LiisBeth and the Feminist Art Conference (FAC) collaborated to curate a special panel session on women’s entrepreneurship. The theme for this year’s Feminist Art Conference was “embodied resistance,” a highly appropriate theme given the conference date coincided with the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, when millions of women and allies around the world truly embodied resistance to growing misogyny, racism, and sexism following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The central idea of FAC’s theme was that the form of the body is a canvas on which to create, explore or express resistance. In concert with the curatorial statement, the artists who presented works at the conference tried to “reshape our assumptions about gender roles through the type of work they take on, by exploring themes like weight, menstruation, trauma, and self care. They explored how the body can be a medium through which to explore, reshape norms, indicate resistance to norms or the dominant culture, and ultimately help us reinterpret our world, ourselves, and identify a path that leads to desirable social change.”
For women, trans ,and gender non-binary people, entrepreneurship is also a kind of resistance. And in this panel discussion, we look at the intersections between gender, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
LiisBeth contributor Cynthia MacDonald wrote, “Writer Natalie Clifford Barney once called entrepreneurship ‘the last refuge of the troublemaking individual,'” adding that “for many women, particularly those working within oppressive environments, the very act of starting a business can be frighteningly disruptive to the social order.”
In this 80-minute session, the panelists explored the intersections between gender, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and how gender shapes entrepreneurial choices, support, access to capital, and the overall experience. Their stories highlight how women entrepreneurs still face numerous barriers.
The panelists included Renish Kamal, founder of Fidget Toys, Priya Ramanujam,founder ofUrbanology Magazine, Emily Rose Antflick, founder and chief community cultivator atShecosystem, Allison Hillier, serial entrepreneur and instructional designer, and Valerie Fox, founder of The Pivotal Point.
We think you will enjoy their stories of resistance. To listen while connected to the web, click here. To download the podcast, click here.
Fatima Mechtab, Director of Marketing of Oasis Aqualounge
Judy Kaye drinks coffee at a quiet café a few blocks from Oasis Aqualounge, the upscale sex club she and her husband Richard opened in 2010 as the majority owners with other partners. The 48-year-old mother of three is dressed smartly in black with glasses perched on top of her head. She laughs as she calls the creation of the female-positive, sex-positive club “our mid-life crisis business.”
As successful business people, Judy, who holds an executive MBA from Queen’s University, and her husband came up with the idea for Oasis after frequenting swingers’ clubs themselves. “I think entrepreneurs spend a lot of their time looking at other businesses and saying if they owned this business they would do this, this, and this,” she says. For her, the “this” was a club that would be open during the day, offered more than drinks and dancing, and allowed sex on the premises.
They also envisioned an environment that wasn’t just for swingers but that really catered to women—single or with any orientation of partner(s)—who wanted to safely explore their sexual fantasies without judgment or pressure to undress or have sex. “We felt that there was a lot of shame in our world around expressing sexuality for women,” says Judy. “This was an aspect of people’s lives that so many keep hidden and locked up and don’t nurture.” She meets more men than women who are comfortable with nudity and sexuality, perhaps because men have so many more spaces for exploring their desire. Oasis is trying to change that. “We get a lot of sexually confident women, which is absolutely amazing, but we also help women become sexually confident.”
Oasis proved the perfect name for their club since it could also serve as a mini-escape for busy couples with only a few hours to spare. As a parent, Judy knows how hard it is to get out of mommy mode: “It’s like, ‘Who’s got a cough? Where’s hockey? Who needs a snack?’” She felt there was a market for couples who wanted to find a deeper sense of intimacy in a sex-positive environment. She believes Oasis saves marriages because couples who enhance their sex life can deal with problems better. “If you’re not getting along with someone, then every little irritation seems magnified.”
They imagined opening a small place until they came across a 2,700-square-metre dilapidated heritage mansion (formerly a gay bathhouse) east of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, on the corner of Carlton and Mutual Streets. “We could see the possibilities,” recalls Judy, who negotiated a long-term lease. The club has many amenities, including a heated outdoor year-round pool, hot tub, steam room, sauna, bar, dance floor, and several adult playrooms such as the Shaggin’ Wagon and Dungeon.
What’s the Big Deal about Sex?
Today, Judy and her husband focus mostly on strategic management and building a great team to support Oasis’ rapid growth while their five other partners, all full-time employees, assume day-to-day management and administration. At startup, the sexpreneurs found that swinging deals presented a major challenge. “There was such a stigma against this type of business,” says Judy. Banks shied away, which forced them to finance Oasis themselves, including $500,000 in renovations. “We used our entire savings, mortgaged our house, maxed our credit cards, and borrowed from family,” says Judy.
They also had to secure a second-tier processor for credit card transactions because major banks wouldn’t issue them. “We knew that if we were going to be the premium brand, we couldn’t be a cash-only business,” she says. Finally, TD came on board, even holding the 2016 Pride Toronto press conference at Oasis to recognize the 35th anniversary of the infamous bathhouse raids by police, one of which took place at the very bathhouse Oasis took over. “That was a huge honour for us,” says Judy.
Getting a municipal bathhouse license also proved difficult as this was a first for women and their partners. Previously, women’s events that were held at men’s bathhouses operated under their own licensing. “Everything [the city] knew was based on men,” says Judy. “The municipal licensing people were not sure what category to put us under.” They even had to jump through hoops to get the liquor license, undergoing criminal checks since they hadn’t run a bar before.
Marketing also presented challenges. The Toronto Board of Tourism denied their application to join even though Oasis’ newsletter had a worldwide circulation of more than 20,000 readers. “They claimed they didn’t have an appropriate category to place us even though they have ‘fun things for couples’ and ‘night entertainment,’” says Judy. “We pay our taxes. We pay employees well. We have a health plan. This is not some cash-only, back-door kind of thing.”
It even proved tough getting customers who were “huge repeat customers” to be ambassadors for the club. “We would say, ‘Tell your friends,’ and they would say, ‘Are you kidding?’”
To spread the word, the club created AquaFlirts, a promotional team that marketing director and events producer Fatima Mechtab describes as her “sex-positive, fun, flirty staff.” The AquaFlirts attend trade shows and community events such as The Everything To Do With Sex Show, Sexapalooza, and Pride. Says Mechtab: “We’ve never shied away from who we are, never. We really embrace sex-positive, body-positive, liberal values. We are so open and willing to talk to people.”
