One step closer to our goal of a self-sustaining ♀? founder community

The most exciting part about building Lead Tribe has been watching the community from cohort 1 become stronger each day, even 10 months after the “program” ended. With wins being celebrated, questions being answered, connections being made, and support being extended — our first cohort has more than brought to life our vision of a strong women founder community and cemented the idea that programs can end but communities do not.

We do believe that a community is only as strong as its members, and that each additional member who is in it to grow and help others grow enriches the community further. With this, we’re thrilled to launch the much awaited second cohort of Lead Tribe! You can read more about Lead Tribe Cohort II here.

Lead Tribe 2 is bigger, bolder, and badassier.

Like with all families, the second child reaps the benefits of the path created by the first :) Our learnings from running Cohort I and feedback from the founders, have helped create a tighter community, crisper curriculum, and a power-packed list of mentors. True to the power of compounding, founders selected for Lead Tribe 2 will have access not only to each other, but also to the tight knit family from Cohort I - and so, with every additional cohort we add, we get stronger and stronger at addressing the core issue we began with.

Five founders from our first cohort join the core team for Cohort II — after all, your power users are your best PMs :) A special thank you to Diksha, Garima, Shakun, Shweta, and Vipanchi for helping us grow the Lead Tribe fam.

What is the format of Lead Tribe Cohort 2?

Lead Tribe 2 will be an online-first 10 week program from early April to mid-June ‘22. During the program, ~25 selected founders will attend invite-only learning sessions and breakout room conversations twice a week. Lead Tribe is a non-equity non-grant program and in no way impacts your chances of getting funded by Blume Ventures.

Who can apply?

Women founders (or co-founders) of early stage startups (post-launch up to Series A stage) are eligible to apply. Given that our speakers will be India-focused experts, founders based in or solving problems for India will benefit the most.

• Can you apply if you have a male co-founder? Yes.
• Does having VC funding impact your chances of being selected? No.
• Can multiple founders of the same startup join? No.
• Can non-founder CXOs apply? No.
• Can founders who are not interested in VC funding apply? Yes.

How to apply?

To apply, or to read more about Lead Tribe including our eligibility criteria and selection process, click here.?Applications close February 19th, 2022.

You can read more about Lead Tribe and our history here.