The Startup Ladies

HAPPY PRIDE! We love our LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, investors, executives and allies! You are an invaluable part of our community, significant driver of the economy, and just plain totally AWESOME! May love surround you during this celebratory month!

🤩 Curious about The Startup Ladies? Join the conversation this Friday at 2 PM ET on Zoom for a live Q&A designed specifically for people exploring membership.

If you’ve been following our work and wondering whether this community is the right fit for your entrepreneurial, investor, or executive journey, this is your opportunity to ask questions and learn more in a relaxed, no-pressure conversation.

We’ll cover:
✨ What The Startup Ladies actually does
✨ Who our membership is designed for
✨ Programs, events, and our eLearning platform
✨ Membership levels and benefits
✨ How we support founders, investors, and executives
✨ Live Q&A so you can determine if this community aligns with your goals

This session is for NON-MEMBERS only who are considering joining. (Current members should attend New Member Orientation instead.)

Whether you’re:
✔️ starting or scaling a business
✔️ interested in investing in women founders
✔️ looking to build meaningful relationships with founders, executives, and investors
✔️ searching for a stronger entrepreneurial community

…this session will help you better understand what’s possible inside The Startup Ladies.

📅 Friday
🕑 2:00 PM ET
💻 Zoom

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/discover-the-startup-ladies-learn-if-membership-is-right-for-you-registration-1377362738159?aff=oddtdtcreator

At The Startup Ladies, we’re building practical infrastructure that helps women founders move from idea → market → growth while increasing investment in women-owned companies.

Hope to see you there!

Discover The Startup Ladies! Learn If Membership Is Right for You Curious about The Startup Ladies? Join us to find out if becoming a member is the right move for your entrepreneurial or investor journey!

Most founders don’t fail because they lack a good idea. They fail because they never truly understand the problem.

💡 Customer interviews are where that changes.

This is the step where you:
• validate or invalidate your assumptions
• understand how people actually behave
• identify what they are already doing to solve the problem
• and begin building relationships with your first customers

It’s also the step most founders skip or rush through.

Today at noon, I’m hosting a Startup Study Hall on how to conduct customer interviews the right way.

We’ll walk through:
• who to interview
• what to ask
• how to structure your interviews so the data is actually useful
• how to turn what you learn into a clear next step

If you’ve ever thought:
“I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s right”

This session will give you clarity.

✔️ You can read the full companion article here:
Customer Interviews: How to Validate Your Idea and Find Your First Customers
https://hubs.li/Q04c7XG90

✔️---> REGISTER HERE
https://hubs.li/Q04c7R520

Join us today at noon on Zoom!

Join us TODAY at noon ET on Zoom for part 1 of our Customer Discovery series. We're talking about how to create surveys that help you understand the business problem from the prospective of market.

This is the first step in identifying your first customers. Whether you have an idea for a business, are launching a new product or service, or may need to pause to understand your customers, this Startup Study Hall is for you!

REGISTER HERE:
https://hubs.li/Q049fYWW0

Today is International Women’s Day.

Many of the women we celebrate today were not widely admired in their own time. In fact, many were criticized for being too loud, too disruptive, or too unwilling to accept the status quo.

Women like Shirley Chisholm, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, bell hooks, Dolores Huerta, and Tarana Burke.

They didn’t simply disagree agreeably. They spoke clearly about injustice, challenged powerful systems, and helped reshape the opportunities many of us carry into our work and lives today.

Some of them changed laws and institutions. Others built companies and moved economic power. All of them forced society to confront difficult truths.

I wrote a longer reflection about the tension between “civil discourse” and the courage required to speak clearly about injustice, and what their legacy asks of leaders today.

One line that stayed with me while writing it:

Neutrality in the face of injustice is rarely neutral. It is often a quiet form of permission.

If you’re interested, you can read the full reflection here:

Link to article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/civil-discourse-courage-women-who-spoke-up-built-power-kristen-cooper-3gobc/?trackingId=pF6WTr8EsLjHKuRB2m4y0A%3D%3D

Happy International Women’s Day.

TONIGHT! | FEB 18 | 6-8 PM | CoHatch Broad Ripple | Pizza
Work ON your business with us tonight.

What We’ll Cover

- How to tell the difference between real customer demand and noise
- When saying “no” is the most strategic move a founder can make
- Early revenue vs healthy revenue and why not all money helps you grow
- How customer conversations should shape your product roadmap
- Why most founders talk too much and what changes when you listen more
- The long game of building a company without burning out or losing focus

What to Expect
This is an interactive working session, not a lecture. Founders will:

- Audit current opportunities they may need to walk away from
- Practice customer listening techniques that improve discovery calls
- Identify patterns in customer feedback versus one-off requests
- Leave with at least one concrete conversation or decision to act on next

Come ready to think, reflect, and participate. You’ll leave with clearer priorities, better questions, and a stronger sense of what actually deserves your time and attention as a founder.

You can register up until 5pm today.

🟢 REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/3MQIGPo

P.S. - This program is ideal for founders in the startup or scaleup stages.

Listening Your Way to Product-Market Fit with Rick McGlinchey Learn how to listen more effectively, recognize real customer demand, and make disciplined decisions that drive sustainable growth

Our February newsletter is out!
- February events (including one today at noon on Zoom)
- List of key leaders in Indiana to follow
- 2 articles to help you understand power and manage people
- Link to a member podcast to help you be successful

CLICK the link below to read:

https://thestartupladies-3394545.hs-sites.com/contact.firstname-do-we-need-a-fund-for-women-founders?ecid=&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8RGIzZJA0ekTbWZk7NLWK0MHm22aH-ctfViq2Nz7nTfeE0iLgw9fq6Rf_fiXrxoCKswTlk

Today’s the day! ✨

Founders, we’re live at noon for our next Startup Capital Series session with Kristine Camron of Camron Molin LLC. She’ll walk through the legal steps, documents, and strategy you need to move from pitch to investment with confidence.

🕛 12–1:30pm CT
💻 Zoom

There’s still time to join us- grab your spot and log in at noon to level up your fundraising readiness.
🔗 https://hubs.li/Q040v2Vg0