Funded & Fearless: AI-Powered Marketing & Fundraising for Small Business was not about hype. It was about practicality, perspective, and permission. Permission to use AI without fear. Permission to pursue funding paths that actually make sense. Permission to build businesses that work in real life, not just on paper.

The evening opened with an intimate conversation between Mireia Llusia-Lindh, Founder of DeMellier of London, and Anna Skoglund, Co-Head of Investment Banking EMEA at Goldman Sachs.

Mireia spoke candidly about the realities of building a global brand while also raising a family. One theme resonated deeply across the room. You cannot scale a business without support at home.

She emphasized the importance of equity in domestic labor as a foundation for entrepreneurial success and recommended two books that sparked many hallway conversations later in the night. Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates and Fair Play by Eve Rodsky.

The message landed clearly. Growth is not just about strategy or capital. It is about the systems that hold you up.

Next, the investing panel brought nuance to a conversation that is often oversimplified. Mary McKenna and Priya Guha unpacked the real differences between venture capital and angel investment, without glamorizing either path.

Mary offered a line that drew laughter and knowing nods from the audience. “Don’t ever expect your VCs to love you. Your angels might love you, but your VCs never will.”

It was a reminder that funding is a tool, not validation. Understanding incentives, expectations, and long-term implications matters far more than chasing logos.

The room buzzed during the live demos from Canva and OpenAI.

Erika Diskancova showed how Canva’s AI-powered tools can dramatically reduce the time it takes to create polished marketing and investor materials. No design background required. Just clarity and intention.

Then Orian English from OpenAI took the stage to demonstrate how ChatGPT can support real business workflows. From content creation to operational thinking, the demo focused on everyday use cases that founders could apply immediately.

The highlight came when Orian made ChatGPT speak Italian to the entire audience. The room erupted in laughter. It was playful, yes, but it also made a serious point. These tools are flexible, accessible, and far less intimidating than many people assume.

Too often, conversations about funding fixate on equity alone. The institutional finance panel brought balance.

Theodora Hadjimichael, CEO of Responsible Finance, named the elephant in the room. Debt financing “isn’t sexy,” but it is often far more realistic and sustainable for small businesses.

She encouraged founders to look locally and explore options like Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, which are designed to serve businesses that are frequently overlooked by traditional lenders.

The takeaway was clear. Smart funding is about fit, not flash.

The night closed with a powerful conversation between Asma Khan, Founder of Darjeeling Express, and Sarah Friar, Co-Founder of Ladies Who Launch and CFO of OpenAI.

Asma spoke about legacy, responsibility, and the importance of bringing other women along as you rise. Her words stopped the room.

“I cannot live. I cannot breathe. I am not free if everybody around me is in chains. I have liberated myself by taking women with me.”

It was a reminder that success is not just personal. It is collective.

Key Takeaways

• Fear is not a stop sign. It is a signal.

• Equity at home supports equity in business.

• Angels and VCs play very different roles. Know the difference, and what you need, before you start seeking investment funding.

• Think of a good AI prompt like a recipe: the more clearly you describe what you want, the better the result will be.

• Debt financing can be practical, accessible, and empowering. Look locally for funding opportunities, including CDFIs, which tend to be better at offering financing to underserved groups.

• Legacy is built by lifting others as you grow.

Event Recordings

Full session recordings from this event are available on our YouTube channel.

Stay Connected!

To be the first to hear about new resources, upcoming events, and future Funded & Fearless gatherings, sign up for our newsletter and follow along on Instagram or LinkedIn.

🤝 Building your network will support your business in more ways than one

Whether you’re looking for financing, or a network of entrepreneurs who understand the day-to-day challenges of running a business, it’s important to make connections before you need them. 

“Social capital is one of the number one predictors to success in business. It's not necessarily about the money, it's about your network,” Stacy Taubman, a multiple-time startup founder and current Chief Revenue Officer at House of Revenue, shared during the “The Right Time is Now: Why You Should Explore Capital Before You Need It” panel during Pathways to Capital. Successful businesses require capital and connections.

💰 Connecting with local financing resources opens new doors 

How do you find the best resources for you? Start with the support available in your community!

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a government agency with resources to support small business owners in all 50 states. Find Small Business Development Centers near you to receive counseling and training for your small business and to connect with resources like trusted local lenders.

"Your federal tax dollars have already paid for this. So why would you not take advantage of that?" Frances Padilla, the Colorado District Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration, shared during the “Funding Opportunities in Your Backyard: Where to Find Business Financing in Colorado” panel at the event. 

🙅‍♀️ Saying “no” to opportunities doesn’t mean “never”

When a huge opportunity is presented to you and your business — whether that’s a potential investor or an opportunity to get your product on big-box shelves — your first instinct might be a resounding, “yes!” But are you sure your business is ready for that milestone?

