Starting the TechFoundHer journey

It's taken us a week to absorb everything from last week's?#Techfoundher?event. So much to take in. Máirín Murray and Vicky Twomey-Lee wanted to light a spark and boy did they!

Our company Coalesce grew from the idea that we could bring a group of independent SME creative businesses together to work as a cohesive, professional group streamlining the client experience through one single point of contact. The idea for our name came from meaning of the word 'when two or more things 'Coalesce' they come together to become something stronger and better and we had the belief this idea would work.

At the start most people thought we were a little crazy and the common reaction was "that will never work". Many people believed the myths that we hear everyday about creative minds.

- Creative Teams lack Structure - Coalesce has an ISO certified quality system that our creatives work within. We live structure and process.

- Everyone has their own creative process - Yes creativity can be messy, that's where the magic happens!! But we can follow process. We are incredibly adaptable.??

- Creatives like to work alone - No they don't'!! We love to chat and meet new people. The Coalesce team never works alone, we understand we are stronger and can make a bigger impact together.

- Creatives hate data and aren't good with business-?Coalesce loves data!! It tells us what our clients think, what they want and where we can improve.

Coalesce took shape as a managed platform structure, using tech to streamline the client experience of working with multiple creative SME's. While Co.Lab a separate side of the business started to?look at ways we could support the group to build out their businesses and make each other stronger.

To take this company further we've always known we needed to embrace technology and be comfortable building out a tech team but as non tech founders this has been challenging and incredibly daunting.?We did our best impression of an ostrich, sticking our head in the sand and hoped the challenge would pass.

TechFoundHer was like a light switch going off. Stories, jargon, tips, tools, and loads of knowledge to avoid the pitfalls as we navigate a new landscape. As we start to move out of our comfort zone, we'll now have a massive network of support and shared knowledge with?#TechFoundHer. We now know what we would do if we weren't afraid. Thank you Máirín Murray , Vicky Twomey-Lee , Dublin City Council, LEO Dublin City and all of the champions who gave their time and shared their knowledge. We look forward to coalescing with you more??

#femalefounders #femaleempowerment #diversity #womenintechnology #community