2021 Female Founders Startup Program in numbers:

• Over 500 Expressions of Interest.
• Over 100 Applications.
• 51 Successful Candidates. 
• 33% of our participants are Women of Colour.
• 25% are experiencing financial hardship.

All set for a stellar program kick off? 🍿

You bet.

It's been an incredible journey for the Tech Ready Women team working directly with Investment NSW and Sydney Startup Hub to bring this program to life.

On Tuesday 27 April 2021, we hosted Orientation Night at the Sydney Startup Hub and were thrilled to meet the program participants and mentors in person and have the rest join over Zoom. 

The night was buzzing with chatter and excitement and started off with opening remarks from Christie Whitehill, our founder and Michelle Long, the Associate Director of Sydney Startup Hub both of whom have been fierce advocates for female founders.

We were then joined by the Honourable Gabrielle Upton, Assistant to the Premier of New South Wales, for her words of encouragement and support to our cohort on embarking on this exciting journey. 

Priyanka Ashraf, our Entrepreneur in Residence, and Shelley Laslett, our Program Facilitator, also shared their words of advice for a successful program experience. 

The Tech Ready Women team (including Diana Esqueche who has been driving marketing, operations and community) covered all the basics and what to expect for the next 8 weeks. 

Plus all our program participants had the opportunity to meet one another through a series of icebreaker exercises. 

Finally - what is a kickoff night without an experiential confidence session from our neuroscience coach, Shelley Laslett? 

Shelley took us behind the science of confidence and how to embody confidence. Love the group power pose!  💪

We couldn’t be more thrilled to have our guests join us to create such a magical evening. 

The night firmly established a strong sense of connection and collaboration amongst program participants and we’ve been delighted to see so many of them self-organise to experience the program together. 

And to you, female founder participant:

As you progress through the program, and long after, these are the people who will remain in your network and be your friends, partners, clients - the possibilities are endless!

So, how many connections have you made so far? 

Are you up for the challenge to meet every one of your peers in this program?