Oasis is winning people over, and more and more visitors are now being referred by friends. In the early months, they were only open Thursday to Saturday and averaging 50 paying customers per week. Today, they are open seven days and averaging 1,000 customers per week. Annual revenues grew by more than 20 per cent last year, reaching nearly $2.5 million.
The sex club’s growing popularity is also helped by popular culture such as the 50 Shades of Grey franchise. “I feel like conversations around swinging, polyamory, and sex clubs have really become more prominent in mainstream media,” says Mechtab.
Events + Education = Diverse Fun
It wasn’t difficult to convince swingers—typically heterosexual couples—to try Oasis. “A new sex club? Let’s go,” was the response. But financial viability demanded a larger market and now six years later, customer surveys show that the majority of customers are not interested in swinging. To survive, Oasis has succeeded in creating a social club where folks can chat without pressure to have all kinds of sex, or any sex, without shame. “It’s not just sort of an anonymous sex club with rooms where you don’t see anybody,” Mechtab says. “The whole experience at Oasis is not just about the sex. It’s about the entire atmosphere and vibe.”
The club hosts diverse events that appeal to a wide range of interests. These often have a sex-education component that also acts as an ice breaker. Oasis After Dark, for example, is for BDSM lovers; Down to F*ck serves women craving sex with multiple men; Spectator Sex caters to couples who want to “perform” in front of an appreciative audience.
And then there is Sapphic Aquatica, exclusive events for women and trans people. “That’s my baby,” says Mechtab, who identifies as gay. “There isn’t a lot for women as far as this type of environment goes, but there is nothing for queer people and trans folk.” Stressing that trans men and non-binary folks are also welcome, Mechtab launched Sapphic Aquatica shortly after joining Oasis in 2012. She throws an anniversary party every January featuring such activities as Sybian rides (a high-powered vibrator operated by a trained staff member that is straddled to achieve orgasm) and fundraising for LGBTQ causes.
Sex educator Luna Matatas says Oasis is the only sex club she knows of that integrates education into its events. While some of what Matatas teaches at Oasis is technique, such as how to use sex toys, the more important lesson for women is building sexual confidence. “We are experiencing oppression and shame on multiple levels about pursuing the kind of pleasure we want,” she says. Sexual fulfillment has important benefits for women’s emancipation. “You expand your range of expression and emotion through doing a lot of sexual creative things,” says Matatas, noting that this serves women well in spaces beyond Oasis.
Compassion and inclusion are important lessons, she adds. “It’s not just about you getting what you want. You need to create a safe environment to invite everyone else to get what they want too,” explains Matatas. Unicorn Night, where a “unicorn” or single woman plays with a couple, is Oasis’ most popular event. Matatas has taught couples how to swing with a unicorn so that they don’t regard her as “some sort of stunt vagina” and facilitates “meet and greets” for unicorns so they can feel comfortable and enjoy special pampering such as complimentary glasses of champagne before their sexual encounter.
Matatas also helps women challenge their own self-limiting beliefs. As a self-described “chubby, curvy, queer, brown woman,” she is a role model for how women can embody their own kind of sexy. She makes a point of dressing up to “present sexy” at Oasis’ workshops; some women have even approached her to ask what dress size she wears. She can confidently convey: “Fat people have sex too and we have good sex.”
Turning on to Safety
Clothing is optional at Oasis so people walk around in various stages of undress. But while one may envision an unruly Animal House, there are strictly enforced rules to guide the play. There are 13 rules printed in several languages and presented via video by a stiletto-clad vixen. They’re even read out loud to new guests to make sure everyone understands.
Rule number one is “No means no.” But can’t “no” mean “yes” in a sexual context? “Even if you are acting out a sadomasochistic scene, staff and managers have to see that conversation is happening,” Mechtab says. “You need an affirmation that your action is okay with that other person.” What about hugging? Mechtab admits she’s a hugger by nature, but even that’s a no-no without expressed consent. “We’re a space where people are naked, intimate and maybe haven’t been to a place like Oasis so you don’t know what could trigger them. In our business, only yes means yes.”
Differential pricing also maintains civility and balance in numbers. “It’s an economics thing,” says Judy. Oasis tried gender-neutral pricing but that disproportionately drew more men, causing both men and women to complain. Single men now pay a premium (and are restricted from the club at certain times) while some days, admission is free for women and trans folk. While some men complain about the preferential treatment of women, Oasis is firm they are doing the right thing. “We believe that having a space that is very safe and comfortable for women, and where women’s needs are paramount, is good for both men and women,” says Judy. After all, when women feel happy, confident, and safe, they are less ashamed of wanting sex and exploring their sexuality, which makes men happy too.
Happy Employees = Happy Customers
Oasis’ engaged workforce of 40 people also works hard to create a good vibe. “We don’t hire based on experience,” says Judy, pointing out that you may get a better Caesar elsewhere but having a bartender with sex-positive values and who supports women matters more. Many of the staff frequented Oasis before joining the payroll.
Staff range from university students (the University of Toronto’s Sexual Education Centre’s 2013 party attracted many that would become regulars) to more mature employees such as Teresa, a trim, ginger-haired grandmother who says Oasis is “like home.” She says other sex clubs she visited were “cliquey.” “If you didn’t look pretty enough, they wouldn’t let you in,” she says. Teresa recalls a “bigger lady” asking her whether she would be allowed into Oasis, and she offered this reassurance: “We do not discriminate. We have people from big to small.”
Teresa, who started as a cleaner, now co-hosts an event with her husband called Cum Give it a Shot, which educates people about squirting (female ejaculation at climax). It’s a team effort. Teresa helps women relax (“I will kiss them and play with their boobs”) and her husband demonstrates the right technique. “He’s got the magic touch,” Teresa says, proudly noting that not every guy can make a woman squirt. “I can go about four feet. Last time I did it, I had a target.”
Oasis encourages staff to share interests and propose ideas for new events, such as a burlesque party that was organized for a birthday. Many of the marketing posters feature staff rather than stock images. “We would do more if we had people willing to do more, but there’s privacy issues,” says Judy.
Oasis also organizes staff road trips to check out other clubs—both for new ideas and bonding—and outings such as naked bowling and nude polar bear dips on New Year’s day. “How many staff like their jobs so much that they want to go there when they’re not working?” asks Judy.
Creating a Sexy Legacy
“Finally, this year we feel like we can say this is a successful business,” Judy smiles, emphasizing that it has been a team effort. This optimism serves the entrepreneur well. “You always have to see the good side of something in order to break through all the pain it takes to get there. It’s kind of like having a baby.”
