 Hello, and thanks for joining us today for our GIST Tech Connect on Catalyzing Resources for Women-Led Startups. My name is Tomas Harmon, and I will be your host for today's discussion. I work at Vanguard Communications here in Washington, D.C. Vanguard is a Hispanic, women-owned public relations and social marketing firm. We work to help clients make a positive impact in their communities, developing communication strategies that support positive social change. Today's web chat is about empowering and supporting women's science and technology entrepreneurs. You're going to hear from a group of diverse and experienced experts who have committed their careers to supporting women founders. These experts will share their experiences and highlight best practices for women-led startups to maximize their access to resources. For today's discussion, we want to hear from you and help you grow your venture and succeed as an entrepreneur. Please send us your questions in the chat space next to the video player or on Twitter using the hashtag GIST Tech Connect. To all the viewing groups joining us, an extra special welcome. Please send us your viewing group pictures by email or Twitter using the GIST Tech Connect hashtag, and we'll give you a shout out on the air. Let me begin by welcoming our panel of experts. Melissa Bradley is managing partner of 1863 Ventures. It is a business development program that accelerates new-majority entrepreneurs that have historically been under-resourced from high potential to high growth. Maria Ibáñez is the chief communications and marketing officer for the Association for Women in Science, which is a global network that inspires bold leadership research and solutions that advance women in STEM, spark innovation, and promote organizational success to drive systemic change. And Erin Kelly is the co-director of the STEM to Market Initiative from the Association for Women in Science. STEM to Market is a two-pronged program for STEM women entrepreneurs and commercial financiers. STEM to Market supports equitable and inclusive and productive STEM entrepreneurship ecosystems. And for those of you watching, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, and I suspect we'll probably be using that term a lot for today's discussion. Well thank you all for joining me today. I'd like to start off the discussion by asking why it's important for everyone in a startup ecosystem, and I'm talking about men as well, to support women entrepreneurs and women-led startups, and Melissa, since you're sitting closest to me, I'll start with you. Lucky me. So thrilled to be here. Thank you for having me. I think that this is an important conversation, and to answer your question, I think there's two primary reasons why it's extremely important to invest in women. One is that when you think about communities, they tend to be the leaders. They tend to make decisions. They tend to drive financial pathways, and we recognize in data shows that if you invest in women, you're investing an entire community. The second thing I would say is statistics show in the U.S., but they certainly work globally, that when you invest in women, you actually have greater returns, literally. You have greater financial returns. You have less capital utilized. You have more jobs created. So the reality is that while the stereotypes of what a successful entrepreneur are, particularly in the tech space, tend to be very male-dominated, we know that a majority of small businesses that are creating jobs, serving the community, and actually contributing to local economic development are driven by women. What do you think, Maria? I'd certainly echo what Melissa shared. In addition to that, women entrepreneurs are making a significant contribution to the global economy, not just the economy on its own, but also on the social map as well. And it's important for women entrepreneurs to get the support of our allies, partners, other entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, who are able to provide some of the resources to help us excel. So a lot of women entrepreneurs are making meaningful, innovative breakthroughs in the industry. That can make a difference for the lives of so many communities across the world. Absolutely. Yeah. What do you think, Maria? I would also say some of the innovations that women founders come up with, I mean, entrepreneurs use their own life experiences often to come up with the products that they want to commercialize. And so since some women have been under-resourced as entrepreneurs, those kinds of products aren't making it out to market. So there's many products that could be life-changing and life-serving that don't get out there because we haven't been able to fund them to the degree that they deserve. Yeah, absolutely. Erin, thank you. I mean, it sounds like the big takeaway is that when women are succeeding, we're all succeeding, our societies are succeeding, our economies are doing better. And so with that in mind, Maria, can you talk a little bit about the association for Women in Science and its mission? Sure. The Association for Women in Science, we're a national nonprofit organization. We're headquartered here in Washington, D.C., but our work transcends across the country. We have 80 chapters across the country. We work with our allies, our partners, and supporters who are championing our efforts to advocate for women in STEM. And by that I mean all STEM disciplines across all employment sectors. So our mission is to, in that advocacy work, is to make sure that we are addressing the issues of gender equity, pay equity, promotion, and advancement, professional development as well. And so in addition to our work, we also provide some resources and tools to help women in STEM excel. And Erin, you're working on the STEM to Market initiative at the same organization, which I think is taking what Maria just said a step further, right? Absolutely. So AUS has a long history of working in academia and an industry on equitable workplaces. And within the past few years, we turned our attention to entrepreneurship. We know that a lot of the same biases and barriers that women face in industry and in academia also are reflected in the entrepreneurship space. So we put together an accelerator program to serve STEM-trained women that is based off of a nationally recognized curriculum, but also adds specific content to help women navigate the biases that they might encounter and then choose how to mitigate those and deal with those as they remain their authentic selves. We are very much focused on making sure that women have what they need to succeed and not trying to fix them. A lot of programs out there that are for women try to tell women, you need to change and be more like this or you need to adapt this way. But that really takes away a founder's authenticity, which is one of their greatest strengths. Because we're all unique and those unique things about us make us an asset really to what we're doing. That makes perfect sense. Now Melissa, you've worked in the public, private and nonprofit sector to support women innovators. What resources would you recommend to some of the women innovators watching the program right now? So there's several resources. I think one is look for other examples. I think too often we tend to say look at people who are famous, look at those who are most successful and I would say just look at your community. One of the greatest assets that women can have in supporting other women is just the creation of community and building confidence. So first I would say is find a peer network to support you. Entrepreneurship is extremely hard. We know the battles of just being a female and then trying to enter the business world. So I would say find a support group because it's not going to be easy, but it's also not impossible and it's not rocket science. I say the second thing is to then actually turn to academia and look at several examples of successful entrepreneurs that are women but also the ecosystems around them. As mentioned by