What if your personal brand & posts brought in clients instead of just likes? This is the playbook behind a £3M bootstrapped business founded by Amelia Sordell.

Find out more about our upcoming personal branding challenge with Amelia here: https://femalefoundersrise.com/personal-branding-challenge

In this episode of the Female Founders Rise Show, we break down how to turn a personal brand into a client-winning asset - with a clear focus on founder led marketing , trust-building content, and selling without feeling salesy.

We also cover what it takes to grow a bootstrapped business to £3M+, how to talk about money and charge your worth, and the mindset shift that helps female founders stay consistent.

What we cover:

• 1/ Bootstrapping to £3M - scaling a service business without outside funding
• 2/ Founder-led marketing vs personal branding - why people buy from people
• 3/ The 4 Ps - point of view, personality, proof, product
• 4/ Authentic niche content - creating posts that bring leads, not just likes
• 5/ Mindset for self-promotion - charging your worth and staying resilient
• 6/ Defining your own success - building work around the life you want

Find out more about Amelia Sordell : https://ameliasordell.com/ Amelia Sordell on LinkedIn here: linkedin.com/in/ameliasordell

Join Female Founders Rise Free: ⁠https://femalefoundersrise.com/⁠

Emmie on LinkedIn: ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust⁠

Mae on LinkedIn: ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238⁠

Download the episode playbook: ⁠https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/⁠

Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: ⁠https://instagram.com/ffr.show⁠

Watch on YouTube: ⁠https://youtu.be/ULn2e8e-0D0

Do you actually need VC money to grow?
In this conversation, investor and 2x founder June Angelides MBE breaks down bootstrap vs venture capital - when to raise, when to walk away, and what investors actually look for.
Hosts Emmie & Mae dig into the funding questions every female founder asks: angel investing vs venture capital, founder-market fit, warm introductions, and why raising more than you need can hurt your focus.
You will learn how to find an angel investor, how to think about startup funding for the stage you are at now, and how to pitch with conviction without over-raising.June Angelides MBE is a prominent British tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate for diversity in the startup ecosystem: https://juneangelides.com/
What we cover:
- Bootstrap vs venture capital - which path fits your business
- Angel investing vs venture capital - the real difference
- Founder-market fit and why investors back the founder
- Warm introductions and building investor relationships early
- Raising capital with focus - why more money is not always better
- From Mums in Tech to MyPholyo- spotting a gap and building through burnout
- Storytelling, visibility and conviction when you pitch
- If you are deciding how to fund your next stage, start here.

MORE RESOURCES

June on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juneangelidesmbe/
Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/
Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust
Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238
Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/
Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ULn2e8e-0D0

How do you turn an unsexy product into a successful challenger brand - without giving away all your equity?

In this episode, Emmie & Mae sit down with Laura Harnett, founder of Seep - the plastic-free cleaning brand on a mission to wipe away microplastics from 10 million homes. Laura has made over £1M and raised over £1M for Seep, going from bootstrapped and customer-funded to stocked in Tesco, Whole Foods, Planet Organic and Amazon with a £8M+ run rate.

She breaks down what really happened after Dragons' Den in 2024 - securing investment from Trinny Woodall and Deborah Meaden, why she went on the show for awareness ahead of Tesco talks, and how that halo effect more than doubled Seep's growth to a £2.5M+ run rate.

We also dig into the reality of building a challenger brand in a boring aisle, bootstrapping vs raising VC, and the mindset shift every female founder needs to stay scrappy and sane.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
- Why bootstrapping helped Laura keep more equity - and why she now sees it as a superpower
- How Seep raised over £1M from angels, a family office and impact VCs after VC rejections
- What Dragons' Den really does for sales, website traffic and retail credibility
- Why boring products are the best businesses for disruption and tongue-in-cheek marketing
- The #1 killer for early-stage businesses
- How Laura protects her energy as a founder
-What's next for Seep - and why she plans to exit in her 50s to back other women in business
If you are a founder building a challenger brand or navigating bootstrapping business vs funding, this is your playbook for staying lean, consistent, and mission-led.

Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe for honest founder stories every week.

CONNECT WITH US
→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/
→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust
→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238
→ Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/
→ Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show
→ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sB0-3pxnaBs

Balancing motherhood and business is unpredictable, so how do female founders actually do both without burning out?In this honest conversation, hosts Emmie & Mae talk openly about what it really takes to run a business while raising a family. Emmie shares what she learned juggling four kids as an entrepreneur while Mae prepares for motherhood, and together they unpack the reality behind maternity leave when you ARE the business.Whether you are planning for a baby, in the early months, or years into the juggle, this episode will help you set realistic expectations, build the right support, and let go of perfection.WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• Why you should set your business up to run without you for at least 3 months
• The flexibility advantage entrepreneurs have over traditional maternity leave
• How to navigate partner dynamics and avoid resentment when both careers are demanding
• Why extended paternity leave changes everything for founders
• How to prioritise what matters and let go of being the perfect founder, partner and parent
• Why you cannot compare your journey - every baby and every business is different
• When and how to ask for help before you hit burnoutThis is for any woman trying to build a business and a family at the same time.CHAPTERS:00:00 - Why we recorded this live00:35 - The unknown of parenthood and business03:35 - Prepare for not being able to work09:52 - Plan for 3 months off10:44 - The entrepreneur advantage - flexibility14:44 - Partnership, resentment and taking turns to shine21:13 - The real mistake - not enjoying work or kids25:01 - Letting go of perfection28:23 - Doing what is right for you and your body29:51 - Be kind to yourself and embrace supportConnect with us→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238→ Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/→ Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show→ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZzmT38gycW8
  

Frankie James co-founded Ideas Community, the team behind the UK StartUp Awards, the Great British Entrepreneur Awards and Ideas Fest, now a multi-million-pound turnover business.

This week Frankie sits down with Emmie and Mae to talk about building a portfolio of businesses without losing focus, closing an investment round three days before the world shut down, and the networking question that will completely change how you work a room.

Honest, warm, and full of things you can actually use.

In this episode:

→ Why over £3M got raised in a field — and how you engineer serendipity
→ How to test demand with a waitlist before you commit a penny
→ Surviving COVID as an events business and the pivot that became Ideas Fest
→ How to build a portfolio of businesses without losing the thread
→ The one networking question to ask instead of "what do you do?"
→ Why the founders who win go deep on AI and deep on human connection

Download the free one-page playbook for this episode at https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/

RESOURCES MENTIONED

→ Ideas Community: https://www.ideasforums.com/
→ Great British Entrepreneur Awards: https://greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com/
→ Ideas Fest: https://greatbritishentrepreneurawards.com/ideas-fest-sign-up/
→ UK StartUp Awards: https://startupawards.uk/
→ Daniel Priestley: https://www.danielpriestley.com/
→ Female Founders Rise: https://femalefoundersrise.com/

CONNECT WITH US

→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/
→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust
→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238
→ FFR Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show
→ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@femalefoundersriseshow

ABOUT THE SHOW

Where female founders talk money, mindset and everything in between. Our goal is to help women build successful, sustainable businesses so more women can find financial freedom through entrepreneurship.

She raised just under £4 million, built a B2B SaaS company powering brands like eBay, Facebook, Netflix and Sephora, and exited in 2022 - delivering a 33X return for her earliest investors.

In this episode, Emmie and Mae sit down with serial founder Vic to unpack the exit playbook most founders never see. From building Phrasee (language models before ChatGPT existed) to hitting the £7M+ ARR sweet spot that makes a SaaS business sellable, this is a masterclass in building with the exit in mind.

