Misconceptions about women-owned companies

The minute you put "FEMALE" in front of "FOUNDER" the questions change. I’ve been in rooms where instead of asking about scale or market share, the questions were: “Do you have kids?” “What if you want them?” “How will you balance it all?” Questions no man in that room ever got. And here’s why that matters: those questions don’t just sting, they shape outcomes. Investors who ask defensive questions are 7x less likely to fund you. Founders who are framed as “risks” are given smaller checks, harsher terms, and less trust. And that ripples out into fewer women scaling to Series B and beyond. Sometimes the term female founder gets celebrated like a badge of honor. And yes, I’ll wear it with pride when it inspires someone else to step up. But let’s not pretend the label is neutral. It exists because women are still treated as outliers in entrepreneurship. And it carries baggage: That we’re more likely to build “lifestyle” projects. That we’re higher risk to back. That our ambitions are smaller or temporary. Women-founded startups still get less than 2% of VC funding. And that’s not because of performance. It’s because of perception. So where does that leave us? For me, the real badge of honor isn’t being called a female founder. It’s building, scaling, and proving you belong in the founder category, no adjective needed. Until the day the word “founder” automatically includes us.

Dear women founders, If you’ve ever dared to build something from scratch, you’ve probably heard these: “Why not stick to a safe job?” “Who’ll run the home if you start a company?” “Are you sure women can handle this kind of pressure?” India has the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. Yet only 15% of Indian startups have a female founder. Shocking, isn’t it? Now before someone rolls their eyes and says – “There she goes, the feminist angle again...” If stating facts makes me a feminist, maybe check your funding portfolio – not my tone :) Because this isn’t an ambition problem. It’s an infrastructure problem. - Less than 10% of VC funding goes to women - 43% of women lacked support from family or spouse - Only 7% of unicorn leadership roles are held by women And investors still ask women about risks, while men get asked about scaling opportunities. And yet, she doesn’t just prove herself to the pitch room, She proves herself to the entire ecosystem. So, here’s what needs to change: VCs: Stop “diversity-washing” your portfolio and actually back outsiders Incubators: Build systems that serve people, not just outcomes Media: Stop spotlighting women only when it’s March 8th Families: Support your daughters even when the pitch flops Thankfully, some are flipping the script: WE Hub – India’s first women-focused incubator CXXO by Kalaari – Backed 100+ women CEOs Saha Fund – Investing only in women-led startups The Bottom line is – This isn’t a gender issue. It’s an innovation issue. It’s about unleashing the full potential of a nation. If we wish to position India as the #1 startup hub globally, we need to fund locally – without bias. Let’s raise the bar, together! What do you think?

People love to assume that when you’re a woman with a young family, your career is automatically stuck on the back burner. That your business is just a “little project.” That it’s impossible to build something big and raise little ones at the same time. I’m here to say: that is absolute BS. Let’s be honest society has us wired to believe women have to choose between being brilliant mothers or building ambitious careers. The loudest voices tell us it’s not possible to do both, or that if you try, you’ll fail at one. I’ve heard it from male friends, colleagues, hell, sometimes even from other women. But here’s my reality: I run 3 revenue generating businesses and I’m bubbling up something new, as I type this. “Officially” I work two days a week. In reality? If I’m awake and can grab an hour, I’m working. Every night, every naptime, every edge of time I can steal, still raising my babies and building successful businesses. And I am not alone. Check out these powerhouse founders who didn’t pause their ambitions when motherhood called, they turned it up: 👉Sara Blakely (Spanx): Started with $5k and a newborn. Now a self-made billionaire. Spanx brings in $300–$400M a year. 👉Helen Wooldridge (Cuddledry): Built an award-winning baby brand with three kids under 8—now sold internationally. 👉Alexandria Friedman & Jordana Kier (LOLA): Built a rapidly growing brand for women, raised millions, all while navigating pregnancies and early parenthood. 👉Flo Broughton (Choc on Choc): Scaled an innovative chocolate gift brand around her kids’ nap times. 👉Nicole Walters (The Monetized Life): Walked away from corporate life, became a foster mum to three, and grew a million-dollar business from scratch. They didn’t wait for permission. They didn’t listen to the people who said, “Now isn’t the time.” They proved you can scale a business and nurture a young family. Anyone who says women can’t build businesses and raise young families is just plain wrong. These women, and every one of us on this pat, are living proof. Screw the doubters. To every woman who wants to build, lead, and leave a mark, don’t let anyone box you in. Your ambition isn’t on pause because you’re a mum. It has another reason to rev up. You can win on your terms. The world is better when you do. This is your permission slip: dream big, start the business, climb the ladder, parent fiercely. You don’t need to fit their narrative, you are building your own. Tag an inspiring mum starting/scaling a business 💥 Let’s show the world what’s possible.

