More women should be founding startups, but how to begin?

OPINION: More women should be founding startups. Out of approximately 2000 high-growth startups in New Zealand, only 400 (about 20 per cent) of them are founded by women.

I would wager there are thousands of Kiwi women with spectacular ideas for high-growth startup ventures tucked up tight to their chests which will never see the light of day.

Equally, I bet there are just as many women working on early-stage startup ventures who are simply not aiming high enough.

If you’re one of these women, then 2022 is your year to let these dreams and ambitions loose. The rest of this article is dedicated to you.

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* Only 20 per cent of high-growth startup businesses have women founders

No matter who you are, where you are, how old you are or what you’re working on, take yourself seriously and consider the following recommendations.

1. If you can’t see it, then you can’t be it

You must have role models. When you think startup founder in your head, you probably see a 20-something guy in a hoodie doing something with code.

If you’re a mum with a young family, you can’t identify with this picture.

Taking yourself seriously as a startup founder is harder without great role models. Everyone needs inspiration and someone to emulate in the early days of their startup journey.

So do your research, find those inspiring role models, and keep them dead centre. Subscribe to NZEntrepreneur for a local introduction to the startup and innovation ecosystem and W2.com for a more global view.

The latter did a list of 10 women entrepreneurs in New Zealand in 2018, so it’s a bit out of date but a decent start nonetheless.

Look for startups that resonate with you and get in touch – you’d be amazed how willing the founders will be to give their time for another Kiwi wāhine carving her own path.

2. Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much

In the startup world, this advice from Helen Keller rings true. You must find a community of other startup founders, and preferably some women startup founders too.

There is no better way to keep yourself inspired and focused than racing along next to your peers.

Together, your shared ambitions, experiences, connections and capabilities will fuel your success. You may even find yourself feeling passively competitive, which will help you bring your best game every day.

Almost every founder I’ve ever worked with at our Te Ōhaka incubator says that while the masterclasses, mentorship and other offerings are helpful, the real game-changer is being able to learn and grow with peers who are sharing the startup journey.

3. Confidence breeds success

You must develop your confidence. When boys and girls are young, they share the same level of confidence as well as attitudes towards risk and leadership.

But in early adolescence something happens and girls experience a dramatic loss of social confidence. This is generally linked to the socialisation of early adolescent girls (eg be nice, be careful, be modest, look after others, etc), which is very different than for boys (eg be strong, win, play hard, toughen up, etc).

Whatever the cause, the good news is that confidence can be developed and there’s no better way of doing that than working alongside a startup mentor or coach, either of which you can easily find within a startup community.

At the same time, do note that gaining confidence in your work will come with experience. Gaining confidence in your product will come with customer validation.

4. Just do it

It’s likely that without any intervention, the next five years will carry on along the same trajectory as the past five years. If that’s what you want, then that’s awesome. However, if you’ve been holding a dream tight and waiting for the time to start, it’s time to take the leap.

Anais Nin famously wrote: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Pick up that passion and take your first steps. Fill out a lean canvas, go to a startup meetup, or sign up for a startup course.

5. Get connected

The minute you go out and meet other people in intentional pursuit of your dream, it will all start to come together.

As a matter of fact, Startup Genome – an organisation that researches startup ecosystems around the world from Silicon Valley to Shanghai to New Zealand – notes that one of the single most important data points that indicate the success of a startup ecosystem is its connectivity.

That’s because making connections breeds opportunity. Therefore, at zero risk, the single best thing you can do to further your ambition as a startup founder is to start getting connected to people who can help you on your way.

On the same topic, it’s worth noting that while women are widely acknowledged as being better than men at creating strong social networks, research indicates that male startup founders are much more likely to be connected with investor networks than women founders.

So, be intentional about your network curation and ensure you include a diverse group of startup community folk, including those connected to investment opportunity.

There has never been a better time in history for a woman just like you to found or grow a startup venture in New Zealand.

Currently, only one in five startup founders in Aotearoa are women. Not only does that clearly indicate a lack of opportunity and participation for women, it also contributes to less than optimal economic outcomes because diversity in any sector is a powerful contributor to success.

As a result, economic policymakers and the startup sector are rushing to put initiatives in place to identify and support more female founders. So – here’s your opportunity!

An example of this is the Startmate Fellowship, which drives women’s participation in Australia and New Zealand’s high-growth startups.

Another example – this time in an investment context – is last week’s announcement of the brand new A$100m Female Leaders VC fund, aimed squarely at women startup founders. The Artesian fund joins ArcAngels, which is similarly focused but targetted at earlier stage startups founded by women.

Finally, in terms of community building activity, there is the upcoming Electrify Aotearoa women founders summit, which takes place in February 2022 (full disclosure, my organisation Ministry of Awesome is one of the main organisers).

This is the first time the whole New Zealand startup community will celebrate women founders, and it will be a momentous opportunity for Aotearoa’s founder wāhine to meet and network with the whole startup ecosystem.

I’ll finish with one last piece of info from that Startup Genome research I mentioned earlier. In terms of startup founder mindset, one of the strongest indicators of success is what they call “initiation”. This is described as the “proclivity and energy level to start new things and to turn ideas into action”.

This seems fairly obvious, but underlines my next instruction to you, and that is to take that wild heart of yours and let it have free rein.

Marian Johnson is “chief awesome officer” at the Ministry of Awesome, which provides startups with support, mentorship, community and connections.