Erin, women are innately innovative and the challenge is not them getting their business to market. It is breaking through all the challenges in the ecosystem. So it's extremely important to be able to learn from what other people have done. The other thing I would say is to use your voice. That's probably the best resource you have. Again, we don't want to encourage women to continue to look outside but there is tons of data and research that speaks to the power of women. For example, in the United States, women use 25% less capital to be able to successfully create the same business as their white male peer. That should speak to investors. That should speak to policymakers in terms of the return on investment of that dollar. So those are the resources that I would recommend. And I think it's interesting that all three are somewhat interconnected, right? So if you find a community, you're going to be able to learn and you're also going to be able to use your voice more, right? Absolutely. Great. Thank you. Well, for those of you just joining us, we're talking today about catalyzing resources for women-led startups. We've assembled a panel of experts who have shared some great resources and initiatives that are helping women entrepreneurs in the STEM fields launch their ventures. These are tips and ideas that you can use. And speaking of tips and ideas, Melissa, what advice would you give to women-led startups that are trying to raise capital or in non-startup speak, raise money? Well, money is important. I think it's important, though, to level set. I think that there has been an over-weighted amount of pressure put on raising venture capital. And so I would say there's three steps that every woman should take. One is to really think about what is the trajectory of their business. I run into women entrepreneurs all over the world who are running high-power businesses, but also managing families, taking care of the home, taking care of their parents. And it's important that you take care of yourself first. So really think about what is the commitment and the desire for the business. If you want to be a billion-dollar business, go for it. But if you want to be a million-dollar business, that's okay, too. And make sure that you're building the business you want first and foremost and not what everyone else tells you. The second thing is really begin to assess your risk tolerance and understand the cash business can actually generate. Too often we find people going after venture capital. It's a very expensive subsidy. We find people doing all kinds of crazy things around growth and actually totally forgetting about the consumer. So really figure out what is the right aligned capital for your business. If you're a high-growth business, go for it. And there's tons of venture capital. If you want to really penetrate a regional market and think about the use of debt, if you have access to friends and family that are still going to be your friends and family after they invest in you, then you should go for it. But again, make sure you're taking on what you feel comfortable with. This is not about how do I lose sleep. The highest-invested business is oftentimes not the most successful. And then the final thing I would say is to really pay attention to your numbers and make sure that you have done the analysis of the market opportunity and you actually have the resources not just in the bank today, but you understand what is that pathway to raise capital. One of the things that I find for women is because we're typically doing a thousand things at one time, raising capital is one more thing. And it tends to be an extremely time-consuming process that often takes you away from the business. So I would say think about what is the business you want to create. Think about what is the appropriate aligned capital. And then really think about what is the trajectory and time that you want to allocate to fundraising. Because oftentimes what women enjoy most is actually running the business, interacting with customers, building innovation, creating massive recovery efforts, or solving real problems, and having to sit and convince a male venture capitalist why this is the idea is probably not the best use of their time. But women could, if you're an entrepreneur, you could certainly find someone to help you with that. Absolutely. Although I would say there's a certain thing as a finance major, I'm always mindful of what we outsource. And you don't want to outsource too many things that are actually critical to the business. And your ability to negotiate terms with a venture capitalist, your ability to negotiate terms when it comes to debt, that's probably something that people can help you with. But ultimately, that's your decision. I think where you can leverage community and advisors and board of directors is thinking about is this the right decision for the business? And how can people help in other areas of operations to make sure that you're running a sustainable enterprise? That makes a lot of sense. Now, Erin, you work closely with women entrepreneurs who are trying to launch their startups and obviously raising capital is a really important part of that. But there are other best practices as well involved in that. Can you share what some of those might be? Absolutely. I think one thing that can often get underestimated, particularly when entrepreneurs are commercializing their research, is customer discovery. Often, we'll get someone who has research in the lab and they're really excited about this technological breakthrough that they've made, but then doesn't do the work around understanding how that fits into the current market and what customers that might be using that, what exactly they need from that technology and how to bridge that from a discovery in the lab to something that people can buy in the world. I would say another piece, too, is going back to Melissa's point about community. I think one of the strongest, greatest benefits of the STEM to Market program is the community that we've created among the STEM entrepreneurs that are working to build their businesses, but also creating space specifically to talk about the marginalization and experiences that they've had as women as they're going through this process. So many of our entrepreneurs, they experienced bias. They were told that they were not qualified, even though they have two PhDs and a medical degree, or they're from another country and so couldn't possibly have this expertise. And so being able to tell your story and then also understand that other people have experienced that as well and fit that in a pattern is really empowering because then you start to understand that it's not about you as an entrepreneur. Your entrepreneurial experience is being influenced by these outside forces that you can find support to deal with. So customer discovery, making space to talk about your experiences as a woman, and then if you are able to work with an entrepreneur support organization, which there are many, many around the world, one thing that we have found great success with is getting those organizations to nominate you for awards. We're entering business plan competitions. Sometimes those things bring money, which is obviously great, but they also bring visibility. And so by raising your profile, you're able to get more attention and then that can really snowball because then you can say, oh, I've won this award and then the next award contest will think, oh, they already won that. This person must be great. Let's keep adding on to that. It seems like it's validating a little bit what you're doing because you can say, well, I've already been recognized once or twice or three times. And you can definitely self-nominate, but it's extra great if you can get a outside organization to do that because it's that initial validation of a set of experts to say this person, this founder can succeed and has a great idea. Well, I want to go back to the first thing that you mentioned, customer discovery because in public