Then Vic flips the script and shares what she's building next: Hey Savi, a B2C fashion tech startup that just partnered with PayPal to launch the UK's first agentic commerce platform. She opens up about the candid conversation she had with her husband — "I can make us rich, you look after the kids" — and why she's betting on consumer tech after a decade in B2B SaaS.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

→ How Vic turned a £4M raise into a 33X exit

→ Why she built Phrasee to sell from day one — and what that actually means

→ The $10M ARR sweet spot that makes a B2B SaaS business sellable

→ What angel investors really look for (from someone who's been on both sides)

→ Why Vic is pivoting from B2B SaaS to B2C fashion tech with Hey Savi

→ Inside the PayPal partnership: the UK's first agentic commerce platform

→ The "I can make us rich" conversation: navigating partnership and parenting as a founder

→ The moment the exit process nearly broke her — and what kept her going

KEY MOMENTS:

→ 00:00 - The hat trick: made, raised, and exited for a million

→ 01:29 - 33X returns: one angel turned £12,500 into £900,000 tax-free

→ 02:16 - Building to exit vs waiting to be approached

→ 03:49 - Angel investing: what Vic looks for now

→ [+] - Hey Savi: Vic's B2C pivot and the PayPal partnership

→ 15:53 - "I can make us rich — you look after the kids"

→ 19:05 - Best investment: believing she could do it

→ 19:40 - The exit process nearly broke her

→ 20:08 - Eat that frog: her one piece of advice for every woman founder

RESOURCES & MENTIONS:

→ SEIS tax relief scheme

→ Vic on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriapeppiatt/

→ Hey Savi x PayPal — UK's first agentic commerce platform: https://heysavi.com/

→ Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Honest talk from female founders who've made a million, raised a million, or exited for a million. Hosted by Emmie Faust and Mae Yip. New episodes every week.

CONNECT WITH US:

→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/

→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust

→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238

→ Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/

→ Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show

Hosts Mae & Emmie unpack the five mindset traits that separate those who think like an entrepreneur from those who don't. Not everyone is cut out for it and most people don't know which side they're on.

Do you actually have the entrepreneurial mindset? And do you even know what it is?

Drawing from their own journeys, from Emmie running a major Google event with zero prior experience to building Female Founders Rise using nothing but Google Forms and LinkedIn, this episode is a candid, no-filter look at what it really takes to build a business.

The 5 traits every entrepreneur needs:

1. Growth Orientation - The belief that you can learn and figure things out rather than being born with a fixed set of skills. "I can do that, and I will find a way."

2. Resourcefulness - Making the most of what you already have. Your network, your existing skills, free tools - start there. "What DO I have and what can I make use of?"

3. Comfort With Ambiguity - Being okay with uncertainty. Something always goes wrong. It's not a bug - it's the job. "When you're in a high, don't get too excited. When you're in a low, remember tomorrow something good will probably happen."

4. Bias to Action - Executing before you feel ready. "Perfectionism robs you of joy. You just gotta ship it." Feedback beats perfection every time.

5. Resilience & Reframing - You get knocked down constantly. The founders who make it are the ones who keep getting back up - and who surround themselves with other founders who get it.

This episode is for every female founder in the messy middle who needs to hear: you're not alone, the struggle is normal, and the mindset you're building right now is your greatest asset.

Connect with us: 

→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/ 

→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust 

→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238 

→ Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/ 

→ Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show 

Emily Kucharski was a director at WPP and Publicis. Then she went on maternity leave, taught herself to code, and co-founded an AI company with her husband. They have since raised over £1million for Wholesum, an AI-native enterprise platform that helps organisations make sense of unstructured text data.

In this conversation, Emmie and Mae dug into the fundraising playbook Emily built over three years, why her initial venture's "failure" became the single biggest asset in her raise, and what VCs actually mean when they talk about 100X growth. They also unpacked the AI trust gap - 86% of companies are adopting AI, but only 6% are seeing meaningful benefits - and the copilot-versus-autopilot framework.

The second half of the episode goes deep on what it is like to co-found with your spouse: how Emily and her husband protect their personal life, why married co-founders statistically outperform, and the legal and emotional guardrails every founding team needs.

Topics covered
  - How a failed parenting platform led to a £1M AI raise
  - Building an investor network before you need it
  - Why enterprise sales signal "100X" to VCs
  - The AI trust failure: 86% adoption, 6% results
  - Copilot AI vs. autopilot AI - and when each makes sense
  - Married co-founder dynamics: boundaries, trust, and legal agreements
  - Three AI tasks every founder should automate right now

Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/

Find out more about Wholesum: https://wholesum.tech/

Emily on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-kucharski/

Links & Resources:
→ Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/ 

→ Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust

→ Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238 

→ Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show

Mae raised nearly £1M from over 15 angel investors and most of it came through cold outreach. One LinkedIn DM landed her £250,000. Another cold email brought in £75,000.