Sticking it out has been hard at times, but they have already established a legacy in creating a space that champions new attitudes about women’s sexuality. Feedback such as “I’ve never felt so comfortable in my own skin” bring tears to her eyes. “Because that’s the point,” Judy says. “Whatever I am, I am sexy.”
With so much in the news about POTUS (President of the United States) Trump’s extreme behaviours and astonishing executive orders this past week, combined with the horrific Quebec mosque attack, it is easy to believe we are all sharing a bad dream. If you add to that the fact that the Globe and Mail still publishes Margaret Wente’s shock jock journalism, including her Jan. 28 piece telling women to check their privilege, we could justifiably call it a full-fledged nightmare.
But not so fast. There is hope in the promise of resistance.
The phrase “Resistance is futile” is a well known to Borg-loving Star Trek fans, and perhaps even the universe beyond. But here on earth, resistance, especially passionate resistance, is fertile. History tells us time and time again, that it feeds, energizes and gives life to overdue social change.
History also shows us that thoughtful stewardship of our collective resistance energy over time is the key to achieving our desired change. With an inclusive and ecosystem approach, it can raise the roof on civic engagement and incite the otherwise complacent to swell with concern and transform into potent community leaders, or better yet, run for and be elected to public office. Civil resistance works. Especially when women get really pissed off; consider the 1789 Women’s March on Versailles? But it has to run deep and long if it is going to have an impact.
Resistance can also take many forms—some large, some small—but they all add up. This can include writing an op-ed, calling out unacceptable behaviour at work or on the subway, tattooing a slogan on your body to forge personal commitment to a cause (Yes, I know someone who did this), helping to organize a march, demonstrating, publishing a book, blogging, spending your money differently, and hosting a salon for local influencers. Although you may not typically consider this, resistance can even take the form of initiating a new enterprise or organization.
Enter the Age of the Activist (Resistance) Entrepreneur
Activist entrepreneurs are not new. But they are rarely included in discussions about entrepreneurship, and there are certainly no incubators or accelerators in Canada dedicated to this genre. It is easy to see why.
Activist entrepreneurs design enterprises or organizations whose core purpose is to challenge norms, re-write laws, hold governments and misbehaving corporations accountable, conduct research, work to change the narrative, make the invisible visible, educate, and enable challenging conversations. The fact is, those who do well under the current system are unlikely to spend time let alone money challenging a system that works well for them. The fact that activism tends to repel financial investors or careerists makes activist entrepreneurs a poor fit for most startup incubator programs.
While conjoined in some areas, activist entrepreneurs don’t fit in with social entrepreneurs either. Activist entrepreneurs work to change the system. Social entrepreneurs work to heal the cracks in the system. Activist entrepreneurs strive for independence from the system, whereas social entrepreneurs, and especially enterprising nonprofits (nonprofits with small businesses on the side as revenue diversification schemes) are often financially dependent on the system (e.g. government grants, corporate sponsorships, or instruments like government-held social impact bonds, etc.).
The fact is, activist entrepreneurship is an outlier. Much of what is offered up by most startup ecosystems, including social entrepreneur programs, lacks relevance for activist entrepreneurs.
But still, they rise.
Some examples of activist entrepreneurial ventures include Rabble.ca (a media enterprise), the Transition Towns Network (a process innovation), and Idle No More (a grassroots movement). All three were founded in part, or entirely by women.
Rabble.ca, an indie, alternative online news magazine, and now a nonprofit venture, set out to combine activism with journalism and counter the status quo. Rabble.ca was founded in 2001 by women’s rights activist Judy Rebick with support from internet activist Mark Surman, novelist Judy MacDonald, plus well known Canadian activists, including Stephen Lewis and David Suzuki. The site launched by raising $120,000 from the Atkinson Foundation (a Toronto-based foundation focused on social and economic justice) and $80,000 from unions and prominent Canadians. Today the site reports that it averages 450,000 unique visitors per month. The site’s content is free of charge, and it generates revenues through advertising and reader contributions.
While Louise Rooney and Catherine Dunne were students of activist Rob Hopkins in the U.K. in 2004, they developed the Transition Towns concept. The Transition Network, further developed and popularized by Hopkins, helps communities move from oil dependence to local resilience. Today the network has more than 400 recognized member communities around the world and runs a thriving media enterprise, producing books and films sold worldwide.
The Idle No More movement, which opposes resource exploitation on First Nations territory became widely known during Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike. Founded by four women, Nina Wilson, Sheelah Mclean, Sylvia McAdam, and Jessica Gordon in 2012, the still nascent but strong grassroots movement works a bit like a no-fee, loosely run franchise, and continues to operate on donated funds and volunteer management.
These are but a few examples. We quickly could add more. Consider the SlutWalk movement (which went international), founded by Toronto’s Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis (how’s that for exporting?), or the recent 2017 Woman’s March, launched by Hawaiian retiree Theresa Shook. Shook simply put up a Facebook page and it took off–a classic hockey stick rise not dissimilar to the kinds of growth patterns we have seen with famous tech startups. Today the organizers are working on how to grow the movement post-march, and sustain it. These examples are but a few. There are hundreds more. We like to think LiisBeth, our little fledgling startup, is another.
Activist entrepreneurship is a distinct form of entrepreneurship. For starters, they are not sparked by commercial market opportunity; they are instead called to serve in response to a form of systems level injustice that they care deeply about. They need mentors with experience with organizing sustainable resistance or movements (veterans like David Suzuki, Judy Rebick), public interest lawyers versus corporate lawyers, plus expert guidance on how to raise and steward donated money, or how to design a grassroots transmedia campaign to publicize their story. But where will they go for this support?
Not likely mainstream incubators and accelerators.
To advance systems change, or deal with reactionary regimes, we need those who march, demonstrate, or run for office, but we also need activist entrepreneurs. If we want to see change, we must be prepared to support them by paying attention to them, engaging with them, sharing organization creation, leadership and governance expertise, helping them implement best practices, and, of course, seed them with a little cash.
THIS WEEK ON LIISBETH
Back in December, LiisBeth contributor Mai Nguyen said, “Have I got a story for you!”
Meet Halifax entrepreneur Katelyn Bourgoin whose startup journey involved crying and throwing up on the bathroom floor, followed by successfully raising $350,000. Whaat??? Yes, pretty impressive! So don’t miss her story on LiisBeth this week and find out more about her new service called “Squads”, an online community of women entrepreneurs who provide each other with objective criticism and feedback via video conferencing.
