{"id":41252,"date":"2023-10-20T15:12:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/australias-leading-female-founders-on-the-biggest-challenges-they-face-in-a-male-dominated-industry-it-takes-a-village-to-keep-you-sane-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:12:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:12:41","slug":"australias-leading-female-founders-on-the-biggest-challenges-they-face-in-a-male-dominated-industry-it-takes-a-village-to-keep-you-sane-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/australias-leading-female-founders-on-the-biggest-challenges-they-face-in-a-male-dominated-industry-it-takes-a-village-to-keep-you-sane-as-an-entrepreneur-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s leading female founders on the biggest challenges they face in a male-dominated industry: \u201cIt takes a village to keep you sane as an entrepreneur\u201d – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Access to funding and breaking into “boys’ club” investor circles are the biggest challenges Australia\u2019s leading female tech entrepreneurs face.<\/p>\n
Scrunch CEO and co-founder Danielle Lewis, who left a male dominant corporate sector to launch a startup, was shocked at the sheer lack of women in the ecosystem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis brought plenty of awkward networking events, rude comments and knock-backs, however, I never lost my stride and pushed through to find a passionate group of supporters for our startup,\u201d Lewis tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n Over the past five years, Lewis says there have been some promising shifts, with more women-led VC funds like Atlanta Daniel\u2019s Signal Ventures<\/a>, and a growing number of female-focused tech and startup networking events<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s exciting to be a part of,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n But the funding issue is echoed across a prominent group of tech leaders who will be speaking at the upcoming Creative3 conference in Brisbane.<\/p>\n