relations, something we talk a lot about is understanding your audience and doing research on your audience, which in a lot of ways is similar to your customer. And in this situation, if you're a woman entrepreneur, you really have two audiences. You have your audience, the customer base, and then you have the audience, the folks who you might be trying to get money from. And Maria, you have extensive experience in marketing and branding. So when we're talking about that second audience, how can women leverage the fact that they are women as a way to set themselves apart from maybe the other entrepreneurs that are approaching a VC or an accelerator? Yeah, no, great question, Tomas. One of the things that I, a few things I'd like to point out is that as you're thinking about your brand, as you're thinking about marketing your innovation or product or whatever the case may be, consider yourself as an individual a brand. So your presence, your face, your entire persona has a lot to do with your brand. And to not forget you as an individual representing that. The other thing is to think about is the self-promotion. That is very key. And there is nothing wrong with self-promotion, what Erin talked about. There is absolutely nothing wrong with self-promotion. And women entrepreneurs, excuse me, should not be fearful of making that a priority. The third thing is to really understand what the meaning of your brand is. What will it mean to the consumer? Are you meeting a need? Are you providing a new service? Are you improving upon something? One of the things that we all touched on is how women entrepreneurs bring those personal experiences to light. And many scientific breakthroughs or innovative products have been developed because there was a personal experience tied to it. One of our members at AWIS, she developed a medical tool to address COPD because of an experience that her relative went through. And she saw there's something missing here. So as a scientist, she is developing a specific tool to address that and change and improve the lives of others so they don't suffer the same way. So in thinking about your brand, what are the things that may resonate the most with your audience? And as you're developing that audience, keep in mind consumers not just in your circle, but outside of your circle, broaden that participation, broaden the scope of that circle. And then finally, test. Test your brand. Test your message. That network that Melissa talks about, that Erin talks about, that network. Test your brand with that network. Those are the individuals that you can trust the most, who can tell you, give you very constructive and productive feedback that will help you in the long run. And testing isn't this huge thing, right? It could literally just be, do you mind reading this thing that I wrote and letting me know what you think? Absolutely. Or you read something. And ask them, what does that say to you? How does that make you feel? Would you buy this product? Will this fit into your lifestyle? Will this help someone else in your community? So testing, absolutely. It can be a small, very informal group. It can be one person. It can be several individuals. But testing is a very critical part of the branding. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you all. I want to take some questions now that are coming in from our online viewers. The first one here, what are the resources that are free or very affordable for women-led startups with little capital? The internet. I think the beauty is that a lot of the major tech companies have recognized that small and medium-sized businesses are a real market. If you look at Facebook, they are pivoting from personal connections to businesses. So Google, Facebook, Amazon, don't mean to leave anybody out. But most of all these organizations have online sites or portals that provide tons of information about how to get started. If you're a startup, lean startup. Lots of free webinars. YouTube, I think about when I first started my business that if I had the internet, how much time and money I actually want to save. But I think the reality is if you just search, you are bound to find, A, someone who's had a similar experience and probably has shared it on YouTube, B, tons of resources that sometimes complement but sometimes conflict and you want to dig through all of those. And the third, I would say, is from an academic perspective, most universities now have some kind of online portal that talks about entrepreneurship and the ability to understand how to write a business plan or how to begin to market yourself. There are tons of websites that give away free templates and pitch decks. And obviously, a lot of them want to get you to buy something else. But I think there is a significant amount of free resources available that if you type in anything around entrepreneurship or women, some will pop up. Just yesterday, I found someone who literally compiled a niche website just around resources for black female founders. So there's tons of stuff out there. I'm glad you mentioned that because I do think, Erin, you made this point a little bit earlier, it is a unique experience to be a woman entrepreneur. And so the internet is a great resource. But there are also organizations that are probably also offering some affordable resources. Do either of you want to talk about that a little bit? So the Kauffman Foundation is based in the United States. It's an organization that works to support entrepreneurship in the United States, but also globally as well. And they have many, many, many, many resources. Videos from IP lawyers, everything that Melissa just said, that I believe is called the Kauffman Smart Track Program. But it's free, and it is great content. I use some of it to develop our STEM to market curriculum. So that's a great one as well. And when I was doing some research just to think about resources to talk about here, the landscape is changing so quickly across the world. There's lots of different organizations in places that are looking to support entrepreneurs. So if you search for where you are, your city, your country, and then you can look for the term incubator, which is a kind of space where there is often people can work together on their projects, on their businesses. And then also there is content support classes about customer discovery and marketing and finance. Those are often connected with a university, but not necessarily. And those programs, depending on where you are, could be free or could be very low cost. And since those are very structured, there's also that great accountability piece of being in the same space with others that also we all want to meet goals together, so we are all showing up and having that different kind of accountability. Yeah, that's great. That's great. We have another question from our online viewers. What should women-led startups consider when they're building their brand, Maria, this sounds like a question you might be able to weigh in on. Well, one of the things that I think they really should consider is, again, who is that audience? Be very sure about that audience, and that's where that customer discovery component really makes a difference. Because if you just go out there with something and you haven't really thought it through, it's going to be a tougher road. You really want to think through and consider, again, not just the audience, but also the mission. What is it that you are absolutely trying to share or produce or invent? And then when you do that, again, test, you must test whatever it is, the message, the content, the product, whatever it is that you're pulling together. That testing piece is very important before you go out there. Let's see what resonates. Yeah. If I can add on to that, I think one thing that's also really important is trying to understand how your target market customers think. That's something that can often be overlooked, but thinking about how they're making decisions, because then you'll understand how they might incorporate your product into their