{"id":44772,"date":"2023-10-20T15:38:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/will-2016-be-the-year-of-the-woman-entrepreneur-startupsmart-3\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:38:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:38:33","slug":"will-2016-be-the-year-of-the-woman-entrepreneur-startupsmart-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/will-2016-be-the-year-of-the-woman-entrepreneur-startupsmart-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Will 2016 be the year of the woman entrepreneur? – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Renata Cooper<\/strong><\/p>\n

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2011 was a good year for the Australian economy. Markets were booming and startups were getting acknowledged for their economic longevity and relevance to the strategic growth of the nation.<\/p>\n

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It was also the year I became an angel investor who funded women in tech startups.<\/p>\n

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Back then only 16% of tech entrepreneurs were women, so it came as no surprise that my foray into the male-dominated angel investment space was met with scepticism.<\/p>\n

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Without a strong track record of women in tech, much less of tech startups, many did not see future value.<\/p>\n

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It wasn\u2019t just gender that was the issue. The very concept of angel investment was seen as too risky; it was not something everyone got on board with in 2011.<\/p>\n

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In stark contrast, 2015 saw almost every big bank, national business icons like James Packer and even the super funds start investing in startups.<\/p>\n

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Last year was a great year for Australian startups and for women in the space.<\/p>\n

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As we await growth figures for 2015 a casual observation of any media or social media will indicate an increase of women tech entrepreneurs last year.<\/p>\n

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Flexibility, increasing opportunity and more support systems to help turn ideas into reality has propelled women to go where many haven\u2019t in the past.<\/p>\n

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This year will see more women in tech and STEM participate in the \u201cideas boom\u201d that Malcolm Turnbull presented in his innovation agenda.<\/p>\n

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Change has been slow, but women like Jodie Fox, Melanie Perkins, Rebekah Campbell, Deborah Noller, Marita Cheng and others are inspiring people through their confidence, bravery and aims of changing the world with their ideas and success stories.<\/p>\n

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Lauren Hall, Kate Kendall, Fiona Anson and the other amazing women in my angel investment portfolio are all determined to succeed in Australia, and globally. Last year, Lauren and her company launched Australia\u2019s first events booking platform and Kate Kendall from CloudPeeps is ranked as one of the top Australian female entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

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These are women who, prior to Turnbull\u2019s innovation agenda and for the last few years, have been going up against the odds and in a constrained policy environment to convert their ideas into business realities.<\/p>\n

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They are the ones who dared to dream big before banks even considered investing in startups.<\/p>\n

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As an angel investor, I feel proud that women entrepreneurs have provided employment opportunities, put Australian entrepreneurial innovation on the world map and helped businesses progress through digitalisation and collaboration.<\/p>\n

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Laura McKenzie, CEO of Scale Investors captures this triumph over adversity well when she says:<\/p>\n