Regina Trillo, Founder of Nemi Snacks, recently said no to a huge opportunity for her snack brand — a distribution agreement with Target — because she only felt financially prepared to fulfill part of the order request. “It’s a mutual relationship and a choice you can make,” Regina shared during the “Don’t Run Out of Money: How to Manage Your Business’s Cash Flow” panel. And while it’s no for now, the door is still open when the time is right!

To get the full event experience, check out our replay playlist on YouTube.

Opening Keynote: Emma Mcilroy, CEO WildFang

We kicked off the program in style with Emma McIlroy: CEO and Founder of Wildfang who only knows how to live life in full technicolor. Emma is a unique founder, building a brand based on her own experiences of wanting to see her style and swagger reflected in a more androgynous clothing line. Her advice on building partnerships resonated: 

1. Know your value - women often forget that the bigger brands need something from you too, so don’t forget that when you’re negotiating; 

2. Be prepared to walk - when deals don’t feel right, they usually aren’t; 

3. Most successful partnerships work out well when you have someone on the other side who cares as much as you do. 

A Passion for Business: Building and Nurturing Your Brand

This panel, led once again by the inimitable Katie Doran, brought together a strong intersection of professional services, retail and B2B. First our #notyouraveragelawyer Dorcas Crawford talked about creating a unique marketing opportunity to engage with entrepreneurs on Twitter with #BelfastHour. 

Next up, Karen, the founder of Taylor Yates (who doesn’t love those beautiful bags!). Karen created this brand from a gap she found in her own life, something that we see over and over again from our amazing female founders. We love that she’s built the brand alongside her daughter and together they have nurtured Taylor Yates and over time, grown it into the well known brand it is today. 

Finally, Edel Doherty of Beyond Business Travel, stepped up to the conversation, goals first; she’s determined to grow her revenue from £16M to £50M! Her advice - “What is written down gets done. It’s ambitious to put it out there like that, but full of confidence, we will achieve.” Edel we like how you roll...Business Woman of the Year, anyone?

Show Me the Money: Business and Financing Strategies for Founders

This is always a much needed discussion in any room of entrepreneurs, but as the stats in the UK VC and Female Founder report show, in a room of women entrepreneurs, this discussion is vital. Jayne Brady kicked us off as our fearless and expert moderator. Vicky Dummigan, was quick to note that based on having Jayne, Deirdre Terrins and herself all presenting at the event, you would think that N.Ireland is full of women in investing. The reality though, was LWL had just cornered the market. Her advice on funding, make sure you explore multiple routes: 

1. Self funding (if possible)

2. The Three F’s - friends, family, and fools 😬

3. Seed money: business angels, N. Irish co-investment funds (e.g. InvestNI) and depending on your type of business and needs, Series A: VC’s. 

From the financiers and professional helpers we moved to the creators. Dr. Ava Eagle Brown is a coach, mentor, podcaster, and body butter bastion (ok we stretched for the alliteration!). Ava talked about the need to be nimble and flexible, while also taking strides forward with confidence and optimism noting that “someone once taught me to be a hedgehog and not a fox” [for reference: The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing] 

Finally, Annie Irwin told the journey of Suki Tea beginning from £300 of investment to now exporting to 20+ countries worldwide.  Her sound words of advice included knowing when it’s the right time to take investment and second, to know what your investors are bringing to the table (word to the wise, money is the least of it). 

Closing Keynote: Alyson Hogg, MBE

It was quite an end to our amazing program as we welcomed our closing keynote to the stage, given by the formidable Alyson Hogg, MBE with her main message being all about CONFIDENCE and survival “you have to survive in order to succeed.” 

You have no barriers to launching your business, you just need the confidence to go out and get it done: (1) Age is no barrier (she started her business in her forties); (2) Gender and geography aren't barriers; (3) Education is not a barrier 

After four years and three business failures, her assistant asked her for a fake tan that didn’t turn her orange - yes we’ve all been there! This was the lightbulb, this was the white space (literally). Something that was in need of real improvement. Building the Vita Liberata business cost her her home, her health and she missed many moments with family. However ten years later she had a very fruitful exit. From her experience, she spoke to the need for a Plan B: The ability to pivot on a dime. Always have a Plan B. 

She continued her reflections in conversation with the powerful and impressive Deirdre Terrins. They both advised on “getting to know your sources of funding before you need the money” as well as “People always say “follow your dreams” - but dreams are for sleeping! Have a vision. And make a clear plan...”

Thank You 

We owe so much gratitude and thanks to Lisa Strutt for sending us into the networking mix and mingle hour with determination and enthusiasm and it seems like it worked given the buzz in the room!

Special shout out to the lovely folks at AllState, our gracious and generous hosts for the second time around. Cheers to John Healy for once again being the only man to grace the #LWLGlobal stage and to Suzanne Wylie, Chief Executive of Belfast City Council, who joined us for the kick off and welcomed us back to Belfast with grace. 

" ...I find I spend a lot of time alone trying to run and move forward with my business so it was invigorating to share ideas with like minded women"

“This is the best event in Toronto I have been to" 

“Such a great evening in Toronto. Amazing, accomplished business leaders and change-makers with heart, smarts and generous souls who do good in the world. Thank you."

