The struggles of being a woman startup founder are well-documented.
The data shows women are less likely to raise capital and, when they do, the amounts are usually smaller. In the tech world, this is exacerbated further if the woman is also from a non-technical background.
But as a startup investor, I also know that women are more likely to survive and thrive on less capital if they’re given the opportunity. And anyone able to make it in startup land after overcoming these additional hurdles is likely to be a pretty exceptional person.
So I’ve recently spent some time learning from some non-technical women founders, in particular my friend and Super Fierce founder and CEO Trenna Probert. Here’s what she had to say.
Trenna had always been passionate about entrepreneurship. But her background was in finance and business, not technology.
So when she first entered the tech startup world, she was mentally very well-prepared to navigate both the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry and justifying her value despite a non-technical background.
There are a multitude of barriers preventing equal numbers of men and women in STEM. So when Trenna set out to find a woman tech co-founder, it was a predictably uphill battle.
Many qualified women were already committed elsewhere. It is also, on average, far harder for women to take on multiple professional roles when they are still performing the majority of domestic labour and child-caring tasks.
Trenna’s takeaway was that you can have high aspirations, but in the meantime, it may be necessary to be practical and pragmatic. Look for realistic near-term options that will allow some forward progress.
So as a ‘band-aid’ solution, she engaged an agency that had relevant experience and skills in online financial product development. It was expensive and sometimes slower than she would like, but it was where she met her now technical co-founder, Keith M.
By engaging with Keith through the agency, Trenna uncovered a deep values alignment on top of technical expertise, which was absolutely critical to her.
According to Trenna, “aptitude can be taught but values and willingness to learn are either in you, or they’re not”.
Many non-technical woman founders I’ve spoken with express reluctance to ask too many questions of their (predominantly male) tech teams and engineers.
Their reasoning is it can trigger their imposter syndrome, while setting off a fair amount of (let’s hope, subconscious) condescension and mansplaining in response.
Yet, their advice is still to push through this reluctance and ask those questions.
You don’t ever need to become an expert in the tech minutiae, but a broad understanding of how these tech building blocks come together is invaluable.
Because increasing your technical knowledge base will aid the speed and effectiveness of the next conversation.
And, critically, it can also help you recognise when it might be time to push back — diplomatically — such as when an answer is “we can’t do that” or “it will take twice as long as you think”.
As Probert told me, “my natural tendency is to say, ‘Okay, but can you really not do that?’. I’ve needed to learn how to ask those questions in a way that is empowering rather than infuriating. But developing the resilience and confidence to challenge the assertions takes time and commitment”.
As a male investor and VC, I’ve personally witnessed scepticism by other investors who look like me — white and male — about women founders’ abilities, chances of success, and offerings (especially when they cater to women).
So I help these women founders anticipate the areas most likely to foster cynicism or disbelief and then reverse it to say, “What are the things that are likely to convince, interest or enthuse them?” And we might collaborate on a matrix of talking points in advance.
It also helps to lean on your non-technical strengths. For example, Probert is a finance superstar, so she can dazzle and create confidence via her fluency with figures.
Building strong investor relationships requires trust, so there’s no point pretending to be who you’re not. Understand where you shine, and turn that light on right from the start.
Networking is essential for any entrepreneur. But it’s especially important for a non-technical woman founder at the idea or early product stage, when guidance, support, and resources are invaluable.
Again, it’s about ignoring the imposter syndrome, putting yourself out there, and asking questions if required. Authenticity and persistence will help you build a powerful (and growing) tribe soon enough.
Cultivate the mindset that you’re here to embrace all challenges, knowing they can make you a stronger and more resilient entrepreneur.
And remember, you are not alone on this journey. Many in the Australian tech startup community are eager to support and uplift each other.
Together, we can break down barriers and create a more inclusive and diverse tech startup ecosystem that benefits us all.
Alan Jones is the interim CEO of Australian startup community Fishburners, general partner of VC fund M8 Ventures, an angel investor and has previously served as an entrepreneur-in-residence with some of Australia’s best-known startup accelerators.