International Women's Day: Let's Move Beyond Hashtags to Financial Action Today corporate social feeds will flood with female empowerment quotes. Meanwhile, women-owned businesses will receive just 2% of venture capital, women authors will earn up to 42% less than male counterparts, and female founders will continue bootstrapping at 3x the rate of men. The truth is uncomfortable: Posting purple graphics and hosting mostly unpaid female panels while keeping your wallet closed isn't ally ship, it's performance. As Meghan Markle powerfully stated, "Women don't need to find their voice. They need to feel empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen." Yet how can women fully use their voices when the economic structures remain so deeply unbalanced? This is particularly evident in luxury, where brands happily market to women (who make 85% of luxury purchasing decisions) while maintaining leadership structures that are overwhelmingly male. The disconnect between who buys luxury and who leads it remains stark. When I launched the Diversity in Luxury Awards, I was told repeatedly that "excellence should be the only criterion", as if excellence and diversity are somehow mutually exclusive concepts. This false dichotomy persists despite overwhelming evidence that diverse leadership produces superior financial outcomes. After working with hundreds of luxury entrepreneurs, I've observed something fascinating: the most innovative luxury concepts consistently come from those with "outsider" perspectives, people from backgrounds not traditionally represented in luxury leadership. This is why my book The Luxpreneur focuses so heavily on how to leverage your unique perspective as market advantage. 🇺🇸 tinyurl.com/yeert22u 🇬🇧 tinyurl.com/The-Luxpreneur The future of luxury won't be defined by heritage brands maintaining the status quo, but by voices bringing fresh perspectives to centuries old industries. So this International Women's Day, instead of resharing inspirational quotes: 🤎 Buy directly from women-owned businesses 🤎 Invest in women-led companies 🤎 Purchase books by women authors (yes, including The Luxpreneur!) 🤎 Mentor female entrepreneurs 🤎 Pay women fairly for their expertise Because true change happens when we open our wallets, not just our social media apps. #InternationalWomensDay #WomenInBusiness #LuxuryBusiness #DiversityInLuxury #IWD25 

Women-founded startups generate 78 cents in revenue per dollar of funding. Male-founded startups generate 31 cents. That's a 2.5x performance gap in favor of women. If there’s an upside to getting passed over for funding, it’s this: we learn how to stretch a dollar. But I take issue with some of the narrative on why women founders outperform. Yes, we bootstrap longer and get scrappy early, often out of necessity. But we’re not a monolith. Some of us obsess over profitability from day one; some of us are chasing category dominance. Some of us want a lifestyle business; others want to build the next unicorn. Lumping all women together as “careful stewards of capital” is just another way of saying we’re risk-averse by nature. I don’t buy that. We’re operating inside an ecosystem that funds men’s experiments and women’s proof points, then draws personality conclusions from the gap. Give women the same appetite of capital, the same forgiveness for failure, the same “let’s see what happens” leeway, and you’d see the full spectrum of founder behavior. In an equitable financing environment, what type of founder would you be? #WomenFounders #FemaleEntrepreneurs #WomenInTech #Entrepreneurship

🚨 Women build startups—Men take more equity. Recent data shows female founders aren’t just underfunded—they’re under-OWNED. Women co-found companies, put in the same amount of work, yet somehow walk away with less equity than their male counterparts. 📉 The numbers don’t lie. According to Carta’s Equity Report, in three-founder teams, male founders take 33.3% of the equity, while female founders get 30.4%. In four-founder teams, men hold 23.5%, while women get stuck with just 18.9% (Carta, 2024). 💰 This is not about roles. It’s about systemic bias in ownership. And yet, when women DO get their fair share, their companies outperform. Research shows female-led teams generate 35% higher ROI, and VC-backed female-founded firms outperform male-led ones by 63% (The Times, 2024). Let’s be clear: Women deserve equity that reflects their contributions, responsibilities, and impact. And to all the female founders out there—stand your ground, negotiate hard, and don’t rush to accept the first offer. I personally have experienced it myself as well as know amazing female founders who have been offered an absurd percentage of equity shares compared to their male counterparts. 👊 So, if you’re a founder, an investor, or in the startup world, it’s time to stop accepting this as “just how things are.” If women build it, they deserve to own it.

'Why can’t women raise money? It’s not because they don’t perform: statistics suggest women are actually better at running businesses. Research by entrepreneurship group The Kauffman Foundation found that female-led tech teams generated a 35 per cent higher return on investment than all-male teams. When First Round Capital, the venture capital (VC) firm, analysed its 300 investments over ten years, it found that the female-founded firms it backed had performed 63 per cent better than its all-male businesses. One key reason for the discrepancy is that men back men. Male investors are half as likely to fund a woman as a female investor would be, according to Kauffman research. And only about 5 per cent of angel and VC investors across Europe are women. Venture capital funds need to be wary of “investor homophily”, according to Marta Zaccagnini, European manager for Village Capital. She defines this as “the tendency to invest in people who are similar to oneself”. “Investors struggle to allocate funds to women-led companies due to the lack of diversity within their own ranks,” she said. Research shows that when a female founder walks into a VC boardroom, investors quiz her about risk. When a man does the same, the questions focus on growth. “When I was pitching, I faced ‘what if?’ questions and worst-case scenarios, while male founders were asked about vision and growth,” said Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, whose insurance firm for the self-employed, Tapoly, is now valued at £10 million. “This shifts the discussion toward the positive and made it more likely for them to secure funding.” Lucy Tobin The Sunday Times https://lnkd.in/eexTcyKv #FundFemaleFounders

