Fundraising Stories with Female Founders
75 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingInspirational interviews with female founders sharing their honest stories on raising investment – the highs, the lows, the challenges… and top tips for how to be successful.
Fundraising Stories is hosted by Julia Elliott Brown, CEO and Founder of Enter The Arena, serial entrepreneur and equity fundraising expert.
Enter The Arena is the organisation for female founders, providing investment expertise and business coaching. Enter The Arena empowers female founders to fly through pre-raise and investment, and on to the exponential growth of their business. Our firsthand experience, expert guidance and proven programmes help female founders unleash the wonder woman inside.
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Episodes
Putting the Fun into Fundraising - Sarah Henley, NextUp Comedy
January 24, 2020 08:00 - 26 minutes - 24.2 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Sarah Henley, the Founder and COO of NextUp Comedy who started a comedy video subscription business three years ago to fill a much-needed gap in the video-on-demand industry. Previous to founding NextUp, Sarah worked in comedy for over a decade along with her three co-founder friends. Sara’s ultimate vision is to build NextUp into the worldwide home of live comedy, using her passion for diversity and equality in t...
Leave your Ego at the door - Savannah de Savary, Built-ID
December 06, 2019 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Savannah de Savary, CEO and founder of Built-ID, a proptech company which enables collaboration through innovative technology and empowers communities to have a meaningful impact on property development in their neighbourhood. Savannah brought her idea to life by working on the technology platform whilst still being employed full-time. She was just 23 years old when she took the plunge and gave up her employed ro...
Eco toilet paper - a £25m business - Julie Chen, The Cheeky Panda
November 22, 2019 08:00 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Julie Chen, The Cheeky Panda. Julie Chen, The Cheeky Panda, thought of using bamboo as an eco alternative to using paper for creating toilet tissue. Why cut down trees when bamboo is sustainable and grows back every year? Julie went to her home country of China, where bamboo is in abundance and mapped out how to logistically turn bamboo into toilet paper to be shipped to the UK market. Julie’s first crowdfund was...
Think Big and Grab the Courage - Joy Foster, TechPixies
November 08, 2019 08:00 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Joy Foster, TechPixies. After equipping over 100 women with digital skills, through a mix of online and in-person training, Joy realised she needed to get external investment to take the business to the next level. Her extraordinary funding experience started with feeling stressed from trying to manage the business without external investor involvement, to being told she was worth investing in. This fuelled her to...
Sustainable and commercial - possible? Jenny Costa, Rubies in the Rubble
October 25, 2019 07:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBJenny started the business as a passion project, creating small batch chutneys and jams from surplus ingredients that would otherwise go to waste. She went from selling them at farmer's markets to then scaling her business by creating condiments that are now available in supermarkets. Jenny took her time to realise she wanted to turn this conscious venture into a nationwide business. She raised investment from purpose-driven VCs and then had a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign that res...
The Power of Storytelling - Louise Doherty, Yoller
October 11, 2019 07:00 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBLouise Doherty left her career in strategic consumer marketing to create an app start-up that simplifies any kind of social event, after realising how complex it can sometimes be. Yoller has been featured by Apple and Google as one of the best apps for socialising in over 100 countries. Louise successfully raised £380K via Crowd Cube. She found the crowdfunding process much easier to understand compared with seeking VC investment. This approach also meant finding early users of the Yoller a...
Finding Angels with a Connection - Sophie Hooper, Secret Saviours
September 27, 2019 07:00 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBA major challenge in her funding round was facing skepticism from potential investors and some women who didn't believe in the product. However, Sophie pushed through and made it work by finding an Angel investor with an emotional connection to the company’s mission. Her Angel gave her the confidence she needed to secure her £500K round of investment. In this episode you’ll discover… Why having confidence is so important to get people to believe in you and your business How to get investo...
Funding and Fertility - Lina Chan, Adia Health
September 13, 2019 07:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBLina worked in private equity before she started Adia. She soon realised that funding an early stage start-up is completely different to the world of private equity. From getting her foot in the door of a mission-driven accelerator, to hiring her first technology hire, Lina explains how the tables turned from a career in private equity to being the founder of a FemTech company. In this episode you’ll discover… How Lina shifted her mindset from being an Investor, to being a start-up Founder...
