Jonathan Symcox witnessed Playfair Capital鈥檚 ambitious virtual events which brought together 200 budding entrepreneurs and 60 VCs
It鈥檚 no secret that female entrepreneurs face聽many barriers when seeking to start and grow a business.
The effect is exacerbated in the聽male-dominated tech聽arena.聽Indeed聽one successful entrepreneur told me last week how she was the only female member of her university鈥檚 computer society聽(and she was its president!)
It鈥檚 crazy to think that UK tech is allowing such talent to slip through its fingers.聽Speaking in general terms聽for a moment,聽studies have proven women鈥檚 greater聽talent for problem-solving and聽decision-making聽– two聽qualities聽absolutely central to entrepreneurship.
Henrik Wetter Sanchez, associate at聽Playfair Capital, told me there is a lack of access to investors, especially outside London, and聽also聽wider support for female founders in tech.
In response, in October 2019 the early-stage fund began its Female Founder Office Hours initiative聽to bring together聽45 female founders and 11 investors聽at its聽Warner Yard聽base for pitching and advice. A second edition followed in February. The events were so聽popular that Playfair joined forces with Tech Nation to take the initiative nationwide and part-remote聽in June.
The aim, says Wetter Sanchez, was聽to render geography a聽鈥渘on-issue鈥�.聽And he was glad they did, as the arrival of COVID-19 pushed聽them聽to go fully remote聽鈥� and a second聽virtual event was added to cope with demand (you can read his Medium post on the initiative and what聽they learned from it聽here).
The two events, held on聽June 4th and June 24th, connected 200 female founders with 60 VCs across聽800 one-on-one office hour meetings.聽I joined Playfair and Tech Nation聽for the聽second of these.
I聽was admitted to聽a Zoom Breakout Room to hear a fledgling entrepreneur pitch her touch-free instant payments app to an investor and potential mentor.聽The session, lasting a few minutes, was useful for both parties: the founder was given feedback on her pitch and asked聽probing聽questions, as you would expect in meeting a potential investor.
From there it was back to the event hub; a few words from the hosts; and on to the next pitch聽(each founder had four in total). All as slick as it would be in person.
There is nothing proprietary about the event, either. Playfair have not only brought in other leading VCs, such as Hambro Perks, but聽all 200+ applications were shared with every participating investor.聽It is also聽offering its 鈥榩laybook鈥� to anybody in the ecosystem who wants to put on similar events for underrepresented founders: it has聽already supported events in the US (through聽Anthemis) and SE Asia (Cocoon) to take the movement global.
Lauren Nicholson, founders鈥� network lead at Tech Nation, said:聽鈥淔emale-led companies still only achieve 1p in every 拢1 invested in the UK and so Office Hour events like these are crucial to breaking down those barriers and creating opportunities for those teams to be supported by the investment ecosystem.
鈥淲e hope that this initiative will be a major step towards changing those statistics.鈥�
Playfair said more than 50% of the participating聽founders were following up with聽either聽three or all four聽of the VCs they spoke with, while聽80% are following up with two or more.
What is even more impressive is that聽37% of聽the聽founders identify as BAME.
Over the years we at聽老九品茶Cloud聽have sought to champion the role models blazing a trail for others to follow through lists and profiles聽which attracted tens of thousands of views and millions of social media impressions.
There is clearly an appetite for would-be female entrepreneurs to break through long-established barriers 鈥� and, with Playfair committing to running its event three times a year, this could be a crucial step in making it happen.