I recently spent a weekend hiking and biking with three of my best friends. Each of them has had an impressive career with big roles at big-name companies. Unfortunately, we’re part of a tiny club, and it isn’t getting any bigger. While we’re all celebrating the progress women have made this month, there’s still a lot more to be done. *Only 8% of S&P 500 CEO positions are held by women (The CEO Magazine). *Less than a quarter of the world’s board seats are occupied by women (Deloitte). *Startups founded exclusively by women received just 2% of VC funding in 2024 (Pitchbook). So why aren’t we seeing more progress for women in leadership? Outdated beliefs and toxic bias continue to stall change. It’s time to set the record straight: ❌ Myth #1: Women leave the workforce after having children. ✅ Truth: Working mom’s workforce participation has actually exceeded pre-pandemic levels. SHRM reports that labor force participation for women 25-54 with young children rose from 65% to over 70% in 2023. Remote work and flexible arrangements have been key drivers for that change — something that companies should consider as they implement return-to-office mandates. ❌ Myth #2: Women aren’t as capable of leading. ✅ Truth: Companies with greater representation of women in leadership are 39% more likely to outperform financially when compared to those with the lowest levels of representation (McKinsey). Women bring diverse perspectives and an inclusive approach that drives innovation, smarter decision-making, and stronger financial results. ❌ Myth #3: Women don’t work well together. ✅ Truth: Organizational psychologists studied people working in groups. They found that teams with more women had more effective collaboration. Discussions were more balanced and everyone’s ideas were leveraged to the fullest potential(Science Magazine). ❌ Myth #4: Breaking the “glass ceiling” is enough. ✅ Truth: Women are skipped over for promotions at the first step into management, a phenomenon McKinsey calls the “broken rung.” For every 100 men promoted, only 87 women move up (and just 73 women of color). Without early career advancement, fewer women make it to the top, period. The data is clear — having women in leadership helps companies succeed, but progress won’t happen without intention. Companies must go beyond performative gestures and commit to real structural change. That means reforming hiring practices, offering mentorship programs, and making sure we’re giving women the fair shot at the promotions they deserve. It’s time to stop accepting excuses or kowtowing to the ever-changing whims of political change, and start making the changes we all know are necessary to build enduring, high-performance businesses.

When I told people I founded a wedding media company, the response I often got was, “That’s so cute.” Cute? I was building a multi-platform media brand with millions of readers, national retail partnerships, licensing deals, and a robust revenue model. There was nothing “cute” about it. It was strategic, scalable, and rooted in real business fundamentals. Here’s the truth: when you build a company around something traditionally “feminine” — like weddings, motherhood, or home — people often underestimate you. But underestimating a founder doesn’t make their business any less powerful. It just reveals how much work we still have to do in recognizing diverse forms of entrepreneurship. If someone is minimizing what you’ve built, here are three smart ways to redirect the conversation: Lead with metrics, not categories. “We reach 5M+ engaged users a month and have 6 revenue streams across media, commerce, and brand partnerships” lands differently than “I run a wedding company.” Don’t flinch — educate. Use it as a moment to shift their perspective: “The wedding industry is a $70B market. It’s one of the most powerful drivers of consumer spend, and I’ve built a brand that sits at the center of it.” Remember their reaction is about them, not you. Dismissiveness often stems from limited perspective. That doesn’t mean you have to shrink your ambition to fit their frame. Female founders: if they call it “cute,” make sure your next sentence shows them it’s also profitable, innovative, and formidable. #wedding #weddingmedia #femalefounders #femaleceo

Data says women-led startups outperform men by 2x. I don’t disagree with the numbers — but I do disagree with what people think they mean. Context matters. Context #1: Fewer women get funded (~2% globally). By the time a woman gets investment, she’s already outperformed most of her peers just to get in the room. That higher bar — in terms of traction, clarity, and proof — often means these businesses have stronger foundations and a lower rate of failure. Context #2: Women tend to undersell. But it’s not about vision or ambition - it’s about how risk and credibility are viewed. Women are more likely to pitch what they know they can deliver, with a clear path to growth, rather than what might be possible someday. That often means steadier execution and a clearer line between plan and outcome — which can make these bets stronger, not smaller. It can be hard to recognise in a world of big numbers and even bigger visions (and yes, we work with founders on this all the time). Context #3: Market gaps, historically with less competition. Many women build companies to solve problems they’ve personally faced — often in markets that haven’t historically been addressed. Because these gaps can go unnoticed and underfunded, competition is lower and the potential upside is often bigger. (If you are an investor, and you see a 'women-focused' product and think, “I don’t get it,” or “is there really a market for this?” — message me. I’ll connect you with people who can advise). https://lnkd.in/eK7H8T8q