lives. And then you can use that information to craft your message, to really get to that piece that they're thinking about. I also think that something that I've noticed in the field that I'm in with branding is that a lot of times people think that means creating a logo and picking the colors for your startup. And that in reality, it should be what you're talking about. It should be understanding the message that you're trying to convey, making sure you're tapping into what your customers' needs and wants are. That stuff might be fun, but it really should happen after you've already developed those other things. That's exactly right. And one of the other things to think about is the research. We talked about accessing so much information on the internet. Also, look at the research. Data is a big component of your branding. And so as a part of that customer discovery, the research makes a big difference. So if you can show that a certain number of individuals are in need of a service or a product, use that research to your advantage. There is a lot of free research on the web that can be easily attainable. The other piece is if there is policies or any advocacy that's tied to what it is you're trying to produce, be up to date and aware of what policies are in place in your community, starting on a local level, all the way to a federal level across the world. So be aware of what policies are in place. And if those can be incorporated in terms of what you're trying to do, roll that into building your brand. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Another online question. What advice would you give for women-led startups raising capital from male investors? So navigating that, you know, men who, I guess, in the world of investing, they've dominated for a long time. How do you break into that? So there's a few things I would say. First, take a deep breath. It is not the end of the world. I think having been a venture capitalist, there's something to keep in mind is that while there is sexism and racism, the core nature of venture capital is to be highly competitive and highly selective. You're trying to move a lot of money at a speed that most people cannot keep up with and there is a laziness around, let me just invest in what I think I already know works. So just take a deep breath and know this is gonna be a different experience for you. I think the second thing is practice. Find men and women to practice with. One of the things that research has shown, the difference of when a man goes to a venture capitalist and a woman goes into the venture capitalist are two things, the types of questions and the tone of questions. So be prepared. Don't get frazzled when you get 20 questions and your male peer only got five. Use that as an opportunity to really sell your business but you've got to practice. I've seen in many countries I go to, whether it's an angel group or a venture capitalist, people tend to think that this is an opportunity to make a friend. No, it's an opportunity to convince them that you can actually execute and generate their dollar in return. That means execute. It doesn't mean I got a great vision. Doesn't mean I think it's gonna do great. It means I actually can operate a business. So the second thing I would say is practice. The third thing is come with data. The opportunity to break the pattern recognition is huge. I know it's a lot of pressure. You're probably representing every single woman when you walk in that door but it's also an opportunity to change their perception. I had the privilege to travel with just the Southeast Asia and met a male investor who heard me present and said, I don't get it. Why is it important to invest in women? This just seems like a waste of time and money. And I proceeded to share a bunch of statistics around over 60% greater return on equity, over 57% greater return on assets, 25% less use of capital, almost a 40% less failure rate. And I later found out that he went back and told someone else, I'm convinced. Because the reality is that while investors may seem like crazy people with weird habits and lots of money, we're pretty rational people, right? The desire is to get our money back. We are laser focused on that. And when there is data, when there is precedent that says this is a good bet, they're probably gonna bet. And the final thing that I would say about thinking about male investors is whether you get the money or not, follow up and keep them posted. Because the only way they're gonna even begin to have women in their universe is to remain in contact with them. And unfortunately, two of them people say no, we just stop communicating with them. So take a deep breath, practice, practice, practice. Know your data, obviously about your field, but also about the success of women. And just stay connected because my sense is that over time, particularly as we see entrepreneurship declining globally amongst men and increasing amongst women, you could actually be at the tipping point of changing people's perception around the real value of investing in women. If I can add to Melissa's point about the practice, specifically about the questions, we know that men are asked questions about promotion. So they're asked how they're going to win. And women are asked questions about risk mitigation, how they're not going to lose. And so if you have an understanding about the questions that you might get asked, you can choose how to answer them. You can choose to frame it, answer the question asked and also add this other piece about how you're going to win. So as an example, how are you going to acquire users versus how are you going to retain users? And so being able to answer that question with both can flip the conversation. And you should also probably do a little bit of research on this male investor too, right? To understand kind of how their investment history looks. Why is that important to do? I open up to all three of you. Well, I will say, while I am an investor and I like to think they're all wonderful people, that's not always the case. So I think there's a couple of things. One, you want to level set and understand where you are in their portfolio. Sometimes investors will pick up the phone and call an entrepreneur for no other reason than market research. That's not a reason not to take it, but it's a way to position in terms of what you share. So I do think it's important to research and say, are they even interested in my space? Is there precedent for what they invested? The second thing is at the end of the day, you want my money, but we're building a relationship. So LinkedIn, do you have kids? Do we go to the same school? Do we even have anybody in common? We cannot underestimate the role of personal relationships in starting and growing a business. And then the final thing I would say the reason you want to research is because to your point, you want to be prepared. You want to understand what is the size of companies, the types of companies. Are they in a decline? Are they, do they have a lot of money left? Are they sitting on a bunch of dry powders that you begin to really understand what are your chances and how to show that you fit in the portfolio? I think one thing that entrepreneurs often underestimate is that it's not just about mean-making investment in you as an investor, but where do I fit in the overall portfolio? It's almost like, how can I become part of the family and how can I contribute to the bottom line of that family? Yeah, what is my value at this portfolio? It's absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I really appreciate the point of bringing up family is because as an entrepreneur, you have just as much power and incentive to understand that relationship and fit and you might have, get into a conversation with an investor and it might not be the right fit. It might not be, they might want to give you money but it might not be someone that you respect their advice. Or someone that you don't like working with or for whatever reason, like you have the power