Also, we hope you enjoy the short Q & A with Sadaf Jamal, founder of Move’n Improve, about her experience attending the Women’s March in Washington D.C. with Moxie Trades CEO Marissa McTasney and her group. Jamal is pictured above–wearing a pink hijab.
Coming soon, a special feature for the month of love (February) by writer Sue Nador on sex-positive entrepreneur Judy K, majority co-owner of the upscale Toronto sex club Oasis Aqualounge. Nador says that researching the story certainly challenged many of her assumptions. Let’s see if the story ends up also challenging yours.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
With all the President’s men in the news over the past week, you may be feeling discouraged, but I see a lot of hope in the form of woke and lit startup entrepreneurs working to build a more inclusive, kinder, and equitable world–and earn a living doing it. Here a few of the women I met this week:
As a 26-year-old student and mother of a two- and a four-year-old, Phylicia is busier than most women her age. But that has not stopped her from launching an intimate apparel and loungewear company, Grace & Finesse, for new moms and expectant mothers, which is eco-friendly, stylish, and practical. Carmona says motherhood influenced her decision to pursue entrepreneurship. “I wanted to be a positive role model for my daughter and my son and teach them they can do more than people expect them to be able to do.”
Anum Ayub, 22, founder of Henna Hues provides temporary body art and henna-inspired art products to spread her passion for this traditional South Asian artform to a wider, non-South Asian audience while providing an experience that is fun and relaxing. She has been practicing henna art since the age of six. Ayub hopes to employ additional associates in the next three years.
Suzanne Barr, is the founder and co-owner of a fabulous Riverdale resto, Saturday Dinette. Barr says she was motivated to become a natural whole food chef after losing her mother to cancer. As a supporter of Black Lives Matter, she is also passionate about advancing equality and inclusion. Barr participated as a panelist at the successful launch of the “Kitchen Bitches” conference where over three hundred industry professionals gathered to discuss gender and transgender inequality within one of the fastest growing industries–food.
Mother of two, Thornton, 27, and founder of Grime Queen, is well spoken, passionate—and believe me, there is nothing grimy about her. A photographer and urbex aficionado (also known as “roof and tunnel hacking”), she creates events in urban, abandoned places. Her company’s focus is on empowering and encouraging underrepresented gender minorities to “actively participate and profit from their passion for the Arts.” Thornton identifies as a feminist entrepreneur, and says this is becoming less and less of a “dirty word”, but it still creates additional challenges. Watch for upcoming Grime Festivals later this year.
Thirty-year-old Carolyn Palmer knows something about having “Her Way”. Her company Her Way is the creator of a new and innovative adult toy, specifically designed to help couples who are exploring sexual options post-physical trauma to women’s genitalia. The product enables an enjoyable sexual experience for couples while limiting the impact to female genitalia, which in turn, promotes intimacy during physically and emotionally challenging times.
Adriana Reyes, 23, wants Durham small-to-medium-sized businesses to grow, and she created Brilliant Marketing to help them do just that. However, at the moment she is somehow holding three jobs to make ends meet while starting her enterprise.
Lindeman also spoke to LiisBeth while she was researching the topic.
One women tech entrepreneur told Lindeman that she would never participate in a women-only startup incubator because she feared it would “ghettoize” her. She asked what our thoughts were on this subject.Essentially, our perspective on this was well summarized by SheEO founder Vicki Saunders who commented that women don’t need an investor, incubator or accelerator to ghettoize them. “They’re already ghettoized,” she says.
The article goes on to note that “The startup community has failed to become more inclusive through self-policing, but it bristles at the thought of government-imposed quotas. And so women have been faced with a choice: Do we continue to wait and hope for a favourable outcome, or do we do something about it? “Doing something about it” has resulted in women-focused programming like SheEO, developed in some ways as a stop-gap measure for the time when parity remains out of reach.
If pay equity or the percentage of corporate procurement dollars going to women-led firms (around 4% after 30 years of lobbying according to WeConnect) are an indication, it looks like it could be decades.Can women entrepreneurs, or our economy, afford to wait? The numbers are out there. We are nowhere near parity in the startup space. Not an alternative fact. So how to move forward?
One set of recommendations for achieving these outcomes can be found in the Women Entrepreneurs Ontario task force report published Nov. 2017 which you can download here.
For additional information about women startup equity around the globe, download the most recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2015 Women’s Entrepreneurship report here.
CAN’T MISS EVENTS
Feb 8: Women On The Move Workshop with LiisBethian Patti Pokorchak, “Get More Clients NOW — Without Being Pushy or Salesy!” In this session, you can practise your value proposition—and if you do not know what your value proposition is, you really need to attend this dynamic interactive workshop. Get feedback on what works and what does not in a safe environment. Learn negotiation techniques and how to overcome objections. Go from sales fear to sales fun, guaranteed. Learn how to easily ask for the order and get it! 1-2:30 p.m.
Feb 10: The Toronto Feminist Collective presents Galentines at the Steady. Galentines is a party that celebrates femme friendships. Tickets are $5. You can register here. 8 p.m.-2 a.m.
March 2: She Started It: A Film Screening; JLABS @ Toronto, 5-8 p.m. “She Started It” is a new documentary film that follows five trailblazing young female entrepreneurs through their journeys of entrepreneurship. To register, click here.
March 9: Bear Standing Tall and Associates will host a three-hour holistic indigenous awareness training seminar using the medicine wheel framework. The seminar will have an emphasis on the role of women in indigenous life, and the state of indigenous women’s entrepreneurship today. Hold the date! The Eventbrite link will be up soon!
March 16: Roxanne Gay, author, introduces her new book Feminism & Difficult Women, 7-8:30 p.m., Toronto Public Library. Register here.
Well, you did it again! You made it to the end! And we really appreciate it! We know your time and attention is valuable, so we work hard to make worthwhile content. As always, if we can improve, tell us. And if we have done well, tell us that too!
We can also use your support in the form of a paid subscription. Subscriptions options are $3/month, $7/month and $10/month. We accept Paypal and credit cards. Funds go directly towards paying writers, editors, proofreaders, photo permissions, and illustrators.
Our goal is to get to 1000 email subscribers by March 31st!! So please share this newsletter to those you know who might be interested.
The next newsletter is scheduled for Feb. 14. Valentine’s Day! In the meantime, keep resisting in your own way, take care of yourself and others. We need all LiisBethians, wherever you are in the world, to be strong for the long haul.
