Galvanizing Women Through Community
Tiona Langley has started the Industry Collective, a social network for creative professionals that provides access to resources and to employers to hone their craft and sell their work. But like so many founders she wonders: “Would anyone pay for this?”
Now she has someone she can ask. It’s 9 on a Friday morning Zoom call and Tiona is on the Hot Seat, where female founders share their challenges, concerns, and even doubts with other women founders. Someone immediately jumps in, describing her personal experience with a similar program and why she’s willing to pay for it. Another points her to success stories in nearby markets. Nods of encouragement all around. I can see something changing in Tiona’s face.
The Hot Seat happens during our Gal Groups, one of many offerings of Galvanizer, a program for female founders that MBA2s Whitney Chu, Ali Lauer, Lucy Svoboda and I co-founded over a year ago to propel more women into entrepreneurship. Galvanizer has grown to a network of over 100 female founders by offering a unique model for addressing the challenges women face in building their ventures. A simple belief powers this approach: the strong bonds of community form a critical pillar for personal growth and professional success.
This may sound intuitive, but it stands in direct contrast to today’s emphasis on individualism. We are encouraged to look inward for answers and to believe in ourselves. We are told to read self-help books, journal, meditate, and self-assess and find avenues for growth. While this focus on self-development is important, it is not sufficient. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through Galvanizer, it’s that sometimes the answers lie outside of ourselves.
Through Galvanizer, I’ve seen firsthand the impact that a tight-knit and supportive community of peers can have on a female founder’s entrepreneurial journey. The core of Galvanizer’s community program is Gal Groups, weekly sessions of five or six female founders in a similar industry or stage.
The female founders in our Gal Groups have addressed some of the toughest issues faced by entrepreneurs, such as determining co-founder equity splits, building a customer base, and creating marketing plans. With a supportive community, they have successfully launched products, built teams, and raised funding.
In the past year, we’ve cultivated three essential qualities that make this community-based approach effective.
Shared experience — trust, security, and empathy are hallmarks of the Gal Group experience and critical to the conversations that enable growth. At Galvanizer, the shared experience of women navigating entrepreneurship, often for the first time or in male-dominated industries, creates a safe forum for our founders to share, explore, and learn. Our founders get dedicated time with experts and friends to solve business problems and provide tactical advice during Hot Seats.
Accountability — our community comes together to build successful ventures as female founders. They share specific, measurable goals and keep each other motivated and accountable.
Confidence building — confidence is one of the most important ingredients to success in entrepreneurship. Through our community, founders learn to believe in themselves in two ways: 1) they find peer role models, women who inspire them. One founder said: “I felt inspired to continually hear from women [who are] striving and struggling and overcoming [challenges] in their business ventures”; 2) they learn to appreciate their expertise when they help others. Some of the most beautiful moments facilitating Gal Groups are when women see themselves through the eyes of their peers. They see in themselves a credible and unique voice at the table. This simple change equips them with a new boldness and self-compassion, tools that will serve them well pursuing the difficult path of building a company.
What I saw in Tiona that day — and many founders since — was a budding confidence in her idea. The fog of doubt slowly lifted to reveal a path forward. We’ve seen this countless times at Galvanizer. In just 30 minutes on a Friday morning, the group gave her inspiration, validation, and thoughtful feedback. Today, Tiona has monetized Industry Collective and continues to build it.
The power of community is a new solution to an old, persistent problem. Many organizations are committed to supporting female founders, mostly by providing capital and mentorship. After seeing the positive impact of Gal Groups, we know that community is an important and effective tool to finally close the female founder gap. Women have long benefited from support networks in other areas. Similar peer groups have helped women overcome challenges with cancer treatment, micro-finance and lending, and education, among others. So it shouldn’t be so surprising that it is effective for empowering female founders.
Communities built on a shared experience can equip women with the self-confidence and sense of accountability that they need to achieve ambitious goals. The power of community can unlock the potential of our future women leaders and should be an essential ingredient in every program that hopes to equip them for success.