there as well. It is a mutual process. And a lot of entrepreneurs forget that. That they also have the power and that's, I think that's especially important for women to really hold onto because of the bias and barriers that we experience as we go through this entrepreneurship journey. And that is so important because I think people are afraid to say, no, regardless of what gender you are. But if you take the wrong investment and you go sideways, then you've messed it up for everybody else and they're probably not gonna get it again. And so I do think making sure that this is a good fit on both sides but know that you have the power to say no. And I will say that most investors, they don't take that personally. I think they see it as a great leadership tool to be able to know this is not a good fit. You have to remember that as an investor, money is just buying me time and engagement in your business. And if it's not the right time and then not the right engagement, you don't want it. And if it's the wrong fit, it shifts your mission, right? That's not what your intention was and it completely shifts your mission. It takes you down the path that that's not where you really wanna go. So it's important to recognize and to be okay with saying, no, this is not the right fit. Right, there are lessons to be learned here that I should take away. So this next question I think lends itself to something that you had mentioned a little bit earlier, Maria, about storytelling. And this one is asking, what are specific challenges that women science innovators face that their male counterparts don't? And I think that what's really they're asking is what are some stories that you've heard and maybe some ways that these women have overcome those challenges. Several of the stories and I have the privilege working at A-WIS, hearing a lot of those personal stories from our members. And I will say, some of them are quite painful to hear because the challenges and the barriers are still prevalent and they are very real. And the way that some of them have addressed that they've addressed the challenges, they have a strong network. They have a support system. They have mentors who they can rely on and speak to. They make it a point to look to a mentor and say, look, I've been challenged with this or there's this barrier or there's this other opportunity that I'm not getting but my male counterpart received it and I had the better presentation or I made the better pitch. What do I need to do differently? And so to have those conversations with your network but then to also learn how can I address the issue at hand? What can I do to change it? And so having the network is a big important part of it so that no one feels that they're alone but finding ways to address the barriers, some of the scientists who I've spoken to, they have addressed it head on. They have had the conversation with the individual who is creating the barrier. And it's been a tough conversation but they didn't sit still. They wanted to make the change so that someone behind them wouldn't have to go through the same thing. And in some cases, the result was not a positive one for the scientists but they spoke up and that in and of itself was a big important part for them. So there are different ways to address the different challenges but I think and want to recommend, go to a network, go to your mentors, talk to your peers. In most cases, unfortunately, you're not the only one who has had to address those types of challenges and these challenges are around the world. They're not just in the US, sadly. It happens to many scientists around the world but there are many individuals who have overcome those challenges and those barriers and they have been successful and those are the ones that we want to talk to to find out what is your story? What did you do? How can that help me so that I can then help someone else? I think within our STEM to Market program, we had many of our participants who had previously been through science entrepreneurship programs and 100% of them experience some sort of bias incident that made them question if they wanted to continue which is awful. So we are really glad that we were able to be a supportive place for all of those folks. So one example, we had a founder who has an amazing technology that is just gonna, I'm so happy for her. She has gotten millions of dollars since being in our program, which is just incredible. The first time she went through an entrepreneurship program she was paired with the only woman mentor and they did not have matching experience. So our founder was in one industry and the mentor didn't have experience in that at all but they were paired together because they were both women. And at the end of the program, the mentor stood up in front of everyone and said, look at how far our founder has come. In a way that made her feel like she had started like so much far behind everyone else when she hadn't, she had a really great technology and was definitely ahead of some of the other folks in her cohort. And so that made her consider like, do I wanna keep doing this? So we were able to coach her through encountering that experience again and also being a part of the community where you can talk about like, hey, this happened to me. That's not cool, what should I do? And we've been able to go to some of these program folks or runners of business plan competitions to say, hey, are participant experience biased during your process? I wanna point that out to you how that might manifest and what you can do better. So there are organizations out there that you can go to and get help in figuring out how to address that if you want to. Sometimes you don't want to in that moment and that is also perfectly fine. It depends on your goals for the interaction and the kind of relationship that you wanna build there. But it sounds like there is, for the viewer who asked that question, you're not alone and there's an amazing that workout that helped you. And that over time these challenges will become less, right? Because you said there are stories of success. You've seen women who have succeeded and are doing great things. And so we should look at those women as role models and trailblazers. Absolutely, and to not be afraid to share that you have come across a barrier. Don't hold it in. Share it out. Again, talk to your peers or if you know of some of the networking groups that exist, make a phone call and have a conversation and just say, hey, look, I'm going through this and I need some guidance, what do I do? So that you're not there alone. And also take a moment just to be proud of yourself. So one of the biggest nuances in listening to this between male entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs is that we need courage and charisma. Guys, just get away with charisma. And we are constantly having these courageous conversations. And so even for anyone watching this, sending in questions, congratulations. Because this is hard. And I think that we have to pause and recognize that not every battle is our battle at that moment and that gender bias exists amongst all genders. And so this is not a male, female kind of thing. I think there is again a oversaturation of success stories that are geared about men who are successful because of social relationships and therefore you underestimate the community. You underestimate our education. You underestimate our resilience. And this is an opportunity to shift that story and it's going to take time, but everything doesn't have to happen right away. And it's all these little baby steps where the thing brings us back to community. Find other people to talk to you. Because one of the things I worry about for women in particular is burnout and fatigue for all the wrong reasons. Burnout and fatigue because we're constantly fighting an external battle as opposed to being able to focus on our business. I think that makes us amazing entrepreneurs. I think that makes us more successful than the average entrepreneur, but we do have to give ourselves