Katelyn Bourgoin’s “aha!” moment happened on a bathroom floor. Last year, she was running a business networking site for women entrepreneurs called Vendeve. Then, in a short period of time, an investor backed out, her co-founder left, and she only had enough cash to keep her company afloat for six weeks. She went out to dinner with a friend to de-stress, which led to a few bottles of wine and, later, throwing up in her bathroom and waking up on the floor crying. “All I was thinking was, ‘My business is failing. I’ve got no money. No one understands me. I’m so alone!’”
In reality, she wasn’t alone. She had a group of friends—tech founders she met at the Propel ICT accelerator program for startups in Atlantic Canada—who would know exactly what she was going through, if only she picked up the phone.
“Why did I stop talking to the people who understood my journey?” she says. “Then I thought about the other women [entrepreneurs] who don’t even have a squad to turn to. How do they deal with this stuff when they feel so alone?”
That’s when Bourgoin came up with Squads, a community that matches whip-smart women entrepreneurs with a small group so they can provide each other with laser-focused feedback on their businesses. Each squad has between ten and 20 people who talk via video conferencing for one hour every week, offering mutual support and objective criticism. Members can also hop on one of three themed calls: Hot Seat (where everyone helps one person problem-solve a specific business issue), Expert Feedback (where you can pick the brain of a subject matter expert), and Coffee Chats (for when you just need to vent).
The entrepreneurs are based all over the world but most reside in Canada, United States and Western Europe. They head businesses as diverse as executive coaching companies, holistic health practices and furniture design.
A standard membership costs $27 a month, which gives access to those three themed calls, while the premium membership of $27 a month plus a $129 one-time fee adds the weekly squad call.
Bourgoin successfully ran a beta version with 200 members last year, and is officially launching Squads this month, with a goal of reaching 300 members in this new cohort.
“It’s not easy for women to get out and network in person as often and they don’t ask for the help they need because they don’t want to impose on people,” she says. “Instead we end up Googling the answer and getting a generic one-size-fits-all solution.”
A Few Turns Lead to the Right Turn
It took several pivots before Bourgoin finally figured out that Squads was what her business networking site should have been all along.
Born in the small port town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Bourgoin, who oozes an infectious energy and charisma, moved to the capital city of Halifax to study public relations at the Nova Scotia Community College and later founded two freelance PR companies. When she struggled to find other freelancers who had the skills she needed to grow her business, she came up with Swapskis, a skill-swapping service that helped entrepreneurs barter skills with one another.
When she presented the idea to men, they would say, “Why wouldn’t you sell your skills instead of swapping them for free?” To Bourgoin, the answer was obvious: Not all entrepreneurs have the money when they’re starting up. It also became clear to her that men and women entrepreneurs operated differently when it came to networking. “Our natural way of building our business is by sharing and creating value for others,” she says. “Women are less calculated in who they choose to help out.”
Bourgoin decided to make Swapskis just for women, then later changed the name to Vendeve. “It wasn’t until I made the conversation ‘women only’ that I realized how powerful that was and that we were tapping into something much bigger.”
That power, however, wasn’t obvious to the venture capitalists and angel investors she met, the majority of whom were men. Some would say she was stupid for excluding men, thereby reducing the size of her audience. Others snidely suggested that if her business fails, she could coach entrepreneurs since her pitch was so great. She even got asked how she was going to attract female investors, a microaggressive way of saying no male investor would be interested. “I get that it’s hard to get excited about a business that is never going to serve you but wow, there’s some pretty blatant sexism here,” says Bourgoin.
Despite the non-believers, Bourgoin managed to raise $350,000—$250,000 from the Nova Scotia venture capital firm Innovacorp and the rest from a handful of angel investors who believed in her passion and were very aware of the fact that women-led companies yield higher returns on investment than male-led ones according to McKinsey & Company, Catalyst, and MSCI ESG Research. “One investor even said to me, ‘Women entrepreneurs is too big a market. You have to go more niche.’ I thought, ‘Thank you! The one man that gets it!’”
A Safe Space For Everyone
Now that Bourgoin has nailed down her business vision, she can now spend more time making sure that her female-centric space is safe and inclusive. When a space is designed for women, the use of gendered language and generalizations can often make trans women and non-binary individuals (who don’t identify as male or female) feel unwelcome or excluded. Bourgoin admits that Squads’ members are overwhelmingly cisgendered women but says her platform maintains strong principles of inclusion. “We don’t want to place any strict rules on gender.”
Jessica Drury, who runs Heartlines Copywriting Studio from her home in Lindsay, Ont., joined Squads last August when she realized she had been working in a silo, with no one to bounce ideas off. When her children are at school or sleeping, she squeezes in Squad calls so she can talk to like-minded women entrepreneurs—who also happen to be her ideal client. “Before, I was in 20 different Facebook groups and I was wasting my time and energy and not getting the interaction or feedback that I really desired,” she says.
Menna Riley, a Halifax-based events manager, was also an early joiner. She says she shaves off months of mistakes every time she talks to her squad. As an example, when she told her squad she wanted to launch an annual online course to teach entrepreneurs how to plan their own events, they told her that holding a once-a-year course was not ideal for people wanting to plan an event right away. “They were right. I almost went in the wrong direction that would’ve cost me a year and a half!” she says. “They gave me straight-up feedback and never made me feel like a dummy.”
That’s exactly what Bourgoin wants Squads to offer to women entrepreneurs: no-nonsense conversations about what it takes to run a business with people who care and get it. She’s currently winding down her skill-swapping network site so she can focus on building Squads. Like any other startup, it’s hit dead ends and missteps. The company is not yet profitable and is being run by just two people, including the founder. Over the holidays, Bourgoin asked herself whether she should just pack it in.
To answer her question, Bourgoin jumped into a Squads Hot Seat herself to get the brutal truth. She asked whether Squads was helpful to the women entrepreneurs, if the price was too high, and what areas of the community could use improvement. She hung up the phone with a few ideas and fire in her belly, determined as ever to keep Squads going. “You always leave these calls feeling lit up and enthusiastic.”
Down the road, she can envision Squads turning into something much larger, perhaps even mix-gendered. But for now, the strength of Squads lies in the fact that it’s providing immense value to a concentrated group of women, including Bourgoin herself.
“There are certain kinds of conversations we can have when it’s just a group of women entrepreneurs. My mom and my husband and his mom have been an amazing support system, but I can’t sit down and talk to them about what’s going on with my email subscription model and what my email subject lines should be. They just don’t have the context for that and I was putting a lot of pressure on them to provide that support for me. Now my squad provides that for me.”
