Xin Wang
- Earlier this month, Female Founder World hosted a summit for women entrepreneurs.
- The cofounders of brands like SoulCycle and Poppi discussed how to succeed as a female entrepreneur.
- From what to read — and what not to read — and how to use social media, here's their best advice.
It's a tale as old as venture capitalism — being a female founder is tough.
Just 2.1% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in the US went to companies founded by women in 2022, according to PitchBook data. Meanwhile, the current scarcity of VC money is having an outsized impact on women.
Female Founder World was started by Jasmine Garnsworthy, a founder herself, with the aim of making it all a little easier. It's a community that hosts business workshops, networking events, and a podcast dedicated to women entrepreneurs.
And earlier this month, it hosted a summit featuring the entrepreneurs behind companies like SoulCycle, skiwear brand Halfdays, and healthy soda Poppi.
Topics discussed ranged from what to do if a male VC laughs you out of the room (in this case, go your own way and get a loan to start your business) to how to fix your company's Target display.
Here are their five best pieces of advice for female entrepreneurs:
Focus on the product first.
A great business needs a great product — and that will speak for itself, Julie Rice, the cofounder and former CEO of SoulCycle, said.
"We all are so focused on marketing, especially with social media," she said. "We are almost forgetting that product is really what we should focus on."
Good marketing can get someone through the door, she added, but won't be enough to keep them as a loyal customer. Focus less on likes and follower count, and more on things like customer service and building an IRL community.
"You create something awesome, guess what? Someone is coming back," Rice said.
Xin Wang
Use social media to your advantage.
Social media used smartly — for connecting, rather than traditional marketing — can be a gold mine. Multiple founders discussed how it's vital to their businesses, whether they use LinkedIn to network or TikTok to reach customers.
Ariana Ferwerda, cofounder of Halfdays, said she messaged hundreds of people on LinkedIn before finding designers. She ended up hiring ones she met on the platform who had valuable experience at Lululemon and Arcteryx.
Allison Ellsworth, cofounder of Poppi, described how TikTok has democratized marketing, allowing anyone to hop online and promote their products in a more authentic way than an expensive ad campaign can.
"Most of our ads are me talking about our product and the ingredients," she said. "They're not high gloss, but I always say, 'I convert better than JLo'."
Ask for help — even from your customers.
Asking for help is always important — and multiple founders said they've appealed to their own customers.
When Adriana Carrig, the founder of bracelet company Little Words Project, noticed other products appearing under her image and branding in Target stores, she turned to her followers. Now whenever one of them fixes a display and sends the company before and after photos, they're rewarded with free bracelets.
"It just goes back to being transparent with the community, being open," she said. "You'd be so surprised when people actually want to help."
Allison Ellsworth, the cofounder of Poppi, deployed a similar tactic when negotiating with Costco. After a test run at a few locations, the retailer wanted to roll out the soda nationwide — but at a lower price point.
It would hurt the business, Ellsworth said. She decided to walk — and go "rogue." She took to TikTok, asking her customers to go to the Costco locations already carrying the product and buy it.
"I asked our community to go sell us out," she said. "We basically showed Costco what's up."
Two days later, Costco's buyer called and offered to stock Poppi nation-wide — at the original price Ellsworth wanted.
Put your idea out into the world.
Some call it manifesting, others call it self-promotion. Either way, talking about your business idea — telling everyone, as Halfdays' Ferwerda said — not only holds you accountable, but also leads to connections.
"Things just started to happen," Ferwerda said. "We would tell everybody that we came across about Halfdays."
That word of mouth eventually led Ferwerda to her third cofounder, who in turn led to more capital and a network in the fashion world.
The same thing happened to SoulCycle's Rice.
After telling enough people about her idea for a different kind of fitness experience — less bleak and more social than the New York City gyms at the time — one of her cycling instructors connected her to her future cofounder, Elizabeth Cutler, who at the time was looking to invest in a fitness business.
"It was the best blind date we ever went on," Rice said.
Don't stress about not doing the reading.
There are a lot of business books out there, and many CEOs swear by them. But the founders at the summit said not to worry too much about falling behind.
"I was an English major in college, so I read a lot and I am a big reader," Carrig said. "However, once you start your business and then add to that a baby, if you have free time, you really just want to watch Bravo."
She added that conversations with other founders have been more valuable for her than any business tomes.
"Don't feel like you have to read every book," agreed Diarrha Ndiaye, the founder of beauty brand Ami Colé.
She focuses instead on staying up-to-date on trends and the latest news by reading trade publications and talking to other founders and her customers.
"When you're at the deal table, there's no book that can prepare you for those conversations," she said.