pause for self care, for community, for recognition of our own power and courage. That's great. Well, speaking of pause, I want to take a moment here to say that for those of you who are just joining us, we are talking about catalyzing resources for women led startups. Our experts here have had some incredible insights, I think particularly around the importance of finding your community. And so we want to take more questions from you all and the way that you can do that is to put your questions into the chat space, which is next to the video player on your screen, or you can send them to us on Twitter using the hashtag just tech connect hashtag G-I-S-T tech connect. And so we're going to go right back to our online questions. Do you know of any networks where women led startups can get feedback on business plans and development strategies? I feel like we've been talking a lot about this already today. So maybe they're asking for specific, maybe entrepreneurship networks, business networks or associations, like the one that you guys are a part of. Are there any others that these founders can be looking to? There's a Facebook group called BEAM, Bring Expertise and Mentorship. And it is a crowdsourced open community that is comprised of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate mentors. And the commitment is that anyone will respond to a request within 48 hours. So that's one resource. I think to Aaron's point, every community particularly these days has an incubator, an accelerator, someone that you can reach out to. And I would say while many of them tend to be cohort driven, just inquire and ask. I know we run a lot of pitch competitions at 1863 and we actually provide feedback, but I know that's not the norm, but it doesn't hurt to pick up the phone call. The other place is Google for Entrepreneurs. They have communities all over the world and typically there are coaches and mentors, not all the time, but during very specific periods of time that you can reach out and find someone who can pick up the phone and have a conversation with you or video chat. Yeah, yeah. Aaron and Maria, do you guys know of any other organizations or Facebook groups or online forums? Well, I can certainly attest to our chapters across the country. Our chapters, they host mentoring and networking events all the time and so definitely seek out on awis.org. Our chapters across the country can also help you build a network. Or if you're just looking to meet new individuals in that space, in the STEM space, it's certainly a great avenue to follow. And I would agree too, if you aren't necessarily ready to join an accelerator, just be a part of the community. Most accelerators have events. Some of them might be recruiting events. Some of them just might be open content for everyone to learn from. And I would also say, seriously, Google Women Entrepreneur Meetup or Community or pick your keywords carefully but there is some sort of local community wherever you are and it's a matter of finding it. It might be, and you might also expand to just like women in tech more broadly because some of those organizations that serve a larger category will have a subset that's specifically about entrepreneurship. And those are great places to find that kind of community and content. And then wherever you are, there's usually at least one government office. I'm not gonna guarantee it's always available but in full of entrepreneurs. But I know in every country that I've traveled to there's been some ministry or organization or agency that is responsible. Maybe they don't call it entrepreneurship. They call it economic development. But a lot of those have resources. They have volunteers that step up. So it should not be that hard to find, hopefully. Another thought that I just had is also angel groups. There's angel groups all around the world and they might not provide content necessarily but just starting to get involved in their network and build relationships there. You wanna start to build relationships with, especially with angel investors but all investors way before you might need to call on them and so if you can figure out some way that you might be of value cause a lot of angels are interested in new and emerging technologies that you might be an extrovert and they're not so they can learn from you. So starting to build those relationships early and often is another way to do that. Yeah. So this next question from our online audience. In your experience have you found that US resources translate well overseas? I'm gonna punt this one to you because you've actually traveled with GIST to all sorts of all over right? And GIST is a US program but it's helping entrepreneurs internationally. That's right. I've been Southeast Asia, Australia, it's amazing. I would say they translate very well and vice versa. I don't think it's a US resource going somewhere else. I think business resources are business resources. The beauty now is that I don't see too many people starting a company that is hyper local anymore. People are trying to build global businesses. Even if they're not gonna be a billion dollar business they recognize the global market opportunity of the problem they're trying to solve. So I would say that business is business. Two plus two is always four. Policies will change but the reality is the four key pillars that I think around talent management and culture, operations, financial readiness and customer acquisition, those are universal. And I think there's no right or wrong way. I think there's nuances around what sector you're in but the reality is you should feel free to take a resource wherever you get it. Provided it's a credible resource and they actually understand entrepreneurship. But I do think we live in a world where the one thing that people can count on is that the process of job creation, the process of solving customer challenges that is not unique to Thailand versus Minnesota. That is a universal process by which the desire is how do I solve a problem and create a financial transaction. So a resource is a resource. And I think that's especially true for STEM-based products. Especially when you have businesses that don't necessarily involve IP, that's kind of a different kind of category but most of the time if you're commercializing tech there's gonna be some sort of intellectual property involved and that is something that is especially universal. Another question. Some investors have found that investments in women's STEM entrepreneurs have a high rate of return. How should women entrepreneurs use this and other data unique to women in STEM when pitching to investors? We sort of touched on this earlier. So I guess drilling down a little bit more, if you're going into pitch to an investor, is it okay to pull out data that says 60% or 22% or should you really just be focusing on yourself? I think it's both, right? I think the reality is an investor is looking at the ability for the business to succeed within its own sector but also the growth opportunity. I think one thing to note is yes, put it out there because every data point allows people to have a different perspective and your job is to convince them unfortunately why you're a good investment. I think where you're able to dig down and really correlate what was successful about that business that is present and relevant in your business is extremely important. Again, investors make investment decisions based on precedent. If it worked there, it can work here. And so I think it's extremely reasonable and relevant to be able to put that data out there. I also think it's extremely important to be able to talk about that trajectory and so say that we know after three years a female entrepreneur is able to generate at least 40% more return on assets. Here's why I am in that process because I do find that women have a really hard time promoting themselves but if you can tie it to another success metric and we can see that you have the capacity to get there and achieve those same outcomes, it's an amazing opportunity