Female Founders Rise

The resource for female founders for inspiration, support and growth.
Female Founders Rise is a community of 2500 female and non-binary founders coming together for 

Networking, meet-ups, office hours, Q&A’s with experts and advice/insights to help scale.

Our mission is to provide advice, connection, networking and support to help female founders succeed.

We'd love to have you join us - register here >>https://femalefoundersrise.com/membership

Founder

Faust House

An experienced exited entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den winner with over 20 years in digital marketing, I’ve personally scaled and sold three businesses.

I work with scaling service-based and tech businesses to help them get the most out of their marketing spend to enable growth, funding and successful exit.
Typical ROI x 10

Founder + Advisor

Ventures Together

I am an angel investor with Ventures Together. We are a curated community of 130+ of Europe’s leading tech entrepreneurs and operators who angel invest and help companies together. We’re responsible for building some of the biggest startups like Wise, Klarna, Beamery, Onfido, Citymapper, Huma, Monzo and Deliveroo. 

“VT has provided us with unique access to influential and strategic business operators. I am amazed at the pace, efficiency and feedback provided to us by the VT community” - Anna Brailsford, founder and CEO of Code First Girls.

Angel Investor

Mamma Wellbeing

Advisor and Angel Investor

RunYourself

ONEWAYX

ONEWAYX is Shaping the Future of MetaCommerce, providing a plug-and-play Metaverse Operating System that empowers brands and retailers to integrate immersive experiences and Web3 capabilities.

ZINC

Zinc backs exceptional talent to build new commercial solutions that solve the most pressing societal issues. As a Zinc Visiting Fellow, I support the cohort of 70 talented Founders to build commercial, scalable businesses that tackle one of the toughest problems society faces today - Financial Resilience.

Visiting Fellow

Wonder Women TV

Advisory Board Member

Country & Town House 

I worked with Country & Townhouse since Jan 2020 helping them with growth strategy and raising funds. I later joined as an advisor to the board. I stepped down from this role as I paused most of my consultancy work to focus on Female Founders Rise

Board Advisor

Freelance Marketing Club

Bringing together marketing freelancers for networking, collaboration + fun  
We handed this networking group on to a new leader because I need to focus my time and energy on Female Founders Rise full time.

Free networking + masterclasses for marketing freelancers.

Co-Founder

Female Founders Rise 💥| Advisor | Mum of 4 | Digital + Media + Marketing | Exited Founder

I have hung up my consultancy hat to focus full time on Female Founders Rise. 💥
A community for early-stage female founders offering curated resources, fundraising help, education, and community.
Currently, we are a community of over 2500 members, mainly based in the UK.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/female-founders-rise/

We run meetups in person, and host office hours, Q&A sessions, and champion female founders in every way 🚀

Why do I care about this project?

Because I have been doing this for 20+ years and I know how it feels to be a female founder. I’ve set up, scaled, and successfully exited multiple businesses. As a woman it is different.

Our purpose at Female Founders Rise is financial freedom for women through entrepreneurship. Come and join us on our mission.

Since I am building in public I will share one of most important decisions to date! 

Despite a lot of advice to the contrary I have decided not to charge monthly membership for Female Founders Rise

This has been a decision I have been toying with, testing out and getting feedback on for over a year. Members tell me they want to pay and mentors, advisors suggest recurring revenue.

But that all sounds a lot easier than the reality and what actually works for me.

I have run paid memberships before and it’s not as easy as it sounds.

And there are many reasons

1) Subscription fatigue- people don’t want to be committed to loads of subscriptions that it’s then hard/awkward to cancel

2) I can’t work out a price that makes sense for members and FFR

3) It’s harder than you think acquiring members and they don’t stay forever. When they leave it can be sad - I’d rather there was no ‘leave’

4) We have done a paid beta - it’s very demanding running a membership when people pay. It’s a different expectation 

5) There are other ways we can monetise and support the work we do - sponsorship, events, challenges and our female founder directory (coming soon)

6) There are already lots of other great free and paid memberships out there. I’m still working on our unique differentiation and product offering. The unique value that Female Founders Rise brings. 
When I work that out I am Sure we might add some
Kind of membership.