In this episode, she walks Emmie through the exact six-step playbook founders ask her about the most: how she prepared, where she found angels, what she said, and the parts nobody posts on LinkedIn.

If you're fundraising right now - or about to start - this one covers the full picture. The rejections. The "Dear First Name" mass-email disaster. The emotional toll. And the surprise that changed everything: for most of her angels, the pitch deck barely mattered. The conversation came first.

What's inside:

• Mae's six-step angel fundraising playbook (Prepare → Admin & Legal → Momentum → How to Find Angels → Hustle → Set Expectations)
• How to get SEIS/EIS advance assurance and why it makes you instantly more investable
• Why the "grandma test" matters more than your pitch deck
• Cold outreach that actually works: emails, LinkedIn DMs, and what to say
• Angel syndicates, networks and collectives explained (and which ones to approach)
• How to vet an investor with one question so you stop wasting time
• Why a "no" isn't a no forever - and how to keep doors open
• The reality behind big funding announcements (spoiler: it's usually small, bitty rounds)

Hosted by Emmie Faust, serial entrepreneur, angel investor and founder of Female Founders Rise.

Links & Resources:

• Download the episode playbook: https://femalefoundersriseshow.com
• Join Female Founders Rise (free): https://femalefoundersrise.com
• SEIS/EIS advance assurance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/venture-capital-schemes-apply-to-use-the-seed-enterprise-investment-scheme
• FounderCatalyst: https://foundercatalyst.com
• DocSend: https://www.docsend.com
• Alma Angels: https://www.almaangels.co.uk

Connect with us:

• Emmie on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust
• Mae on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238
• Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ffr.show

Eshita Kabra is the founder and CEO of By Rotation, the world’s largest peer-to-peer fashion rental app. She built it as a side hustle while working in finance, strategically walked away when the numbers made sense, and has since raised over £5 million - all while navigating the venture capital world as a South Asian woman who was told to "stick to her roots."

In this episode, Emmie and Mae sit down with Eshita to talk about:

• The honeymoon in Rajasthan where she saw textile waste firsthand and knew something had to change

• How she created a financial model to calculate exactly when to leave her six-figure finance career

• What happened when her boss told her they could "pretend this conversation never happened"

• Raising the hardest first million - and why her ex-colleagues became her earliest investors

• The bias she faced from investors who wanted her to focus only on Indian-specific fashion

• The UN speech that earned a standing ovation: "Women of color don't need mentorship - they need money"

• How By Rotation's top lenders are funding IVF, home deposits, and life-changing milestones

• Integrating pregnancy into her brand - maternity rentals, hiring a chief of staff, and rejecting the pressure to hide it

• Why fundraising is glamourised and what actually matters: resourcefulness, hard work, and knowing how to spend your own money

This conversation is raw, honest, and packed with practical wisdom for any founder navigating startup funding, pitching investors, and building something bigger than yourself.

About the Guest: Eshita Kabra is the founder and CEO of By Rotation, the world’s largest peer-to-peer fashion rental platform with over 500,000 users. Prior to By Rotation, she spent six and a half years as an investor in corporate bonds. She has spoken at the United Nations on sustainable fashion and is a champion for women of color in venture capital.

Connect with Eshita → https://www.linkedin.com/in/eshitakabra/

By Rotation → https://byrotation.com

Connect with us → Join Female Founders Rise Free: https://femalefoundersrise.com/

Emmie on LinkedIn → https://linkedin.com/in/emmiefaust

Mae on LinkedIn → https://linkedin.com/in/mae-yip-9017b238 →

Download the episode playbook → https://femalefoundersriseshow.com/

Female Founders Rise Show on Instagram → https://instagram.com/ffr.show

Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/51thW8i