to change the perception of an investor. Absolutely. And that research shows that you know your business. You are on top of it. You know your business. You're not just making a pitch without any data to validate what it is you're trying to do. That shows you know your business. You're following the industry. You are well connected in terms of what your product is or what you're trying to achieve and don't assume that they are completely on top of everything. You may be sharing some new data that they just haven't gotten wind of yet. So it really, it truly shows that you are a serious business person. You're a serious entrepreneur and you are completely on top of your game. When you were in most pitched deck templates that I see there's a slide on competitive landscape and I see this fitting into that. So you have you know who are the competitors out there and what differentiates you but then there's also what are sort of similar businesses that you can point to and plot yourself on that trajectory to say and here are some similar examples that were great investments that you missed out on because you didn't see them. I think it's important to note that a pitch without data is a story and the last thing investors want to hear is a story. We want to know why this is a good investment. So I think whatever the data is, use it and integrate it into your pitch. Yeah, and to your point, Maria, I think it sounds like showing that research, showing how that data connects to you is actually a really good way to also build your personal brand, right? Absolutely. It's a big part of it. It's a big part of your personal brand and not just the data, again, go back to some of the policies that are in place so that it shows that you are very well-rounded, you are very well-versed in what it is you are presenting and it makes a big difference and it's impressive that you are fully connected in terms of the information that you're able to share but that data is a big component of it. Because you remove the subjectivity. Absolutely. And you bring a level of credibility to yourself and that you're able to step outside yourself, right? No investor wants to put money in someone that is solely focused on their own wealth creation and their own success. And so I think much like earlier, the awards, anything that can externally validate and be objective in this space so that you can remove the negative assumptions they have about you and really focus on core facts is always gonna make, hopefully, for a better outcome. And don't be afraid to, when you have your pitch deck, have a giant appendix of slides in the back. You're not gonna present them during your initial pitch but if any questions that you can anticipate and have data to back up your answer, then that's really impressive because then it signals you've already thought about what that investor might be thinking about and then you can just flip to that slide and be like, here, here's my graph. And if you've already developed, you have already started to develop your brand whether it be a website or anything on social, make sure everything is up to date, it's current, get the new research on there, get that appendix on there, have all your awards and accolades there front and center so that everything is set, everything is set ahead of time. Yeah, yeah. We have a question from a viewing group in Tajikistan. What trends are you seeing in STEM entrepreneurship in developing countries? And I'm gonna focus this question a little bit more. What trends are you seeing around women's STEM entrepreneurship in developing countries? Because I think we've seen a lot of men kind of foraging ahead, but recently we're seeing a lot more women, right? I'll just speak anecdotally, I think on the trips that I've taken with just, it has been an inordinate amount of women that have shown up one because we're going to school more and the opportunity to leverage IP that makes this within university or at least have that ecosystem support from a research perspective. I've been amazed at the technologies that have come out and I think when you think about developing countries, education tends to be the traditional pathway toward economic development. And I would say that for the most part, I'm sure these women will correct me, this slightly less biased than say the traditional entrepreneurship world to women in STEM because there's this belief that we're going toward the academy and there's some level hopefully of respect, but it's still challenging. So I would say I think anecdotally, I've seen a tremendous search and I also think it's a smart thing to do. It is readily available, it is universal, it is highly scalable. I think it is something that is highly subjective and people understand. They also think that you're beginning to see a wave of investors outside the United States who are much more focused on technology because it's much more highly transferable. So I think for all those reasons, there is at least an interest and a pursuit. I think we've still got a lot more work to do around the actual implementation and growth of those companies, but it's there. And it sounds like the beauty of that is the learning, the exchange of learning, the exchange of lessons, the exchange of networks and widening that community so that it's not just this small little circle but you're broadening your community on a global level from both directions. It's a big difference. And I think, I mean, one thing that we have in the United States and universities are tech transfer offices. And so those are organizations within the university that are specifically meant to help take research, developed in a university lab and build a company around it or do licensing and so they're getting it to market. And so I see a lot of growth in universities around the world learning about these practices and incorporating them into their institutions so that there is a more clear and developed pathway from research lab to the market. Like making that connection easier. Right, so you're not forging your own pathway so that you have the support that benefits both the entrepreneur and the university on many levels, financially, reputationally, visibility. It's always nice when you can say, my university invented this life-saving thing. Yes, right. Check that out. Right, yeah. Another question here. When should women STEM entrepreneurs leverage being a woman and when is it not a good idea to bring that to attention or make that a fact? I feel like you are gonna tell me, you should always mention it because it is an asset. It's kind of hard not to make it a fact if you're standing in front of them. Here you go. It's your identity, right? It's part of your identity so there's no shunning away from it. There's no need to shun away from it. It is who you are. Focus on the data. Focus on the mission. Focus on what it is you are trying to pitch. And let that be the focus. As soon as you walk in the door, they will make a determination of who you are. And of course, we want to embrace that. We want everyone to come to the room with their authentic self. And focus on the data. Focus on what it is you are there to present. That mission is very critical. That data is important. You are building your brand. You are making that connection. Make a determination. Make sure you're, again, on top of what is going on in the industry, you're well-versed on everything. And I think that's more the important part of it. You kind of have to address it because when you don't address something, you allow other people to create a narrative and set of assumptions that probably are not even closely aligned with who you are and what you want them to take away about you. So I would say, don't ignore it. Take it head on. Take that as an opportunity to help craft the narrative about you before they live with a set of assumptions that are not right. Absolutely. I mean, it's important for investors to understand why you're doing this. And oftentimes, not all the time, but that could be because of an experience that you had