“Inspiring. Strong. Kickass! Excellent event! #lwltoronto”

" It’s rare that every speaker at an event is engaging & informative, but I can easily say I learned more from listening than speaking last night" Erin Bury CO-Founder & CEO WillfulWills

" Great inspiration content at Ladies Who Launch, learning from and and being inspired by amazing women" Eva Wong Co-Founder/COO Borrowell

As part of saying thank you to everyone who gave so graciously to our continued movement, we like to write a short wrap up that gives us a moment to reflect and feel the energy of the evening again.  Each new location visited highlights new relationships started, new communities built, new learnings given, and of course new inspiration felt!  

So back to Wednesday evening, and we’ll start with a huge thank you to Shopify and RBC Ventures for sponsoring. We are finding allies and partners in so many cities.  A great sign for the momentum and success of Ladies Who Launch. 

I’m going to start at the end… the closing conversation between Zahra Al-Harazi and Sarah Katyal and the official launch of Skillit.com.  Sarah actually said it best in her tweet “When life comes full-circle! I met my co-founder @zahrasays @LWLGlobal 3 years ago, and today we get to share our story about @MySkillit with a sold-out group of 500 amazing women. Thank you for the opportunity”.  What an inspirational way to go into our networking time together and the attendees certainly responded. They meant business, asking tough questions, finding meaningful connections, and as we all know from our research, disproportionately benefiting from that beautiful outcome - peer mentorship. It’s amazing what can come from a single first conversation.

Back to the beginning, kicking off with Shahrzad Rafati - Founder & CEO Broadband TV.  Again another serendipitous LWL introduction from one of these wrap ups.  Marc Benioff responded on reading about San Francisco last year and introduced us to an entrepreneur who has let nothing stand in her way.  Starting small, suitcase in hand and freshly landed from Tehran, Shahrzad epitomizes the tenacity of female entrepreneurs. Today her company boasts 575 million unique viewers each month. To put that into perspective, BBTV content is now viewed by more individuals on a monthly basis than the population of the United States, Mexico, and Canada combined. Beyond the advice she gave the room she also sent a call to action out to every leader - building a quadruple bottom line business.  This is an organization that measures success not just based on financial performance but also employee, social, and environmental KPIs. For her company, pay disparity across male and female employees is 0%, 43% of her BBTV employees are female, and 46% of managers are female. “Equal is equal.”  We thoroughly agree!

Word of the night - going with “action.”  It is clear that Toronto and Canada at large is already making strong moves to embrace diversity and inclusion.  From the country’s macro level stance on immigration through the support I saw all week, including at the Elevate Tech Festival, for strong female leadership and entrepreneurship.  It’s always interesting to see and feel the vibe of the night. In events from just the past year, our words speak volumes: Stockholm we decided on need, St Louis honed in on authenticity while Dublin talked about advocacy. San Francisco, finding purpose, Belfast you are enough.

For the Building and Nurturing your Brand panel, we brought together Moderator: Despina Zanganas, Arati Sharma from Shopify, Hayley Mullins Founder of Sleepbelt and Joeyband, and Mackenzie Yeates co-founder of KOTN. In almost all cases, a big and often very personal mission was the starting point. In Hayley’s case, who could forget the story of accidentally dropping her weeks old baby while sleep deprived and trying to do it all. For Mackenzie, a belief in a more sustainable and quality product. And for Arati, now birthing thousands of business via Shopify, but also her own personal investing as an angel in female lead start-ups. 

Hayley reminded us that nothing ever moves as fast as you would like.  Although we all feel the impatience and urgency to get everything done yesterday. Arati recognized how many female entrepreneurs don’t have access to the same resources as everyone else.  We agree. And Mackenzie noted there are no silver bullets in brand building but in her case she has built a brand on doing good for the community and not just her company. Specifically, KOTN’s has invested in a better life for the people who help source their raw materials - Egyptian Cotton Farmers. Also choosing to become a B Corporation.  In a weird twist of fate I met an Aspen Fellow working on B-Labs later in the week. A powerful way to bring together social good with your company’s business and financial vision. 

The New Breed of Financing panel was feisty and thought provoking.  We loved hearing the range of perspectives from taking VC funding to doing everything you can to protect equity by bootstrapping. Moderator Shadi McIsaac (Founder, Ownr, Partner at RBC) did an amazing job balancing the perspectives of Erin Bury (Willful), Amie Rotherham (Clearbanc) and Eva Wong  (Borrowell).

Clearbanc was a find in Canada and we hope to further partner with them at other events.  How great to know that when data and facts are the business case for financing, women disproportionately benefit - 8x more female businesses funded than male.  Erin talked about her mistake in being “too Oprah” like with equity in the beginning - it’s not just about giving away real value it also adds to a complexity when you are doing things in the future with a large cap table that has to be brought along. Eva underscored that in a business like Borrowell there’s no choice except to institutionally fundraise because they need capital to lend, not just to grow the company. All spoke to being careful to take money from people who’s values align to you and your company’s. Wise words in today’s environment!  They also raised good questions for the women in the room: How fast do you need to or want to grow?  Can you take more time or well-funded competitors already at your heels? They also flagged many sources of money but also mentorship including SheEO and Techstars, and for Tips and Tricks a few podcasts - How I Built This and Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale.   Does that make us Mistresses of Scale?  One final place for mentorship that came up in our networking was Dovetail Summit.

