IWD, parenting as a founder, and funding for women

Welcome to the Startup 360 with Kayla Medica and guest cohost Cat Long from climate tech startup Trace. Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women’s Day, and this year's theme is “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. This week’s episode explores the challenges women face as founders, from funding to parenting and the self-doubt you can feel as a female founder (and even if you want to be referred to as a female founder). Joining us this week are two amazing women: from Melbourne, Kaylene Langford, author of How to Start a Side Hustle and the founder of StartUp Creative; and in the studio, Jessica Baird Walsh, founder of Capital X, which is committed to supporting women founders. Kaya and Cat discuss the challenges and experiences of being a female founder or minority entrepreneurs, including raising funds, as well as work-life balance and having a family. As a parent, Cat’s open about the support she needs from family others to build a business while also raising children, and the challenge of maternity leave in a startup (since it doesn't really exist) and the tradeoffs involved in being a founder and working mum too. Trace raised $1.5 million in 2022 from 21 investors and emerged from the Antler program. Kayla asks both Cat and Kaylene about their advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women. Kaylene says the way to overcome procrastination and self-doubt is to take small steps consistently, and the progress will compound over time. The trick is to take action rather than wait for everything to be perfect. They also stress the importance of seeking advice and support from others who have been there before. Kaylene also talks about the power of women’s intuition in business, and the need for persistence and self-care. Jessica Baird Walsh started Capital X after facing her challenges in raising capital, particularly due to lack of access to networks. She talks about the power imbalance and gender biases in funding, as well as breaking negative stereotypes around women founders. Jess is also a mother of three, and talked about sharing the load in raising a family, as well as her personal passion project - running every day. It started in 2022 as a 30 day challenge to run 5km. She’s now done it for 800 days straight and in late 2024, set a new goal - fundraising for the Indigenous Marathon Foundation. She also discusses her mixed feelings about International Women's Day and gender disparities, advocating for more tactical and systemic changes. There’s plenty to think about ahead of IWD in this edition of Startup 360. We hope you get something from it and go on to celebrate women and female founders for the other 364 days of the year too. This episode of Startup 360 is supported by Vanta, helping startups unlock market opportunities through automated compliance