The main thing is my main wellbeing and headspace. 
I don’t want to run something that is always on. 
Where there is no break and you are always expected to deliver.

I had a breakdown and I won’t do that again.


It is not for me right now but I’m not saying never - 
It feels so good to have made this decision
To prioritise what I believe is right for me and the community.

I am grateful to all our paid beta members who jumped on board and got involved 🙏

Emmie Faust

📣Female Founders - join Personal Branding Challenge👇 | Exited Founder | Mum of 4 |

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Everyone keeps asking me how do I do it?  How do I manage 4 kids + being a founder!

Yesterday I left the tap running in the kitchen (perimenopause brain) and 10 mins later screaming from daughter no 2, and I went in to find the kitchen and utility room full of water.

I was multi-tasking
My husband was away
It was my birthday
I had semi-delegated kids out to various camps 
The dishwasher was broken
Was trying to do washing up, work + probably put a wash on at the same time
And it all came crashing down 😂

So I don't manage a lot of the time.  
But the things I do that I have learnt that really help is

1) I have a nanny/ childcare (we don't right now which is probably why we had the accident yesterday)
2) I go to bed early
3) I am on HRT - not for everyone but been a game-changer for me

4) I say no a lot.  No one 'picks my brains' anymore as I barely have time to pick them myself
5) I try to read more fiction, and less of the business books
6) I do yoga at least 3 times a week
7) When I can I go away on my own 😎

8) I say no again
9) I have an OOO on Linkedin that tells everyone I won't be able to get back to them (as I can't with the number of messages I get)
10) I only have 1:1 calls with people that are genuinely able to help move Female Founders Rise forward in some way, which in turn will create more impact for our community.  

11) Remind myself this is a long term project.  I need to rest, relax, take a break.  I'm not looking for an overnight success.  I want to do this in my 70's
12) Surround myself with our incredible community
13) Get support from people that care about the mission and are there for me.

Oh and so many more.  Love your tips too 
Share below

I am off to do the washing up 🤣

I have had to get comfortable doing something I find very hard to do.

Saying no I can’t help.

I get asked for at least 2 x 1:1 calls a day which would work out at 60ish a month. 

Added to all the other requests on email each day
And WhatsApp and DMs

To protect my wellbeing I‘be had to set boundaries 
I help female founders via Female Founders Rise but other than that my time is not available 

Most people get it and understand 

And a few people don’t

And this is the juggle many of us have
Making impact and supporting people whilst protecting our own
Wellbeing and health.

So I am
Sorry if I say NO. It’s nothing to do with you it’s do to with protecting me

And if I don’t get back to you it’s nothing to do with you, your offer or your event - it’s purely a time consideration and priorities

Saying that I love to be connected here on LinkedIn and following other people’s great content and sharing what I can 🙌

We have a sponsor who pays his invoice
Immediately 🙌🙌

Prepays In advance 
Before I have even had a chance to check the bank account

This is what is means to be a good client. 

You pay on time
In advance where possible
Especially small businesses which depends on cash flow

Because he does this I know he respects me and the work I do. 
And in return I respect and trust him

Paying people on time means a lot.
Imagine if none of us had to chase invoices - so much time and money saved

So much stress saved.

Yes I know it’s not always possible but small
Acts like this make a very positive impact in the word.

None of us are perfect I often miss an email or invoice as it slips through the busy net. But for many solopreneurs and small
Businesses cash flow it what keeps them afloat.

I do feel blessed to have incredible sponsors who all prepay 🙌🙌🙌🙌

📣 Our Funding Accelerator (beta) will start this week

5 female founders 
One VC 
3 months with weekly online and inperson sessions.


One aim to get at least 1 term sheet per founder

And to build a framework we can roll out to get more women funded

We had over 100 applications for the beta so we know there is demand.

The beta is at no cost to founders we’re hoping to get funding/sponsorship for future cohorts 

Will report back soon 👋

📣 Did you know this? £250,000,000,000 of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men.

We want to get more women 
>> starting businesses
>> growing teams 
>> getting funding
>> contributing to the economy (paying taxes too)

When I sold my business I paid £400K in one year in tax and yes it was a lot of tax to pay (no Entrepreneurs Relief on that one!