Are you a women in tech founder? Have you heard about the #movethedial movement? Neither had we. Until three days ago. So let’s tell you a bit about it.
What is #movethedial?
#movethedial is a new Toronto-based initiative created to advance women in tech by bringing “…great people, minds, ideas and opportunities together to build connections that promote benefits for women tech leaders, the tech sector, and the economy.”
The kick-off was held on Monday, Jan 16th at MaRS Discovery District. The organizer’s Twitter post said the event attracted 400 women of which 225 were said to be executives, 112 founders (18 women founders were pictured in the post event Twitter photo), and 39 self-identified investors. There were also 100+ men present. Panelist Janet Bannister, General Partner at Real Ventures, noticed this while up on stage and ardently congratulated the men in attendance for showing up, as if it were an act of courage or an unusual demonstration of humanity. In my opinion, that gesture seemed a little odd. However, perhaps the fact that there are only three out of 16 people at Real Ventures who are women (two in administrator roles, plus Bannister) has something to do with it.
Who is behind this new initiative?
The event was mounted by an organization called Acetech Ontario (Acetech), an established (2013) nonprofit member-based organization whose mission is to create “conversations that matter.” Acetech was described by one attendee as a tech version of YPO (Young Presidents Organization). Membership fees are $4950 for a CEO and $1800 for an executive. They offer power sessions and networking opportunities for qualified tech executives, venture capitalists, and founders (men and women). Their member statistics page states the membership in aggregate represents $550M in revenues and over 4,700 people employed in Ontario. There are no gender-related metrics (e.g.: the number of women on members’ boards or percentage ) noted.
Acetech’s CEO and four operational staff (community animators, business development, and programming/event management roles) are all women. However, 11 out of 12, or 92%, of their board members are men.
Sponsors of the #movethedial event included DMZ, Start_Up Toronto, and MaRS. Curiously, the event was never listed on the MaRS event calendar.
At The Event
Speakers recounted the usual dismal statistics regarding women in tech, and among other things suggested that to succeed, the tech community in Toronto had to collaborate with other tech communities internationally, like those in Israel (considered to be exemplary).
During one of the sessions, four women industry leaders serving as panelists were asked to “spotlight” and write down the name of one (or more) woman in tech that they admire and would like everyone in the audience to learn about. Three out of four panelists provided names; the fourth drew (literally, on a white board which was held up) a question mark. She apparently could not identify a single one. This was unfortunate given that the point of the evening was to celebrate the achievements of women in tech in the room, and especially so given all panelists were sent the questions in advance of the event.
After the Event
In a contributed article submitted to the Globe and Mail (a Canadian nationally distributed newspaper) the morning after the event, Acetech CEO and former lawyer, Jodi Kovitz wrote “What we are missing [in tech] are diversity and collaboration. That means men and women working together as one Canadian ecosystem.” Kovitz says they are planning a series of #movethedial events and activities nationally.
Our Thoughts?
If success were measured by attendance, then this would certainly be a successful start to the #movethedial initiative. And a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues around a good cause. However, the event left me scratching my head. Is a series of conferences going to really move a systemically entrenched dial?
Recent women in tech studies combined with a few decades of lived experience and attending conferences focused on this topic tell us they don’t.
How to Really Move The Dial? Be the Change.
How can Acetech make a visible dent? It could start by truly leveraging the fact that its members are CEOs with the decision making power to act, and holding them accountable.
How? Start with data.
Acetech could launch an initiative to collect gender-based data on its own members’ companies, share this information for the purposes of defining where the needle is today (benchmarking), and report on the pace at which its community is moving the dial as compared to those outside the community.
How gender-balanced Acetech’s membership today? Does it know? What is their collective target? Apart from conferences, what is the organization doing policy-wise to motivate its member organizations or CEOs to achieve gender parity in their companies? Will Acetech require members to comply with Ontario Premier Wynne’s 30% women on boards target by the end of 2017? Will Acetech itself comply (remember 11/12 board members are men)? Does Acetech have a sponsorship or partner code that requires a minimum gender equity standard or at least demonstrates the existence of a plan to improve, as part of eligibility requirements? Does Acetech have a diversity procurement program? Does it encourage its members to adopt one?
If they do have such policies in place, it was not mentioned at the event, and if you search its own website for the term gender equity, you will come up empty. The CEO membership application asks for data on sales volume but does not ask members to report on gender parity at board levels.
It’s great to see new commitments to address the women in tech gender gap. However, in my opinion, if Acetech wants to be seen as a credible and effective advocate for gender equality, it would be strategically wise for them to set the bar, implement best practices in their organization, and establish a plan for accountability. Acetech itself need to be the change it wants to see in the tech sector, not just facilitate talks about it.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
LiisBeth Does the DC Women’s March on Snapchat!
Introducing 23-year-old Cailley Formichello, activist, entertainer and now, LiisBeth Snapchat journalist and contributor.
Formichello’s first assignment with LiisBeth will be to cover the Women’s March on Washington using Snapchat Story. If you can’t make it to the march, but want to experience it on your own time, we got you covered! It is also a great way to engage your teenage sons and daughters to participate in this historic event-without even leaving the couch.
To get the LiisBeth Snapchat story you need to first sign up to Snapchat on your smartphone. Then, search for liisbethhq, and add us to your friend list on Snapchat. You will receive notification of the DC Women’s March story as posts are made, including short videos.
Of course, with Snapchat, you have to view the story within 24 hours of it being posted. That said, we will be saving it under Snapchat’s new Memories feature, which will allow us to archive it.
If you haven’t had a chance to try Snapchat, but have been curious about giving it a go, this is a reason to start! Download the app on your smartphone here. Or ask your nearest 15-year-old!
New feminist press startup in Toronto: LiisBeth loves to support everyone, emergent and established, in the feminist press space. So this week, we had the opportunity to meet Patty Hails, founder of a launch-stage startup feminist press called Nasty Women’s Press. Her editorial vision is for Nasty Women’s Press to reflect its readership: smart and direct. Think Slate.com for women, with a dash of flair from Vanity Fair. Hails moved from Saskatoon to Toronto with her partner last May. She currently has a Kickstarter crowdfunding effort underway. You can check it out here.