Our closing keynote was Joanna Griffiths, from Knix. We loved that Joanna started out by calling out all the men she’d pitched to who just never got what “reinventing intimates for real life” meant. Since launching the company in 2013, Joanna has built Knix into a global leader in the intimates’ category while building a community of women who are passionately taking on life by breaking down the taboos and boundaries that get in their way. Such a courageous brand and leader! A Knix item is now sold every 7 seconds, and the company has shipped over half a million orders in the last twelve months alone.

I’m going to pause and interject her most recent project Life After Birth - I’d highly recommend going to visit it live if it pops up in your city. 

“Do I like my postpartum body? Not particularly, but I am so proud of it,” wrote Lori Yerri in the caption of her postpartum photo. “I have been able to continuously nourish two humans with this stretched, saggy and scarred body of mine, since conception. And for that, I love my postpartum body.”

“My stomach is covered in loose saggy skin and stretch marks. I call them my hope wounds and they tell a story that brought me my children, 3 absolute miracles,” wrote Desiree Fortin of her postpartum body. “It's a daily effort to change my perspective and find the beauty that is right before my eyes because it is there.”

One of the superpowers of LWL is helping women see that they are not alone in their entrepreneurial journey. We seek to provide a safe and authentic space to share ideas, failures, future hopes, and tough lessons.  Business challenges are rarely novel, and the power of mentors is that they have usually walked in your shoes.  While they may not have the answer, they can at least provide perspective. 

Thank you all – especially those who volunteered their time and made it all seem so seamless and simple.  A big shout out to the women, and the men, from Nextdoor and Square who in the midst of a country launch, embraced another community and volunteered night of.  Onwards to Denver and then Belfast next!

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

— Margaret Mead via Stina Ehrensvärd Founder of Yubico

We’ll start with a huge thank you to Goldman Sachs and Nordea Bank for sponsoring - the first time we’ve worked with partners. Wow, what an outcome!

Stina Ehrensvärd Founder of Yubico started us off with the amazing Margaret Mead quote above.  She founded Yubico with her “geek” husband and they quickly realized they needed a big vision - to secure the world’s Internet!  She also dug into the importance of getting close to your customers. In her case moving countries and continents to be close to the ones that mattered. If you want to secure the Internet you need Google, Facebook, and Microsoft to be bought in and buying.  We also learned how parenting made the difference for her - from climbing trees as a kid - her parents never wanted her to shrink back from taking risks, to making her kids a part of the build of her company.  Yes, women balance it all, but I believe we have it right - you need that work life integration to stay healthy and stay in flow. 

Word of the night - going with “need”.  It is clear that Stockholm/Sweden, and we’d broaden that to the Nordics, don’t have much of this type of female networking and female connectedness in place today. It’s always interesting to see and feel the vibe of the night. In events from just the past year, St Louis honed in on authenticity while Dublin talked about advocacy.  San Francisco, finding purpose, Belfast you are enough.  

For the Marketing Hustle panel, we brought together Sophia Bendz, part of the founding team of Spotify and now a partner at Atomico, Hanna Lindblad from Houdini Sportswear, Nina Wennerstrom founder WeSport Sports Management and Stina Andersson Founder and CEO of StinaaJ.  In all cases, a big and often very personal mission was the starting point. In many cases, it was because of a lack of women that a product was born.  For example. Nina is the first woman to represent athletes in hockey, and now soccer. Her grit to push through in such a male-dominated arena was apparent. “We know that every inch, every fraction of a second, every last little detail, will make a difference in the end.”  She also suggested a business coach (not that surprising from someone in the world of sports!), and a number of others agreed.  Stina’s story of shoes designed by men, but never worn by men, became the push for her to think differently and reimagine glamorous but chic shoes.  Kelly and I are testing our new StinaaJ shoes right now….will keep you all posted!   Hannah spoke to no ads for marketing, just working with influencers who live your brand. We love Houdini’s current “Power to the People” campaign. She also spoke to the power of sustainability in the product as a means for differentiation in the market. Sophia’s path at Spotify often lead them to be scrappy on how to get the app into the hands of their customers. Her example of the ice cream man going from concert to concert, and also persuading bands to record something unexpected that only Spotify had access to.  In all cases telling the background stories of the brand was vital; stories that are authentic and translate the uniqueness of the product. 

