In today’s podcast episode, we're joined by Duygu Ergin, a former investment banker.  Over the last decade Duygu has been an advisor, mentor and angel investor to start ups. She is passionate about supporting women and young entrepreneurs in their business endeavours and is now launching a structured program. 

You’ll hear from Duygu about her journey that led to working with startup founders, tips on overcoming challenges and how she views taking risks.

In today’s episode, we are joined by Henry Latham. Henry is the founder of ProdMBA, a company that he bootstrapped in 2020 after almost a decade in the tech industry. Through prodMBA, he has trained over 400 product managers and He’s now launched Break Free, a coaching program for Senior Product Managers to build micro businesses and escape the corporate grind. 

In this episode Henry shares: 

• His journey prior to starting ProdMBA which included starting Backtracker, a VC backed tech startup that failed 
• The importance of of understanding what an ideal business ment for him 
• Managing the transition from full time work to full time entrepreneur 
• Lessons learnt from previous failures 
• Reframing failure 
• How to test an idea and when to drop it 
• Myths around building a VC backed company 
• Implications of AI on the market
• No code tools

Book recommendation: Positioning by Al Ries https://www.amazon.co.uk/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586

In today’s episode we are joined by Esme Verity, a Fundraising coach and Alternative Funding Expert . Esme founded Considered Capital in 2021 , to support purpose-led founders to feel confident in pursuing alternative funding avenues through an 8 week programme that runs twice a year. Since launching , the program has been attended by 260 founders from over 32 countries. 

Esme shares: 

• Her story of starting Considered Capital
• Her biggest mistake in her start up journey
• How to reframe failure
• Why to numbers aren’t a measure of success 
• Insights on building a zebra over a unicorn
• Common mistakes in finding funding
• Why startups should explore alternative founding
• Considerations for safeguarding the mission of your startup 
• Trends in funding 
• Importance of of reaching out to your network for funding 
• Her experience of women’s confidence in fundraising

Esme's book recommendation: Zebra's fix what unicorns break by Zebra Unite Manifesto

In today’s episode we are joined by Alister Cohen, an exited-founder. In 2017 he founded OnCare , a home care platform which has 100+ care agencies. During his 6 year journey as founder, he raised approximately £1.2m for the company but sold it for a fraction of that.  

Ali will share:

• His journey of how he founded OnCare. 
• He will share his methodology of exploring an idea 
• Why it’s important to research the problem space and test your solution before you invest in building it. 
• Mistakes that Ali made during his journey 

1. Not considering commercials early enough. 
2. Spending money on areas that didn’t matter e.g nice office space and hiring people in roles that weren’t needed.
3. Not asking for more money early on

• His story of asking for investment from Alexander Edward Chesterman OBE founder of Zoopla, Cazoo and Love Film. 
• The impact of stress on his personal life and a couple of tips that helped him deal with the lows of being a founder. 
• Why he decided sold his company 
• What he would do differently next time round. 
• His current side hustle

In this episode, we speak with Elissa Thursfield, a seasoned employment lawyer who transitioned into entrepreneurship and co-founded HRoes, a legal tech SAAS platform. Elissa shares her career journey and  discusses the critical moments that led her to shift from a legal career to starting her own tech company, detailing the challenges and learnings along the way. Elissa also delves into the importance of resilience, the role of support systems, and the significance of embracing failure as a learning opportunity. Additionally, she provides insights into her daily routines and strategies for fostering a healthy mindset and achieving success.

00:00 Introduction to Elisa Thursfield

01:15 Early Career and Motivation for Law

03:56 Transition to Entrepreneurship

04:59 Characteristics for Success

06:23 Startup Journey and Challenges

10:45 Decision to Leave Law

17:59 Overcoming Fear and Embracing Failure

28:29 Life as a Founder

32:14 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections

Elissa book recommendations

1. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 – Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves
2. Resilient- Rick Hanson

Checkout our website: www.shefounds.com

Follow us in LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/shefounds

Christina Disler, founder of Aster will share her:

• Journey that led her to starting Aster
• Trusting your gut
• Understanding you personal values and your why
• Reframing failure into an opportunity to learn
• Experience of pivoting her product
• How to let go of your ego holding your back
• Importance of creativity in entrepreneurship
• Struggle with perfectionism
• Importance of having entrepreneur friends

Welcome to the She Founds Podcast

This is a weekly show for women who are at idea stage or early stage of building a tech enabled startup that will prepare you on all fronts.

We'll have interviews from founders especially women, who will share their start up stories. We'll also interview experts to discuss specialist topics at the intersection of the start up.