Weekly featured research paper: “Class Advantage, Commitment Penalty: The Gendered Effect of Social Class Signals in an Elite Labor Market” by Lauren A. Rivera and Andras Tilcsik. The punchline? “Despite myths of a classless society, social class of origin plays an enduring role in shaping individuals’ life chances and economic trajectories,” according to the authors. “Although men benefit from signals of a higher social class background, the class advantages higher-class women experience are negated by a commitment penalty.” You can find the study here. While this study is based on the practices of law firms, we believe they apply to women entrepreneurs looking to raise capital as well.
Learn more about working with indigenous peoples in Canada: LiisBeth in collaboration with Women On The Move and Bear Standing Tall & Associates is excited to announce that on Thursday, March 9 from 5:30-8:30, we will be presenting a three-hour holistic indigenous awareness training seminar using the medicine wheel framework. The seminar will have an emphasis on the role of women in indigenous life, and the state of indigenous women’s entrepreneurship today. The session is ideal for anyone who is interested in learning more about indigenous culture, and who currently works with or is planning to work with Indigenous Peoples in Canada and wants to expand their knowledge. The Eventbrite link will be posted soon! In the meantime, hold the date in your calendar! Oh, and due to limited space, we are going to have give Liisbeth subscribers first shot at the tickets. If you are not a subscriber yet-you could be! In minutes! Starting at $36/year or $3/month. Just sayin’!
B Lab releases its inclusive economy metrics set: As you know, LiisBeth is a B Corp. We wanted to share this high-level summary of the highest impact metrics from B Lab here. It may help you identify opportunities to improve equity, inclusion, and equality in your company. You can download the document here. And of course, we would love feedback.
CAN’T MISS EVENTS
Jan. 21: Feminist Art Conference, OCAD U. Features seminars, performances, and a maker market. All day Saturday, Jan 21. Register here. LiisBeth Panel on Gender, Entrepreneurship & Innovation from 4-5:30 p.m.
Feb 8: Women On The Move Workshop with LiisBethian Patti Pokorchak, “Get More Clients NOW — Without Being Pushy nor Salesy!” In this session, you can practice your value proposition and if you do not know what your value proposition is—you really need to attend this dynamic interactive workshop. Get feedback on what works and what does not in a safe environment. Learn negotiation techniques and how to overcome objections. Go from sales fear to sales fun, guaranteed. Learn how to easily ask for the order and get it! 1-2:30 p.m.
March 2: She Started It: A Film Screening; JLABS @ Toronto, 5-8 p.m. “She Started It” is a new documentary film that follows five trailblazing young female entrepreneurs through their journeys of entrepreneurship. To register, click here.
March 16: Roxanne Gay, author, introduces her new book Feminism & Difficult Women,7-8:30 p.m., Toronto Public Library. Register here.
That’s it! And if you are here that means you read the whole thing! (hugs). The next newsletter will be published Jan. 31st. Our next feature article will profile the amazing Katelyn Bourgoin, founder of a very cool online network of female entrepreneurs called Vendeve. And of course, there will be much more.
In 2012, Niki Koubourlis had achieved pretty much everything she had set out to get and that made her father, a Greek immigrant to the United States, proud. By the age of 32, she had acquired an MBA, a husband, and a dream job working in commercial real estate for Sheikh Mohammed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. With the American real estate market still flatlined after the 2008 global financial meltdown, Koubourlis was racking up work experience in the Middle East and “earning tons of money” developing racetracks, theme parks, and even man-made islands.
She was also growing more miserable by the day. “I just wasn’t that passionate about this career and I was spending 80-plus hours a week doing it.” Still, she soldiered on, unhappy, piling on weight, wanting out of her marriage but too afraid to take the plunge, until she finally got the nudge she needed to change. Unfortunately, that came in the form of devastating news: the suicide of a close university friend.
While grieving, Koubourlis read the The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware and realized she could own up to a few of those, namely working too hard and not doing what she loved. She soon quit her job and left her marriage, determined to create the life she truly wanted even though she didn’t really know what that was. She took a job running a tech company in Chile, but soon fell back into her old workaholic ways. On a business trip to Denver, Colorado, Koubourlis fell in love with the landscape and balanced lifestyle. She left her job, moved to Denver without knowing anyone, and lived on her savings while she took a mini-retirement from her career to find out what she really wanted out of life.
Though she had almost no experience in the outdoors, Koubourlis realized adventure had a great deal to teach her. Up to that point, she had made all her life decisions based on security, getting it and keeping it. So instead, she threw herself into a slew of adventures during what she calls “the summer of Niki” in 2013. She climbed mountains, went hiking, took multi-day camping trips, usually alone and often terrified. “You put yourself out there and do it, that’s an opportunity to stretch yourself, push your limits, learn something about yourself,” she says. “Succeed or fail, you always come out the other end a better person. That’s where the growth happens.”
Trip by trip, she was discovering more of what she wanted out of life and what she wanted to do in her next career. In speaking with other women she encountered on various hikes, Koubourlis realized that women faced significant barriers to enjoying outdoor adventures: lack of skills and experience; the high cost of equipment that is often designed for men and “shrunk” for women so it’s usually ill-fitting; jam-packed schedules as women are often juggling careers, kids, and the bulk of family caregiving. All of this leaves little time and energy to plan and organize excursions that occur off the beaten path.
Then there is the intimidation factor stoked by an outdoor adventure industry that glorifies hard-core, macho thrill-seekers and doesn’t seem much interested in appealing to regular women. Koubourlis noticed something else while on a hiking adventure to Machu Picchu: the women who had outdoor experience and were travelling with other gal pals were having a blast. Women who were travelling with male partners—and relying on his experience—were often miserable. She believes that if the women were better prepared, they would feel more confident and in control rather than a tagalong, and can take the lead in decision-making. Also, she saw that men and women tended to experience outdoor adventure differently. For men, it was more about testing themselves, taking risks, and competing to go higher, faster, harder. Women looked to outdoor activities as a break from stressful lives and thrived more in supportive and non-judgmental settings where they could learn new skills while connecting with other women and making friends.
At the end of her seven-month time out from her career, Koubourlis knew it was time to get back to work but she could not muster the enthusiasm for a return to the corporate world, and she could not let go of this business idea: How could she make it easier for women to have confidence-building outdoor experiences that had proved so life-transforming for her?