For the Show me the money: Business and Financing Strategies for Founders panel, Stephanie Cohen from Goldman Sachs moderated Aurore Belfrage, Entrepreneur and Investor, Nina Adam from Nordea Bank’s Start Up & Grow Unit, and Anna Wretling founder of Power Woman. Anna started us off in style, again talking about how deeply personal Power Woman is - the authenticity of the beginning and how she had financed this business from a prior business outcome had everyone on the edge of their seats. She also spoke to how hard it is to build and grow a business, even when you have had prior success. Her comment on “angels truly are angels!” had everyone nodding.  Perhaps a good nugget for us in the Ladies Who Launch community on how we could help each other with early financing. Stephanie drew upon her experiences with Launch with GS to tease out Aurore’s stories on the “theatre” of financing.  Her advice was clear and concise - the decision is made in the first 90 seconds - make sure you have a good pitch!  Aurore also reminded us all not to take it too seriously - it’s rarely brain surgery! Again good to be reminded that in the end we have to remember the why, and not overthink what we are striving for. Nina offered tangible advice on trading off bank debt versus equity or friends & family funds.  Essentially noting that banks are often much later in a company’s financing journey. 

Finally we closed with two old friends in conversation.  Such an honor to have close friend and partner at Goldman Sachs, Anna Skoglund, interview LWL co-founder Sarah Friar!  We couldn’t have had a better lead in from the prior panels, where Aurore and Stephanie had talked about how women often didn’t ask each other for help because they worry about damaging the friendship. When Anna asked what she could do to help with Ladies Who Launch the answer was Stockholm! And she really brought it, alongside her friend Annika Sigfrid of Nordea.  The final question on what I’m reading brought out Trillion Dollar Coach and the entrepreneurial quote I think of frequently and how “the marvelous is as permissible as the matter-of-fact” in launching a business. 

“Walk on Air Against Your Better Judgement”.

Seamus Heaney is the poet and here’s how he described his thinking. A person from Northern Ireland is naturally cautious. You grew up vigilant because it’s a divided society. My poetry, on the whole, was earth-hugging, but then I began to look up rather than keep down. I think it had to do with a sense that the marvelous was as permissible as the matter-of-fact in poetry. 

Finally, we had numerous night of moments were the women of Stockholm embraced this idea of networking more and creating shared spaces and shared experiences. Here are some comments in their own voice. 

Thank you for having me at yesterday’s Ladies Who Launch, an initiative truly lacking and needed in Stockholm. It was such a privilege to hear your stories, realise that there’s so many life experiences I share with you, and understand that the best way forward is to be supportive and help others where possible.

I met a remarkable woman tonight and I'm excited by the network possibilities that she presented, and it was fantastic to be in the company of ALL women. That makes a huge difference.

Thanks you for supporting female entrepreneurs. Left with a feeling that anything is really possible yet calm. It’s not rocket science after all!

One of the superpowers of Ladies Who Launch is helping women see that they are not alone in their entrepreneurial journey. We seek to provide a safe and authentic space to share ideas, failures, future hopes, and tough lessons.  Business challenges are rarely novel, and the power of mentors is that they have usually walked in your shoes. While they may not have the answer, they can at least provide perspective. 

On to the next!

This was year two in Belfast, and as we reflect on the need for stronger global communities generally, we see a real need for what we are doing.  Putting together networks of women entrepreneurs around the globe is starting a seachange. 2019 needs to be the year when we figure out how to create and foster stronger connections across locations.

To start, here are some quick reflections from the attendees on Thursday night:

“It was such an uplifting and inspiring event - I feel like I can take on the world again.”

“Wonderfully honest insight into hard work, determination, failure, success, and strength.”

“It’s strange but I’m really seeing the difference you are making with this initiative. There’s an authenticity to the panelists and you stretch the bandwidth of even your own comfort zone with the variety of speakers. You drew a wide range of ladies together and everyone had fun, enjoying the supportive environment.”

“A massive well done on bringing together so many wonderful and inspiring women last night. As a dad of two young girls, I left re-assured that when they enter the workplace, troublemakers like both of you, and the many women in the room last night, will have made a very real and positive impact on not only the business world but society as a whole.”

We’ll start with a huge thank you to Allstate for their generosity and hospitality.  In fact John Healy, who represented Allstate has the honor of being the first man to speak at an LWL event! Allies are clearly welcome.

Peaches Kemp from Itsa Bagel started us off with the story of how people originally thought she was importing 80,000 ‘beagles’. Don’t you love that Irish humor. She continued discussing how “If you don’t innovate, you’ll evaporate”. Perhaps her biggest teaching moment was how to have grace and grit under pressure. Her story of 2013 and how she and her sister were forced to “confront the brutal truth...really examine what is the worst thing that will happen, and tackle it”. With a business on the brink and myriad personal challenges, that’s when they started looking sideways and laterally, and that’s what brought all their new brands to life including: Itsa Cafés, Joe’s Coffee, Feast Catering, Table Restaurant Brown Thomas, Hatch & Sons, and Alchemy Juice Co. Peaches also spoke about the need for small communities of entrepreneurs that can act as support networks, especially in those difficult times. Finally her words of advice for everyone was “set a goal, set milestones, write it all down, put the paper away, then continue to come back and back to it to check in on those milestones.” It reminded us of the advice from Kathy Mazzarella in St Louis to set unreasonable goals in a reasonable timeframe.