Getting Naked with a Crowdfund - Emma Style, Killing Kittens
July 05, 2019 07:00 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Emma Sayle, Founder and CEO of Killing Kittens. Emma is on a mission to push the boundaries of female sexual expression. Best known for its hedonistic parties, KK is also host to a global online community of over 100,000 members. In 2018 the company became the first of its kind to crowdfunding publicly, raising £600,000 to develop its digital arm. Emma talks making the most of a crowdfund, having it all with a good...
Stupid Question? No Such Thing - Amanda Thomson, Thomson & Scott
June 21, 2019 07:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Amanda Thomson, Founder and CEO of global wine brand Thomson & Scott - the first wine company to let consumers know exactly what they’re drinking. Last year, she raised £1 million on Crowdcube to fuel the growth of the business. She unpacks the concept of "stupid questions", the importance of a strong team and gives an insight into using government tax relief initiatives. Wine is one of very few F&B divisions not ...
Investing Like a Woman - Bonnie Lister Parsons, Seen On Screen
June 07, 2019 07:00 - 43 minutes - 39.4 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with entrepeneur Bonnie Lister Parsons about her journey to opening a female-only investment round for empowering dance-class company Seen on Screen. Finding male investors impossible to crack, former dancer Bonnie raised £100,000 from female investors in a matter of weeks. Hear her talk breaking down investor stereotypes, knowing your financial worth and understanding your audience. As well as an insight into the SOS eth...
From Idea to International Acclaim - Emily Bendell, Bluebella
May 24, 2019 07:00 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Emily Bendell, Founder and CEO of international lingerie brand Bluebella, about raising £2.1 million through angel, government-match and crowdfunding. Emily talks raising on a pivot, hustling to find an investor audience and reframing the question of having a family. Lingerie entrepeneurship may not be the traditional career for an Oxford PPE grad. But Emily wasn't scared to buck that trend with an underwear busi...
Reward-Based Crowdfunding Unwrapped - Celia Pool,DAME
May 10, 2019 07:00 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Celia Pool, co-founder of sustainable care brand DAME, about raising £120,000 to finance a pivot into product-based business. Celia highlights the highs and lows of a rewards based raise, the importance of narrative in B2C PR and driving a purpose-led enterprise. On a mission to make our bathrooms green, Celia co-created the world's first ever reusable tampon applicator, 'D', now stocked in Waitrose and sold in 50...
Pitching - Dialogue or Monologue? - Riham Satti , MeVitae
April 26, 2019 07:00 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter the Arena, talks with Riham Satti about raising £500,000 to launch MeVitae, an innovative tech company working in the recruitment arena. Riham carefully planned an investment round, practiced pitching at events and realised the importance of creating dynamic dialogue with potential investors. A self confessed ‘accidental entrepeneur’, Riham is a neuroscientist and two time postgraduate, TedX speaker and women in tech advocate. After f...
Crowdfunding Laid Bare - Daisy Hill, Zzish
April 12, 2019 07:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Daisy Hill about the ins and outs of crowdfunding over £2m for Zzish - an international Edtech platform that matches educational apps with student needs. Daisy takes us behind the scenes of crowdfunding and talks other countries' attitude to risk and the importance of networks. In just five years, Zzish has grown to support over 2.5 million students worldwide. That growth has been fuelled by three funding rounds...
Where's the Value in Valuation? - May Al-Karooni, Globechain
March 29, 2019 08:00 - 38 minutes - 35 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliot Brown, The CEO of Enter the Arena, talks with May Al-Karooni, founder of award-winning B2B giving platform Globechain, about why she won't flaunt her £500,000 fundraise, the right time to go for a VC round and why its time female entrepreneurs recognise their authority in the boardroom. Former financial industry expert May Al-Karooni bootstrapped for three years, winning contracts with world-leading brands and mentorship from retail giant eBay, before turning...