Let's help support more female founders to build businesses - come and join the party Female Founders Rise

Does this ring true? 🔔
We can push ourselves too hard. We are ambitious, driven and passionate 

We want to succeed

Being a founder is hard

We don’t know when we are on the edge
Even the warning signs are ignored

As women there is an additional 
Load (much documented) and that extra juggle can get too much.

My biggest learning, having been in a bad place is 

Boundaries
Saying no
Time out
Marathon not a sprint
Say no again
Say yes to rest

And I am doing all of that with FFR. 
Saying no to lots of things, pulling back, being realistic about what I can do

Growing slowly and sustainably, despite wanting to do so much more.

Being super aware of the triggers

Reminding myself this is my life’s work and there is no rush 🙏

So that’s my big learning 
It took me 20 years of entrepreneurship to learn that. But I got there


Ps Do you like my new trainers? A pressie from my husband that somehow are bang on with our FFR branding!

I am celebrating and grateful to be part of our wider community of 14000

I know it’s really hard to grow a company page - much harder than a personal profile

I haven’t had to do that as our members have done the hard work for me 🙏

Constantly shouting out Female Founders Rise , recommending it to other women,
Having the abundance mindset that the more the merrier.

Collaborating not competing. So it makes sense to spread the word and get more involved in the mission.

Taking part in our challenges, campaigns, masterclasses and events and always sharing their thoughts about what does and doesn’t work!

We’re testing, tweaking, delivering, messing up, having a good time, doing great work, having fun, trying things out, s

This is just the start. 
Who do you know that needs the support of incredible, friendly, ambitious women?

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We had the single biggest investment ever on Dragons Den when we got funded. But that business failed soon after

Here are a few of my learnings 👇

1) Don’t rely on one marketing channel for growth 

2) Outsource to the experts but make sure you have an understanding of what they are doing

3) Make sure the experts are the actual experts! Get advice on this.

4) Taking funding means your investors have an expectation of you and your results (what you promised)

5) This can make you act differently to if you are bootstrapping

6) The expectation of fast growth and money to be spent ASAP led us to make some silly decisions 🙈

7) A failure is just a sign that it’s not the right business. Doesn’t make you a failure

8) There are trolls and people that want you to fail. Especially when you have been on National TV. Try to ignore the negativity 

9) Angel investing is a risky business - you have to be prepared to lose all your investment.

The best part is all these learnings have help me do better in my subsequent businesses. 

Do any of these resonate with you?

People say webinars are dead.  I do not agree with that!
We've had over 1000 registrations in the last 8 days for our 3 masterclasses on

Personal Branding 
Strategic Masterclasses
Finding Investors

Webinars are not dead if you are delivering value. 

I can't take credit for that bit as I wasn't delivering the content

But I will take credit for finding the best people in the ecosystem to deliver masterclasses for FFR. I am very fastidious about who delivers our content - I have been in the industry long enough to know that there are some incredible people out there. Mega experts

And blessed that they want to support our community and our mission.
Bring on the webinars 💥

How wonderful + refreshing to be asked to collaborate with the 'competition' 

Lucienne Shakir (MEd) and I are both doing work for female founders.  
Much-needed work = there is no competition

We all want the same thing
I'll go to her Female Founder Summit in July
She will come to ours in Manchester conference in October

We are aligned in our values
So it makes total sense
We'll both build our networks and we'll connect more women

You often grow quicker through collaboration and you can defo help more people

Check out Lucienne Shakir (MEd) , follow her and you'll hear more about her upcoming Summit!

Last summer I said I’d love to see more female founders posting on LinkedIn ⚡️

One of my advisors said ‘set a challenge 
so we did- and everyone loved it!

And then In Jan 250 founders joined our personal branding challenge and we’re doing it again and hoping for the same

It’s not all about posting on LinkedIn,
Though that’s a good start

⚡️it’s about finding our voice
⚡️Sharing our expertise
⚡️Sharing our story
⚡️Becoming known for ours passions and interests 

I love seeing LinkedIn blow up with female founder stories. But these are the things stopping founders from
Showing up 👇

>> Time constraints
>> Imposter syndrome 
>> Not knowing what to do
>> Feeling awkward
>> Not knowing what to say
>> Worrying what people will think 

But we do it in a fun and supportive way with other FFR members and the results from last challenge were incredible 🔥🔥

Networking online and offline are also part of becoming known, and building your brand.


