Rachel Sklar (@rachelsklar) of EarlyStager opened up the all female panel stating the success and energies of upcoming start-ups is genderless: talking about gender is a waste of time. Each female founder gave their perspective of social and building start-ups from the ground up. EarlyStager helps guide entrepreneurs at critical points in product buildouts. Emily Hickey of Hashable talked about the power of pivoting and how Hashable evolved from something out of track.com. She explained the commonality of confusion in the early days of a product, “there’s always confusion in the process, follow your gut and see what people are using.”
Pivoting is a trendy term amongst start-ups as its describe as a natural evolution of growth. Emphasis was placed on traction, team, and business model however Sarah Tavel of Bessemer Ventures highlighted relationship chemistry as a pillar to successful trajectory, she described the investor-founder relationship more like dating before marriage and try to start conversations early on. She also talked about watching start-ups evolve “I once saw the ugliest pitchdeck of my life…now months later he is fully funded and its incredible to watch the whole process.”
Beth Ferreira (Etsy) highlighted HR issues as a risk to not ignore “its important to remember to do the little things like employee reviews and check-ins…you need to have those conversations.” Equity and financing were brainstormed as areas that need the most clarity but when questioned at what stage to get money Ferreira said a phrase she once heard described it exactly, “Running out of money is not a funding event.” The panel agreed a start-up is ready for funding once it comes.
Hickey from Hashable mentioned when forming a team to strike a balance between creative product types and execution product types.
When asked if we are in a “start-up bubble” the panel was split down the middle. Interestingly enough there’s wasn’t any mention of differences running a company as a female founder versus male which is a much different tone than back in September where there was huge hype about “girls in tech” and how special resources are available but not taken advantaged of (see: Girls in Tech Debate: a Publicity Hoax)