Is Fundraising like Dating? - Cecily Motley and Ilana Lever, Motley London
March 24, 2019 08:00 - 49 minutes - 45.3 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Cecily Motley and Ilana Lever, co-founders of Motley London, about raising £365,000 of angel investment to fuel the growth of their design-led jewellery business. Questioning the traditional fundraising narrative they discuss the pros and cons of VC investment, financial planning and networking close to home. Motley London is disrupting the jewellery market with exclusive yet affordable designs marketed to and fo...
Converting Casual Nods into Formal Yeses - Bea Warner, Exaactly
March 01, 2019 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBFundraising expert, Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Bea Warner about raising £360,000 to get her innovative logistics company off the ground, the strategies she learnt for getting commitment from angel investors, the importance of formal advisors including those she found on the John Lewis accelerator programme and why fundraising horror stories are best avoided. Exaactly is an innovative addressing system refining the logistics of home deliveries through provisi...
Crowdfunding For Wonky Fruit & Veg – Emilie Vanpoperinghe, OddBox
February 15, 2019 08:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Emilie Vanpoperinghe from OddBox about how she raised £530k through crowdfunding for her mission driven wonky fruit and veg business, how she used clever commercial terms to fund the business in the early days and how offering advanced subscriptions helped her get cash in the bank fast. Oddbox is London’s first wonky fruit and veg box subscription service, reducing food waste by sourcing slightly imperfectly shap...
£1m Raised But We Nearly Lost The Round - Kate Briscoe, Legal Beagles
February 01, 2019 08:00 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Kate Briscoe of Legal Beagles, who spent seven years building her business as a side hustle, before successfully raising £1m from angel investors to fuel the growth of her free legal forum, that has to date helped over 1.7 million consumers. But it nearly didn't happen, when a single angel investor almost scuppered her first external round. Legal Beagles is a free legal forum that has helped over 1.7 million con...
Dragons Den - what's it really like? - Cecily Mills - Coconuts Naturally
January 18, 2019 08:00 - 35 minutes - 32.5 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Cecily Mills of Coconuts Naturally, who won investors over on Dragons Den, before closing her £180k round via angel investors. Not easy when she lives in Cornwall with two young children. This is a story not to be missed. Coconuts Naturally is an exciting new brand of award-winning organic, non-dairy ice-cream. After an initial 'friends & family' investment round, Cecily took the plunge and went on TV's Dragon's...
3 Years Bootstrapping - Diana Greenhalgh, MyBespokeRoom.com
January 04, 2019 09:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Diana Greenhalgh from MyBespoke Room.com about how she bootstrapped her business for 3 years before successfully raising £800,000 to fuel the growth of her online interior design business, bringing in her customers as investors, and stress testing her pitch before going to investors. MyBespokeRoom is the UK’s first affordable online interiors business, and the go to place when you think about doing up your home o...
Talking Tampons With Investors - Martha Silcott, Fab Little Bag
January 04, 2019 09:00 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena talks with Martha Silcott of Fab Little Bag, who reveals how she successfully raised £400,000 to fuel the growth of her period disposal bag business, including how she secured one of her suppliers as an investor, how to pitch a 'period' product, and how not to waste time on the wrong funding route. FabLittleBag is a period disposal bag that not only solves the perpetual problem women have of what to do with used sanitary pro...
Raising £1.9m Pre-Launch and Pregnant - Kate Hofman, GrowUp Urban Farms
January 04, 2019 09:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBKate Hofman, GrowUp Urban Farms raised £1.9m at pre-launch stage to launch her vertical stacked hydroponic farming business; she reveals how she secured an innovation grant for the significant capital she required at the beginning, overcame the challenges of raising money when pregnant, and really focused on developing professional financial forecasts. GrowUp Urban Farms produce sustainable salads and herbs by growing them in a controlled environment indoors, in vertically stacked layers. ...
What To Wear For Investor Meetings - Sarah Bertram, Smile Tribe
January 04, 2019 09:00 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBFundraising expert Julia Elliott Brown, the CEO of Enter The Arena, talks with Sarah Bertram from Smile Tribe about how she kick-started her personal life coach app business by raising £50,000, including how she effectively used a convertible loan pre-valuation, how she sustained her energy during her fundraising campaign, and the dilemmas on what to wear for investor meetings. Smile Tribe's product is an app called Sophie - a personal life coach that improves your mental health and wellbei...