Lessons from Leading Women Tech Entrepreneurs

Michelmores is delighted to be partnering with Women in Telecoms & Technology (WiTT) for a third time to host Lessons from Leading Women Tech Entrepreneurs on Tuesday 12 November at Michelmores’ London office. This event celebrates women entrepreneurs in the tech sector and will feature a lively panel discussion among female founders. The lessons will be relevant for all female founders and their supporters, not only those in the tech sector, so please do join us!

Audrey Mandela of WiTT, and founder of Multimap, will chair the event and Michelmores’ Partner, Anne Todd, will be our host, In advance of this, we have reflected on our key takeaways from the 2023 event. Our panellists were:

• Maxine Moon, Founder and Director at Imegamedia;
• Melinda Nicci, Founder and CEO of Body Collective Group; and
• Vinita Rathi, CEO of Systango.

We heard from the panellists on the following topics:

What drove you to become an entrepreneur?

• Lack of support for women’s health and starting a business to plug the gap;
• The impact of lifestyle changes and a change of perspective on careers as a result; and
• Being inspired by the success of other businesses like Google.

What challenges have you faced in starting, growing and selling your businesses, and how did you overcome these challenges?

• Not having a particular skillset (such as technical skills), and the importance of seeking support from the right people;
• Perceptions or expectations that people may have based on your background or experience, and using this as motivation to succeed;
• Obtaining investors in women’s health products (ironically female femtech founders find this much harder than male femtech founders!);
• Running a rapid-growth business and getting the right people and processes in place quickly; and
• Selling a business for the first time with no experience, and learning the importance of having good advisors and a mentor to guide you through the process.

What are the best decisions that you have made whilst building your business?

• Avoiding exclusivity arrangements;
• Trusting your instincts and turning to your brand values when in doubt;
• Hiring smartly and investing in people, including recruiting apprentices who provide great value and an opportunity to sculpt their learning around your business; and
• Letting people go early when the fit isn’t right.

What advice do you have for other female entrepreneurs?

• To get off the ground, use your existing network of contacts;
• Look at the data and don’t be afraid to make changes to your business plan based on this;
• Recognise when you need help and support on a personal and business level;
• Develop partnerships at an early stage; and
• Treat every pound as though it is your own.

To demonstrate the importance of networks such as WiTT, Audrey also presented the most recent findings of the Female Founders Forum, which supports female entrepreneurship and draws attention to the equity funding gap. Today, just 3.5% of total equity investment going to female-founded startups. A further 11.4% goes to firms with female and male founders, and the remaining 85.1% goes to male-led teams. In terms of the proportion of deals, 10% involve female-led firms, 15% involve firms with female and male founders, and 75% involve male-led firms.

Please click here to watch the full recording of the 2023 event.

Leading Women Tech Entrepreneurs Event 2024

If you would like to attend the 2024 event please register here.

For early stage business advice, please contact Anne Todd or Moya Smith. Anne is a former tech founder herself and she and Moya have both worked as in-house lawyers, at large enterprises as well as on behalf of scale-up and SME suppliers. Michelmores’ MiVentures is an award-winning programme for early stage businesses which is dedicated to giving extra support to innovative and scaleable businesses.

This article is for general information only and does not, and is not intended to, amount to legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you have any questions relating to your particular circumstances, you should seek independent legal advice.