because you're a woman. It isn't always. It could be for many other reasons. But telling that story also puts you in a place to be able to say, I am the best one to do this. There's other factors to building that case, but demonstrating that you have the passion that is gonna take you to wherever you want the company to go is really important. And that story is, it gets to the heart of it. And you also need the data too. Yeah, right, right. Which goes into your qualifications and the team that you're putting together and the science that you have to back up your product or whatever. But you wanna integrate both of those things. We have another question from a viewing group in Tajikistan for entrepreneurial support organizations with resources available for women led startups. How can we increase awareness and participation in these types of programs? So maybe how can we market, better market these programs? Yeah, I think it's, I think a big part of it, believe it or not, is still word of mouth. Word of mouth is still a very valid form of marketing, marketing those programs. I think also being a part of the community, being a part of those networks and sharing information about it with others, really relying on those opportunities and those connections to spread the word about a network. We, of course, if you're with an organization, we have the luxury of working through our internal networks, but also our external networks and go outside of that circle again, right? So that you're broadening that role in terms of reaching new people, sharing the information. But I think it's, word of mouth is a big part of it. Using your own, if you are on all of the various social media platforms, using yourself as a messenger of that information as well. And again, making sure that you reach different communities across the globe, that's a big part of it. So to dig into that a little bit more, science tells us that we tend to have networks predominantly with people like ourselves. So if you have men running an organization, an entrepreneurship support program, a lot of the times their network is going to be men. And so then that means they bring in men mentors. So we need to look at the networks of the people who are able to provide the word of mouth. And so you can be strategic about building relationships and building your network to diversify it. And so for those folks that are running these programs, do the same thing that we were suggesting before, Google women in tech, your country, and find that group and go and meet with them and learn about what they're doing and build a relationship. It's not about just saying, okay, we've met, now I'm gonna just start sending you emails. It's gotta be about a mutual exchange where you're both gonna benefit. You get to tell them about your program and hopefully find some recruits, but you also get to understand a little bit more about what the experiences are of the people that you want in your program. And then you can also use that information to make your program more attractive and better meet the needs of the people that you want to bring in. So we're almost out of time and I know our producers are probably gonna yell at me after this, but I do have one more question. So if we could just answer it very quickly. It's a bit of a personal question, but I think some of the folks who are watching will probably need to hear this too, but as a man, what can I do to be an ally to what women entrepreneurs are doing? And I guess what I'm asking is, how can I be a supporter that isn't being patronizing, that isn't overstepping, that's being respectful of the struggle and the truth that women entrepreneurs are sharing? So I'll start with you and then just quickly we'll just go down the line. So three things. One, anytime you do an event or you're showing up somewhere, make sure there's diversity represented on any panel or event that you're participating in. And if that means you have to step down to put somebody else up there, then do that. Two, people know you, they follow you, use your social media to share that part of what you're passionate about. I find too often times men wanna talk about how supportive they are in a private environment, but you could never tell if they're social media channels. And three, encourage a woman anytime you see it. You know based on this conversation is who you are. At some point in time they've had a rough journey and just say congratulations, thank you, and how are you? I'd like to say be a mentor. Be a mentor to women, entrepreneurs or in whatever industry they're in actually, be a mentor. And if you see, if you're in a conversation and a group of individuals and you see a woman is, you know, there's bias against the woman or some comment is made or you notice there's a difference in terms of the behavior or there's some exclusion that's going on. Say something, say something and address it and let the individual know who is creating that act that you know, hey, this is not right. We need to change this. I would echo all of that. I think I would add we were talking earlier about role models and the more that we can all be inclusive about the stories that we're holding up and amplifying the better. So when we are able to, you know, present a story about a successful entrepreneur, who is it? Who are we going to show? Is it going to be some teenager in a hoodie or is it going to be someone that is, doesn't meet that stereotype and we can start to break that stereotype more. So if you get, you know, if you've run across stories of women entrepreneurs, particularly in male-dominated fields, hold them up, talk about those stories, put them on your social media so that people can start to have a different idea of what it means to be an entrepreneur and also so that potential future entrepreneurs see that and latch onto it because we know how powerful it is to be able to say that someone out there that has blazed that path already that is something that I can do too. Well, thank you. Thank you each of you for talking with me today and for sharing your expertise and for letting me ask a somewhat personal question at the end there. I do really appreciate your insights on all of this. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I also want to thank everyone viewing today, especially the viewing groups around the world for beginning entrepreneurs, for bringing, excuse me, entrepreneurs together to be a part of this conversation. We had audiences at and bear with me because this is the first time I'm reading some of these names, the Benjamin Franklin Public Library and Cultural Center in San Pedro Sula Honduras, the Binational Center at the U.S. Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua, the Barrie Tech Eye Hub in Beirut, Lebanon, the American Space in Brazzaville, Congo, the Youth Network for Reform in Monrovia, Liberia, the Ice Alex Hub in Alexandria, Egypt, the P&G Digital IICT Cluster in Papua, New Guinea, the 5S Group in Tajikistan. Even though today's program is over, we don't want the conversation to stop. So for those of you who still want to keep talking about this, please continue the conversation on Twitter using hashtag just tech connect and continue the conversation in your networks, with your communities, with your peers. We do have an event coming up on justnetwork.org that is about this. This is an event in particular that I'd like to highlight for you. The Just APEC Catalyst Pitch Competition in La Serena, Chile, happening next week. This pitch competition will highlight women led startups from across the APEC economies and will be an opportunity for them to earn prizes that will help them build their companies. You can learn more about this competition and the impressive women founders who are competing by visiting justnetwork.org. And I challenge you to share these women's profiles on your social media and in your networks because again, we're trying to celebrate the successes of these women entrepreneurs. I hope you enjoyed our discussion today and thanks again for joining us. Goodbye.