StageOne Female Founders Office Hours Status Report

August 30.2020

It is incredible that 8 months have gone by since we started the StageOne Female Founders Office Hours in December. Yes, it has been a bit hectic lately, with the COVID-19 outbreak and adjustments around the globe, but we continue to meet incredible female founders online.

I wanted to share some figures on how the program did over the last few months. As a reminder, we set up a bi-weekly program (initially at our office) to meet female entrepreneurs in a one-on-one meeting with our managing partners and a female team member. The goal of the meeting is to connect, hear the company pitch, provide concrete advice, consult, and network. Before every meeting, we review internally the company materials and ask the founders to prepare 3–4 top topics of interest to discuss.

• Word of mouth: we shared via social media once and with assistance from friends in the eco-system we managed to expose the post and reach many founders.
• So far since inception (December 2019), we met 35 founders. We already have meetings booked up until the end of August.
• We met founders both in Israel, the US, and Europe.
• As originally advertised, we meet founders in all investment areas, not necessarily just our fund focus. Roughly 5% did hit our deep tech for B2B focus.
• We also meet founders at all stages, with female founders ranging from just ideas to revenue-generating companies.

So, what came out of these office hours?

Well firstly on our side, we made connections with some amazing female entrepreneurs. A very interesting point is the fact that most of the companies are tech-based but have an “impact” side to them. These were companies with technologies that can make a difference in people’s lives and change the world we live in today. Examples include women’s safety applications, technologies in the worlds of mental health, technologies that assist communities, municipalities, and lower-class economies, and technologies that change have an environmental impact. I personally believe that female founders bring something additional to entrepreneurship — empathy!

We were really lucky to be able to help and made several successful connections for the founders, including warm introductions to suppliers, market research, and investors. We are still in close contact with several founders and continue to assist them with anything they need, such as marketing materials, inquiries, etc.

Lessons learned!

I would like to focus the last part on the lessons we have learned so far from the program and what we hope to change in our ecosystem when it comes to female entrepreneurs.

Opportunities: In most cases, our sessions were the first opportunity these founders had to meet investors, and although we didn’t invest directly in their companies, the meetings gave them a lot of added value — which I believe is extremely important to keep. Furthermore, there are many female entrepreneurs out there — some more experienced and some less, but overall, sometimes they have fewer opportunities to make connections, even in a small country like Israel. What do I mean by this? Most men (women as well, but to less extend) go through the army and are part of different elite units (both combat and intelligence), giving them more opportunities to make connections with the ecosystem early on. This point is extremely important when we look at the education of the younger generations. Long before they even go to the army it is important to provide opportunities for (female) founders to build up future connections.

Female Presence in Meetings: Having a StageOne female team member in the room improved the flow of the meeting and gave a strong sense of identification to the founders in the room.

Open for Suggestions: As most meetings were not investment focused and had more of a casual setting, founders were more relaxed and felt comfortable asking questions, receiving constructive criticism and recommendations. Generally, we saw that female founder are very open and willing to listen and hear different views and opinions about their ventures.

Technology: As mentioned before, many of the ventures we saw were focused on the impact world with sometimes less focus on deep technology. It would be interesting to see how the founders can utilize deeper tech to their advantage.

Appreciation: There is something in women who appreciate the fact that they want to help each other. This is something we saw in all meetings both before, during, and after, which helped continue to make connections and opportunities for these founders.

I always like to end the blog with a note from a few founders we met:

“Startups face many challenges and female founders find themselves with additional hurdles to overcome. StageOne provided a much-needed preview into the type of discussions I can expect to have when meeting VCs, and it allowed me to ask questions and work through dilemmas in a friendly, open, and expert environment. More such initiatives are needed to keep startups on the right path” Hanadi Said, CEO- Sensai Networks

“Back in January, I ran into a post on Facebook saying that StageOne is having office hours for female founders, regardless of the stage they are in. At the time I wasn’t sure if this is the right timing for me to raise capital for my start-up. I decided to take this opportunity with both hands and ask for a meeting. Yoav and Yael met with me, gave me their honest feedback, and got me in touch with other people who could have good insight for me. I’m grateful for StageOne’s initiative, to actively help female founders, even if they are not a part of their portfolio. Only by supporting and pushing under-represented communities, we will make a difference in our industry” Founder

“If there ever was a time to be a female founder, it is now! The surmount initiatives that help pave the way, support, and encourage women entrepreneurs to initiate and lead their first startups are exciting and teach us of a new era. One of the contributors to these exciting times is the StageOne Ventures Female Founders Office Hours. I had the opportunity to meet with Yael Eckstein and Nofar Schnider, and get their unpretentious feedback. They are the perfect team for the task. Together they encompass the range between “tough love”, saying what one needs to hear, and the encouraging approach, acknowledging your abilities and your performance. It is a fruitful way to give feedback to a first-time founder in a way that’s promoting her initial growth. They generate a sincere feeling they want to help” Lilach Roth, Founder & CEO of FeelBeat

We are excited to advertise the “Female Founders Office Hours Program” again and meet more extraordinary founders, and we are happy to extend our experience and mentorship to founders in Israel and globally.

To schedule a meeting, apply Here