When Rebekah Campbell completed a roadshow of 50 meetings presenting her business to more than 125 brokers and clients in the finance industry, she realised she’d only encountered one woman the whole time (aside from receptionists and women serving coffee).
Campbell has learned to get used to it as a female entrepreneur, having appeared in front of numerous conferences and pitching events as one of only a handful of women in the room.
So the Posse founder and New York Times columnist couldn’t help but notice things looked a little different at a free event put on in Sydney by General Assembly last night.
There were just three men in the crowd of the 150-plus roomful of entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs and others who simply wanted to learn more about founding a tech business.
The large female turnout was encouraged by the fact they were there to see an all-female panel, featuring Campbell, Stylerunner co-founder Sali Stevanja, Sidekicker co-founder Jacqui Bull and TidyMe founder Stacey Jacobs.
All four panelists were at different points in their business journey – Campbell has raised millions of dollars and is backed by leaders at Google, Twitter and eBay; Stevanja’s ecommerce site for activeware has experience a massive 600% year on year growth since launching 2012; Bull’s platform connecting businesses with a group of vetted freelancers is starting to gain significant attention; while Jacob’s site connecting members with professional cleaners launched just over six months ago.
I moderated the panel on behalf of Women’s Agenda, and took questions from the crowd on everything from raising capital to legal issues and finding mentors. This was a highly engaged audience that clearly showed up to listen and learn, many scribbled notes and some even recorded the session.
We might just be on the cusp of something very significant in Sydney. There’s a significant group of young women looking to learn more from tech entrepreneurs. And, judging from the questions asked as well as some of the comments I heard following the event, they are ambitious and hungry for success.
Let’s hope that as this community grows, so too will the female pool of investors.
Special thanks to Nicole Lawrence (@niclawrence) for the pic of the crowd.
Below are a number of tips the panel shared:
1. Technology is fast, fun and doesn’t require you to know code. Although Rebekah Campbell said she has some experience with coding (it helps with hiring developers) the rest of the panel have no experience at all. They don’t need to. There are plenty of tools available online that can help.
2. Think scalability. Sali Stevanja said she always knew her business would be global, she intentionally launched with a global website and planned from the outset to open distribution centres internationally. Bull, however, who’s business Sidekicker requires her team to interview and vet every supplier, says scalability isn’t everything when you start and the fact your daily work can’t be ‘automated’ shouldn’t stop you from thinking big. The Uber founders originally interviewed every driver when they first started, while the founders of AirBnB initially took their own photos of the accommodation listed.
3. Confirm you’re on to a good idea. There are many ways to do this, according to Jacqui Bull. Talk about your idea, test it online, ask for feedback from friends, your network and mentors. Use your network for support.
4. Make a commitment to get started. When Stevanja and her twin sister came up with an idea for selling gym gear online, they quit their jobs, spent $3000 registering a domain name and launched the business within three months. “People need to stop waiting for the perfect moment, it doesn’t exist … We were investing $3000 so we knew we had to make it work and 100% back ourselves.”
5. … And know mistakes are ok. Rebekah Campbell warned that waiting for the ‘right moment’ could see you never get started. “The first idea successful companies go out with is very rarely the idea they end up with. It’s really about taking the leap, backing yourself and being willing to make mistakes.”
6. Learn from industry events and associations. No one on the panel confirmed they had any ‘qualifications’ that have helped them launch their businesses, nor much knowledge about how to write a business plan. For Stevanja, who dropped out of school in year 10, attending industry events (included the ‘Unconvention’, where she spent two days taking notes from leading entrepreneurs) and connecting with people on LinkedIn has helped her acquire the knowledge she needs.
7. Be agile and move quick. Stacey Jacobs launched her business in seven days using a number of tools readily available online. She didn’t get caught up on big decisions and allowed herself to learn and make mistakes a long the way. “I wasn’t worried about breaking things or choosing the wrong name or wrong platform. I couldn’t code myself but there are so many tools you can use.”
8. Forget sleep. Stevanja plans to hire 50 to 70 staff for Stylerunner this year. An ambitious plan but one she says follows a long period of operating very lean. Working hard and managing every task in a business is the life of an entrepreneur, she said. Don’t expect to switch off or get much sleep. “It’s not easy. It’s not glamorous. It’s not all what you see on Instagram. I am the lowest paid person in the company, I work longer hours than everyone. You can not think you can ever switch off.”
9. Keep re-launching. A great business is never really ‘done’, nor are good ideas static. Campbell says she’s constantly re-launching her business and probably won’t ever get to the point of being completely done. Consider what’s next, where the market’s going and what the future could be.
10. Get up early! Stevanja started setting the alarm at 5:22am every day, because she heard her competitor woke up at 5:30. A mental edge she said helps energise her for the day.
11. Think quarterly cycles. Both Campbell and Stevanja both come up with quarterly goals for their businesses, starting each 12-week period with a new plan and vision. They say yearly goals can be too long and too easy to put off, quarterly keeps themselves and their teams accountable.
12. Make time for holidays. Planning a vacation is something a new business owner will often forget to do, but Campbell says it’s essential. “You come back with an entirely new perspective and energy for what you’re doing.”