A聽fortnight ago I packed my bags and flew out of Manchester airport to Silicon Valley, home to some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
I鈥檓 here for three weeks as part of an all-female accelerator programme called The Women’s Start-up Lab. Eleven of us from around the globe are being guided through the programme by some of the best tech entrepreneurs in the world.
I am CEO and founder of The Link App, a multi-device, cloud-based, encrypted communication platform that allows聽solicitors to deliver updates to their clients instantly on their smartphone or via a web portal 鈥� the 鈥榳hat鈥檚 next鈥� after email.
When I first qualified as a solicitor, nothing prepared me for the amount of time I spent keeping my clients ‘in the loop’. It was a daily battle just to keep up with the constant emails, phone calls and letters going back and forth. My entrepreneurial spirit kicked in 鈥� and The Link App was born.
Being accepted on to this programme was a dream for me 鈥� an opportunity to pick the brains of some of the world鈥檚 leading tech visionaries, to learn, to polish our pitch and accelerate the growth of our company.
In week one we had our visions, business models and pitches challenged. It was great: I want to be challenged. I鈥檝e actually grown fond of the 鈥榳hy鈥� word: it鈥檚 made me think differently, in ways I鈥檇 not even considered before. It鈥檚 made me more confident and that鈥檚 why I was excited to come on this programme.
The mission of the programme鈥檚 founders is to create a world where female entrepreneurs thrive and succeed through innovation and collaboration. Having International Women’s Day occur while I鈥檝e been out here has been enlightening.
Social media and various news channels were full of commentary on women in business. There were stories of organisations who 鈥榰nderstand鈥� equality and are doing the right things but there were many more of organisations who still don鈥檛 get it. It鈥檚 frustrating.
But as a group we shared our stories from around the world and one thing united us all: to continue to press for change in our respective countries and industries. Fighting for equality in business is important to me. It won鈥檛 happen overnight, but if we continue to share our successes, together we can make a difference.
I’m proud of what my team and I have achieved at The Link App in just a few years. The support I have received from fellow solicitors, to people within the tech industry, through to business experts, has been overwhelming 鈥� it鈥檚 why I am in California now.
When people believe in your vision, it’s amazing how much they are willing to do to help bring it to life.
Lauren is sharing her journey on social media and via her blog at .
It was inspiring to meet this group of female entrepreneurs from Women鈥檚 Startup Lab today
Thank you for coming by!鈥� Julia Hartz (@juliahartz)
鈥淲hen you love what you do you鈥檒l never work a day in your life鈥� ???? quote is so true with the journey. Passed 15,000 connections on LinkedIn same month I鈥檝e visited their head office building in San Fran and had mentoring by their ex head of product!
鈥� Lauren Riley (@MissLaurenRiley)
Upon her return from the US, she will share her key learnings from the WSL programme which could be useful to entrepreneurs with 老九品茶Cloud.