For the Marketing Hustle panel, Katie Doran once against hosted, bringing her own story of starting up Lanyon Communications and what it takes to found and run a successful standalone business. Alix Mulholland, Founder & Director of Field Day and Field Apothecary talked about the essence of  “home”  giving her the initial idea for Field Day.  She also had the awesome story of taking the risk to reinvent her brand from Bog Standard to Field Day.  A good reminder that as entrepreneurs we need to always be in risk-taking mode, as well as listening to our customers. Deirdre McCanny [fun side note - Sarah & Deirdre grew up in the same village of Sion Mills!], just happened upon a New York chocolate shop and found herself instantly in love with the smells. A magazine article on the plane home gave her the idea and Co Couture was born.  She has used competitions to get the word out about her product. The highest accolade to date has been a silver award presented at the International Chocolate Awards world finals, bringing an enviable top 40 ranking and placing McCanny among the best chocolatiers in the world.  Interesting way to think about building a High Street brand. We were also all impressed by the pivot she is making to go to just two focus areas - hot chocolate and brownies. A big risk! Good luck. Finally, Nuala Murphy and MomentHealth.io never fail to inspire. With a focus on mental health, she is taking the issue of maternal mental health into the mainstream. Advice for the audience included “Don’t let fear hold you back, because it WILL hold you back if you let it.”

Entrepreneurs of the Future: We had a quick interlude at this Ladies Who Launch getting to meet three entrepreneurs of the future. Jessica Pinder, Lana McArthur and Chloe Bond recently had the trip of a lifetime to San Francisco. The three girls from Dalriada School, Ballymoney, won a Digital DNA / Sentinus competition in which they were asked to develop an app. The app which won the judges’ vote was designed to support sufferers of dementia- helping them meet the challenges of everyday life. The girls all had a personal relationship and a connection with a sufferer and so their idea stemmed from a real passion to help in whatever way possible. Their poise in describing their journey was truly inspirational. Perhaps something we can emulate in our geographies to bring in younger entrepreneurs to our programming.

Our final panel focused on Planning and Growing Your Network to Help Your Business Thrive. We’ve heard feedback after many of our events that women wanted to understand how to be more definitive in how they network. Who better to lead this panel than Lisa Strutt. Working with Asentiv.com she’s currently helping individuals and businesses learn how to professionally network. Her three panelists had all used networking to successfully further their careers. Mairead Mackle currently employees 1,200 people in her HCIL (Homecare Independent Living) business.  Who can forget her wonderful story about getting her services into Dubai - investing in trust with your network.  Beyond HCIL she is also the founder of EVOLVE, a women's network that inspires and supports strong female leadership across the community.  Mairead’s story is like so many of the women we’ve met with LWL. She didn’t want to depend on someone else her whole life, and now she’s a driving force for financial and physical freedom for all women. Jayne Ronayne’s company Talivest is like networking on steroids.  Her advice included “Don’t be afraid to ask for advice”. And “Focus focus focus. It’s alarming how fast time really goes and without focusing really hard on your goals it is hard to achieve them otherwise. The best thing in our culture is that we speak candidly about our business as we don't value distractions.” Clearly she lives this advice since we first met Jayne at LWL in Dublin and we can see she is quick to network!  Finally, Becca Hume of TapSOS inspired us with how she found her path, after a chance meeting with a deaf colleague, and discovered how in need that community was for a strong network. And offered possibly some of the best advice of the night “Say yes, and shit your pants later”. N.Ireland is always a candid bunch!

Finally our closing speaker Grainne Kelly was unforgettable as she regaled us with the founding story of BubbleBum. She proved grit and determination as she pressed with safety agencies, including in the US, on why car seats for kids couldn’t be inflatable. Spoiler alert...she won! Her journey to a Chinese factory where her patents were almost stolen reminded us that for entrepreneurs most of what you are doing is making it up until you hit success. “Everything is outside of your comfort zone, otherwise, you’d already have it .”  We loved her advice on “Never follow the money. It’s hard to wake up and all you’re waiting for is the money. Always follow your passion!” That passion is her kids, and she wants to teach them that anything is possible. Through her discussion of why/why not to launch in Walmart she reminded us a bit of Jenn Labit in St Louis who’s best advice for when you’re stressed or having self doubt: “Nobody else knows what they’re doing either.”  And of course, because it deserves to be said again, Grainne left all of us with, “You are enough.”  

Thanks to Helen Fullen for sending us into the networking mix and mingle hour. If you haven’t seen or read Helen’s work at NDRC - a true gem of a find from LWL Dublin - please take a look as it adds fuel in terms ofquantitative research to why we continue to host Ladies Who Launch around the world.

We’re excited to see what else we can do here.  Look out for more in 2019!