The Bold Idea
To test whether her idea had legs, Koubourlis started a meetup group for women interested in getting together for outdoor activities such as rock climbing, kayaking, hiking, and rafting. She called it Bold Betties. “I wanted to see if enough women were experiencing the same problem of being intimidated by the outdoors and wanted to try out a variety of activities in a very inclusive, non-intimidating, and non-competitive environment. The group just blew up. The reality is, most people are moving [to Colorado] to experience the outdoors and they say, ‘I see it but then there’s a list of barriers to experiencing it.'”
That was 2014. Just two years later, Bold Betties had 18,000 members and there were meetup groups or chapters in nearly a dozen American cities. Members in Bold Betties were finding their tribe, women like Koubourlis who “do epic shit” to get unstuck, to embolden their transition out of stale relationships or careers, and grow in ways they could not imagine. The blog on the Bold Betties website is full of such stories.
Koubourlis had not only created the life she craved but launched her female outdoor adventure enterprise and enticed two founding partners to help her build it into a lifestyle brand with the goal of being as recognizable and profitable as CrossFit or SoulCycle.
Members in Bold Betties were finding their tribe, women like Koubourlis who “do epic shit” to get unstuck, to embolden their transition out of stale relationships or careers, and grow in ways they could not imagine.
A Meeting of Bold Betties Minds
Sommer Rains, who joined as chief operating officer, calls herself a serial entrepreneur, having started a human resources company catering to the health care field in her 20s, then helping launch her husband’s successful business in the Boulder area seven years ago. While searching around for what to do next, she says about five people in her networking group told her she had to meet Koubourlis. “I finally emailed her and said, ‘Hey, I think the universe wants us to meet up.'”
Arezou Zarafshan joined as chief marketing officer in a similar fashion. Born and raised in Tehran, she came to the United States at 17 to study electrical engineering. After working her way into senior positions at several large tech firms, she realized that male-dominated corporate environments and data-driven analytics no longer fuelled her creativity. While taking a pause in her career to develop consumer and creative marketing skills, she connected with Koubourlis via Twitter.
The founders came to the conclusion that there were multiple ways to grow a business. Their challenge was to chart a unique path that protects and enhances Bold Betties’ core values: to make outdoor adventures accessible to all kinds of women by creating a supportive and inclusive community and providing a variety of affordable adventures.
How to Big the Betties?
The founders admit they are still very much in the early stages of building their for-profit company and still feeling out their path for growth.
They never really considered the franchise model, of making one Bold Betties chapter financially sustainable and then replicating it. Indeed, rather than figuring out ways to monetize their business, they have made growing their community of adventuring women the priority. Their goal is to reach 100,000 members within the next year and open new Bold Betties chapters in cities across North America.
In tandem, the founders are exploring and developing ways to engage their growing community of members through their website and e-newsletter, free and inexpensive local adventures, international trips, online and tech-based tools that help women plan, book, and pack for outdoor adventures and, of course, meeting up with other Bold Betties to enjoy those adventures.
At present, the company generates commissions on international trips and professionally guided adventures such as rock climbing and rafting as well as equipment and clothing sold on their website. But that’s hardly paying the bills let alone the founders’ who are still not drawing a salary and mostly work from home.
But they are not in a hurry to monetize their business. Rather, their strategy is to follow the long-term vision of social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter, who built a community of users then figured out how to monetize that traffic. That may include a low membership fee once they develop a suite of benefits members want to buy into. It could include developing a line of Bold Betties equipment and clothing and partnering with an outdoors retailer to sell it. It most definitely will include more online tools and communication vehicles to make outdoor adventures more accessible to women.
Says Koubourlis: “There will always be a free way to engage with us because that’s our mission, to get women to try these things. If we start creating barriers and costs then we’re not solving the problem we set out to solve. We’ll become part of that problem, so we’ll always have a free entry point.”
They’re even feeling their way on how best to grow their membership and local chapters. At present, they choose local volunteers—Alpha Betties—to organize and lead local events and reward them with “Betty Bucks” that can be used to buy trips and equipment. Koubourlis says they are investigating how best to retain and remunerate Alpha Betties as the business starts to generate income while keeping Alpha Betties focused on the core values of making adventure travel accessible to women and creating a supportive, non-competitive community of female adventurers.
The Next Bold Step
Focusing on building community rather than generating revenue presents a significant challenge for attracting investors who can help them grow.
Rains says a lack of female investors who may be more willing to support female entrepreneurs is a definite obstacle. “It’s a huge problem. A lot of women decide to bootstrap for that reason. I see myself in the future hoping to solve this problem and want to help encourage more women investors into the pool,” she says.
Rains says they are reaching out to build relationships with venture capital investors, but they’re too early in the game to attract that kind of growth money. “Our first goal is to build and engage our community before monetizing,” says Rains. “Some don’t get that, but others will say, ‘Hell yes, that’s great.’ But they also want to know five years from now how we are going to monetize [our business] and we don’t entirely know that yet so we’re a bit early for VCs.”
Their immediate goal now is to attract an angel investor who wants to support the ideals of the company. And that is? “We’re not so naive as to say we’re empowering women,” says Koubourlis. “We’re offering outdoor adventure as a tool women can use to empower themselves. We’re about offering enabling experiences that will help women live their best and boldest lives, and we want them to go after a life of adventure whether that’s in the mountains, on the river, in the home, in the office. We want to help them to develop the courage to go after the things they want.”
Koubourlis says reaching out to potential investors requires a lot of relationship building, which is time-consuming, especially when the three founders are running the business on scant resources. “I’m not going to lie about it. It’s going well, but it’s a slow process,” says Koubourlis. “Your average entrepreneur is not a patient person, and that’s certainly true of the three of us.”
What does not worry them is competing for venture capital among other startups in the tech hubs of Denver and Boulder. Tech giants are located in the area because compensation alone can’t lure talent. Employees want the outdoor, laid-back lifestyle that initially attracted Koubourlis. She compares the potential of Bold Betties to lifestyle giants such as CrossFit and SoulCycle and says there are plenty of VC firms with an appetite for investing beyond tech and in “brands with enthusiastic communities who are passionate about the ethos, activities, and lifestyle of what that company does and what that brand stands for.”
As for her own life-changing move, Koubourlis is not looking back. “There’s a ton of stories of women who came out on a Bold Betties adventure and went on to make a transformative life change. What’s interesting about outdoor adventure is you learn these lessons that make you a little more adventurous and willing to take on risk and try new things. I get to meet a lot of smart, interesting, passionate people and that is so different from my past corporate life where people were smart but maybe not so passionate about what they were doing. Being around people who are passionate and engaged wears off on you and it feels great.”