Would love to know are you joining us this time? 
What is it that is holding you back?

Loved hanging out with The BAE HQ and Female Founders Rise this morning

A wonderful joint collaboration at BloomsYard 

Bringing together our two communities of founders  for connection, sharing insights and growth

Come and join the next one and sign up free to either of our communities if you want to say hi 👋

What would you add?
3 biggest pieces of advice as a 5 times exited founder👇

1) prioritise well-being

2) cash flow - get prepayments where possible. Customer funded if possible 

3) look after your team - they are your business

And bonus no 4 you can never understand enough about your customer. 
Obsess about your customer!

If you get it right they do your marketing for you ⚡️

When I say 5 times - 2 fails and 3 successes and no 6 in progress right now (my favourite one of them all)

📸shooting yesterday with Bejay Mulenga MBE and team

Many community leaders end up quitting and I can see why

It’s a tough gig 
Even if you are doing a brilliant job there will always be a few people that don’t like something and complain. 

Nothing is ever good enough. 

And you can let those few people get you Down 

Or as one of my board advisor said a while back
👉 that’s one tree In a whole forest.

We don’t need to focus on that

We focus on the positive vibes

We listen to feedback and take on board what is helpful

And we have a clear code of conduct which means that anyone that doesn’t behave in a kind, respectful, inclusive way to the rest of our community 
And our team (must always look after your team)
Will have to leave.

It’s very clear cut. 
We do this to protect our own wellbeing and that of our community

I’m not saying that’s the golden nugget as I am still learning

But I am trying to put initiatives and boundaries in place that will help things run smoothly and make life fun for all

I want to be running my community into my 70’s 🙌🙌🙌

Best tips for running a community in the comments 👇

I'm going to be talking about angel investment (being on both sides getting it and investing) and to learn from the other panelists about all the alternatives to VC. 

I've done 25+ mega small investments into female founders, and also got investment from Dragons' Den - biggest single investment at the time.

It's important to understand that there are many ways to fund a business
From bootstrapping and customer-funded, 
grants and crowdfunding, 
angel investment, debt, venture capital + more.

Happy to partner with our friends at DREAM FACTORY + Angel Investing School > Female Founders Rise

ALTERNATIVE FUNDING TO VC 🙌 

Come and join us at DREAM FACTORY on Tuesday 23rd April for an evening panel discussion hosted by Andy Ayim MBE from Angel Investing School and Emmie Faust, as we dive into an insightful discussion on alternative methods other than VC investment including angel investing, grants, equity and crowdfunding. 

This event is for founders currently in the early stages of fundraising (or considering it), to hear from our incredible panel of guest speakers including Hollie Andrews and Nancy Scotford who will share their advice and demystify the fundraising journey so you can be clear on your next steps. 📈 

We are raising money for The Girls'​ Network so any donations for tickets will be made to this brilliant charity (thanks in advance for your support). 💖 

Book your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eNSR-jTg

Anne-Sophie Martin-Kukah, MCIM, Vanessa Shepherd and 14 other attendees

📣 It’s good to see this getting the airtime it deserves-

I’ve been asking the question a lot

The number of signatory rises but nothing happens to % of investment going to women 🤔

And I’ve heard on the grapevine it’s just a box ticking exercise. 

We need to celebrating those that are making meaningful change

And also look at how the BBB, government and ecosystem can ensure that the code actually delivers the results is was meant to. 

Thanks to Amy Lewin from Sifted for writing about this.

Thoughts on a postcard please 👇

📣 Female Founders will you be joining our personal branding challenge?
 After a brilliant challenge in January we have decided to run it again.

We know it works because we had such great results and feedback from our members. The added benefit is getting to connect with 200+ other female founders and building relationships within the community.  

It's £99 which is less than a coffee a day ☕️ so a bit of a no brainer 🧠

We kick off in a couple of weeks.  Get signed up to Female Founders Rise if you want to get involved.  
And let us know below - are you going to join us 👇

Female Founders - Will you be joining the Female Founders Rise 30 day Personal Branding Challenge at the end of April?

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