As part of saying thank you to everyone who gave their time and effort, we wanted us to take a moment to reflect and remember “the strawberry” (insider comment for those who attended). Each new event brings a new launch of relationships started, communities built, new learnings given, and of course inspiration felt!

Also worth noting these stats that Jill Burns of Austin Cocktails, boldly stated to kick off our conversation on marketing hustle, “Knowing that women-owned businesses account for only 4% of revenue and 6% of employment and that only 2% of women founded business have over $1MM in revenue, I feel we can’t afford to fail.” 

So back to Tuesday evening, and we’ll start with a huge thank you to Salesforce their generous donation of event space. Wow!

Kara Goldin started us off in style asking “If you arenʼt waking up doing what you want to do, ask yourself why not.” Who will forget her story of how a deeply personal need drove the birth of hint water, and all the goodness, including sunscreen, that has subsequently followed. Her story spoke to finding something that resonates at your core to drive your passion, but also making sure there is a clear customer need before you dive in head first. These same thoughts were echoed throughout the evening.

I’m not sure if there was a word of the night - St Louis honed in on authenticity while Dublin talked about advocacy. San Francisco… I’d go with finding purpose. Grainne’s quote on “Change happens when the fear of staying the same is greater than the fear of change” resonated with a lot of nodding heads. 

For the Marketing Hustle panel, Meghan FitzGerald Tuohey was the perfect moderator speaking with all the empathy she brings from founding her own business Poppy Media. She also proves over and over that your female tribe will always have your back! She orchestrated a lively discussion with Amy Carr at PYT beauty (who didn’t go home post event and check their makeup for all the BS (bad stuff?)), Jill Burns and Megan Papay from Freda Salvatore. While each has created and crafted a very different type of business all three brought us back to the need to storytell in order for brands to feel authentic. Jill’s comments on how a cocktail is not just a drink, it’s a way to come together with friends just as her grandfather intended with his nightly 5pm ‘family happy hour’. Megan talked about the need to “Tell the background stories; they’re authentic and translate to the quality of your product. Sincerity and being genuine will subsequently breathe through in your marketing.” Amy also brought up the need to be very thoughtful on who you are partnering with. Don’t assume a good company will bring the A team for your small business. We also loved the comment of: 

“Think of social media as a bank; with 70% of the content being a “deposit” where we are offering them content that is valuable because it entertains, inspires, and educates our audience so that we nurture that relationship and build brand loyalty; then we leave 30% of our content to be a “withdrawal” which is the content where we promote, send traffic to the site, and sell the brand.” 

This comment led us to discuss the most liked Austin Cocktails post to date: “Parenthood. The scariest hood you will ever see.”...certainly driving the need for a cocktail or two for all you parents out there.

More down below on other marketing ideas and tools. Thank you again, panelists!

For Start Up Insights: Tips and Tricks for Entrepreneurs, excellent moderating from Carolina Martinez from CAMEO - here again we had a moderator who had great personal experience helping women founders. It’s worth noting that CAMEO members serve about 21,000 very small businesses with training, business and credit assistance and loans. These firms – largely start-ups with less than five employees – support or create 37,000 new jobs in California. And generate a total of $1.3 billion in economic activity. The panel of Alana Rivera from Etta & Billie, Daniela Kratz, from Farmhouse Lab and Grainne Barron from Viddyad had almost too many tips and tricks! Grianne reminded us than fear is a good motivator, but also can make us defensive, so remember to be more open to critique. She also brought some very practical things to do or use including:

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator - do it and do your research before meeting with anyone. Reach out to potential mentors, they can say no but they might also say yes!

• Axios - Good source of daily news (I concur!)

• WSJ CMO and CIO podcasts

• Bananatag - an easy way to tell if someone has read your email

• Trello - for project management

• Slack - everywhere work happens….yes I’m a bit biased as a superfan and board member!

Alana with her PR background provided good thoughts for doing due diligence on “competing” with “like-minded” brands in order to find a good set of agencies and earned media to target. And Daniela reminded us to use the product you are advocating for over and over. She also made a great point about adding more value and conversation around marketing your products on social media. In her case, links to recipes that match her amazing salad dressings!

Finally we closed with not one, but two superstar leaders, discussing strength in leadership. Miriam Naficy from Minted and Anna Collins from Bulletproof. This closing session is difficult to summarize post mortem because the calming energy felt throughout the room was indescribable... perhaps a call to action to come spend time with us (hint, hint)! Both spoke with such conviction and authenticity on how they lead and why they lead. Miriam underscored having “No regrets on how you spend your life” and also advocated that everyone read this book. Anna spoke about having strong principles and tenets to create alignment amongst your team. Recalling her time at Amazon and how they’ve laid out their company operating principles (every leader should check these out and create their own operating principles). Both exuded the quiet confidence but complete humility of extraordinary leaders. Now we just need Alana to bottle and sell that!

One of the superpowers of LWL is helping women see that they are not alone in their entrepreneurial journey. We seek to provide a safe and authentic space to share ideas, failures, future hopes and tough lessons. Business challenges are rarely novel, and the power of mentors is that they have usually walked in your shoes. While they may not have the answer, they can at least provide perspective. 

Other marketing tips if you want to dive deeper. 

Take advantage of social media tools: There is no shame in working smarter, not harder. There are plenty of tools out there right now that can save you time, keep you organized, and improve your content creation game. Create a content calendar at least a month in advance, and then using an automated scheduling tool that posts content for you. Sprout Social, Schedugram, and Hootsuite are all great platforms. Use analytics tools either in your scheduling platform or in the native app to understand how your posts are doing and allow you to understand what is and isn't working.

Brand Marketing Guidelines:

Brand Books can range from 25K-80K and really work to keep keep consistent messaging when talking with your supply chain and customers. Examples of what to include:

1. What we are

2. Our purpose

3. Key brand values

4. How our brand speaks

5. How our brand acts in the world

6. Our brand enemies

7. Photographic Style

8. Color Palette

9. Typographic Style

Product showcases and non-profit events:

You can get a lot of these requests, but often times, the exposure and audience isn’t right for your brand. E.g. one of our panelists noted that she gets approximately 10 requests per week to participate in sponsored events (and some are so bizarre they’ve actually started a collage on their office walls for entertainment!). 

1. Have a very detailed request form that requestors must submit prior to an event so there are absolutely no surprises. Example here. 

2. Go beyond sampling--find out if you can tap into their email lists, a gift bag or provide coupons that will help track consumer purchases.

3. Lastly, consider requiring a dedicated photo post and tag on social channels from the event organizers.

Our key impression, even before the event, was a thirst for more of this community-building. We saw it in our number of sign-ups with >400 people putting their hand up to attend... starting with the inimitable founders of Summersalt - Reshma and Lori - who generously opened up their network, even though we couldn’t make our date work for them personally.

The audience quality was high - almost everyone we spoke to was already on a journey of running their own businesses. They brought pragmatism, wisdom, optimism, and scars on their back, and were seeking ways to be creative and innovative with their brands. One woman at the end left me with this message:

“Thank you, this happened at just the right time for me. I was scared to keep going and now I am replenished.”

Tishaura Jones the St Louis Treasurer kicked us off in style. Her entrepreneurial approach to government was clear in how she has funded every St Louis kindergarten student with a $50 start on a college savings account, funded by parking meters and parking tickets!  And of course her story of the buffalo, that hunkers down in the storm, but always makes it to the other side!

Kathy Mazzarella’s opening keynote resonated.  An amazing leader who has seen a lot, and runs a Fortune 500 company which she started at at just 19, telling her interviewer that her goal was to “run the company!”  She was the first talk about being your authentic self. We’re grabbing hold of the idea to set “unreasonable goals” but in a “reasonable” timeframe.

For the Building with Purpose: Take your passion and make it your business panel, La’Crassia, Zoe, and sister duo Susan and Amanda where the perfect combination, with Stacy moderating strongly and bringing her own experiences to bear with Rise. From Butterlove by LC, to Greetabl, and Golden Gems we heard stories from women in some cases still balancing other jobs, through to multi-year success stories - the breadth was important, showing that this entrepreneurship thing is a journey.  We knew the panel was resonating when we saw half the room start to take notes! Here’s just some of the resources suggested:

Resources for St. Louisans

• Arch Grants – $50,000 non-equity dilutive grant. They believed in us in 2014 and we owe them every day for it!

• Capital Innovators – Fantastic accelerator program under the very talented and helpful leadership of Judy Sindecuse.

Resources for Marketing E-Commerce Brands

• Digital Marketer – A fantastic set of courses, podcasts and webinars teaching you everything you need to know about paid social, organic social, creating funnels, etc.

• Ecommerce Influence – Podcast put on by Austin Brauner (email expert) and Andrew Foxwell (Facebook marketing expert)

• Jon Loomer – Prolific Facebook marketer, puts out great tools for fellow marketers

• Hilary Rushford – Organic Instagram growth expert, puts on a fantastic course on growing your following

For Show Me the Money: Business and Financing Strategies for Founders, excellent moderating from Mindy Mazur - and again a moderator who had great personal experience helping women founders with Brazen. Here Shayba’s advice on practicing your pitch for Mahnal, combined with Lisa’s recent Arch Grant work for Big Heart Tea really provided some down-to-earth, practical advice for the audience.  Again we saw many notes being taken! Talia’s experience fundraising for Myself Belts from potty training her young son all the way to SharkTank Fame was inspirational. We will all be re-upping our power pose practices.

Our closing conversation with Jenn Labit was very candid, and for once everyone put down their phones, as she looked us all in the eye and asked us to be present.  To actually meet the person next to us, take the time to connect. What a journey she is on with Cotton Babies proving yet again that one can do well while also doing good.

One of the superpowers of LWL is helping women see that they are not alone. Business challenges are rarely novel, and the power of mentors is that they have usually walked in your shoes. While they may not have the answer, they can at least provide perspective.