🎙️ EP10: When Women Come Together, the Power is Enormous! How to Harness It… | InvestHer Podcast

Welcome everybody to episode 10 of InvestHer podcast. Now this is a particular one because we are recording during the COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown in France and around the world. So, you know, this is a special one where we're going to start off the series of talking to our guests about how do you raise funding during these funky times. So today's guest is a really exciting guest from France. Her name is Delphine Rémy-Boutang, and she's the founder and CEO of Journée de la Femme Digitale, or Digital Women's Day, here in France. For the past 8 years, she's been doing incredible work to create inclusive events to help put the spotlight on women entrepreneurs and help them get access to the content that they need to build and grow their businesses through a series of incredible events with really impressive corporate and governmental partners. So today Delphine will be joining us on this podcast to explain how and why she set up Digital Women's Day, which has become more than just a day, and how they are continuing to help women entrepreneurs around the world and also particularly during this COVID-19 crisis. And of course, her key tips, practical key tips to female founders on how you keep raising during these times And how to put the fun into funding. So without further ado, let us listen to Delphine. And as always, we'd love to hear from you. Please do send us in your comments via the InvestHer Podcast website or on Twitter. We are listening and we want to hear from you. So enjoy today's podcast. InvestHer Podcast is for you, the female founder who has a product, a service, or a message that you believe in and need to get funded. Or for you, the investor who wants to learn more about the huge untapped investment opportunity that gives you a higher return— women entrepreneurs. My name is Anne Ravanona. I'm an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and women's advocate, and I'm passionate about helping women entrepreneurs get funded. In each episode, we'll take a behind-the-scenes look into real-world funding tactics and strategies to help you get the funding you need Faster. Let's put the fun into funding. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let's get started. Okay, so welcome everybody. I'm absolutely thrilled to have you on this latest episode of InvestHer podcast. And today I am so, so delighted to have with me Delphine. Alors, this is one of my questions, Delphine. How do I pronounce your surname so I don't say it silly?

Hi everybody, it's Delphine Rémy-Bouton.

Delphine Ramiboutant, I'm so pleased to have you with us. Delphine is a real leader in the startup ecosystem here in France for many years and in London, and you've been doing some incredible things. So help our listeners to get to know a little bit about you, Delphine. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you've been doing so far in the startup ecosystem.

Sure. Well, hi everyone, and thanks, Anne, for inviting me to this exciting podcast about money and investments. So I'm French and I've been living in London for 15 years actually. I left when I was 24 years old and I did a lot of work in London, a lot of different work, and I then worked at IBM for 14 years. And I just loved London and the Anglo-Saxon way of working. I learned everything up there. Now my English is a little rusty, but at the time I was— I didn't speak a word of French actually when I first arrived in London. A word of English when I first arrived in London.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I did a little, you know, 7 years at school, but it's like 7 seconds in real life when somebody with a very strong strong London accent ask you, what time is it? You just don't understand it. So I learned English through the Ceefax on TV, and Trevor McDonald was my target. If I understood Trevor McDonald, that means I would understand everyone.

So tell our listeners, who's Trevor? Who was Trevor McDonald? Was he on the newscaster or something?

Yes, he's a, you know, he's a news presenter.

Yes.

Hi, I'm Trevor McDonald and I'm on— it was on BBC. And I used to love listening to radio as well, Radio 4. And there was this every day at 10 o'clock, a woman show.

Yeah, Women's Hour, isn't it?

I think it's Women's Hour.

Women's Hour, exactly.

Yeah, I loved it, loved it. And yeah, so 14, 15 years. My son is a— his dad is English and he was a very, very English boy. So I, you know, we came back here to France, but I learned everything in England.

And tell us a bit more then about— before we kind of jump into it, tell us one fun fact about you, Delphine, something that the listeners wouldn't know if they haven't had the, you know, opportunity to see you on stage at your amazing events and other activities.

Well, thank you, Anne. Well, perhaps I hated school. I really hated school, and I had 3 in math. That was my mark, my grade at baccalauréat. But I had 18 in philosophy.

Wow.

I'm thinking that, you know, Everyone can work in technology, and I worked for 15 years in a big, large IBM company technology with being very, very bad at mathematics but very good at writing. So yeah.

That's cool, I like it. And I think that's a really good, important message because, you know, we need to get more women in STEM. I know that's a cause very close to your heart at JFD and Digital Women's Day and all of your work. And I mean, I remember reading about Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, I mean, she was a history major, so her degree was in history, nothing to do with tech, or again, she wasn't an engineer. So I think that, you know, that's a really good lesson to remind ourselves that you, as long as you want to work in that super incredible industry, there's a lot of amazing opportunities to, and you can change the world in tech even if you are a non-techie. And I think that's a great way to start this off. So Now tell us a bit more about Digital Women's Day or Journée de la Femme Digitale and all of your great work that you're doing there in the international entrepreneurial ecosystem, Delphine.

Sure, so GF Day is more than a day actually within what it means, you know, it started 2 years ago and it was very much like a clin d'œil. We did an event on March the 8th, which was the International Women's Day, and we wanted to do an International Digital Women's Day. 8 years ago, nobody was actually talking so much at that time about digital and women and how technology and women should, you know, be really—

Connected.

—have a strong message and connected. So, and for 8 years the event has radically grown and it became much more than just an event.

Mm-hmm.

And this is what we're going to be doing even further within this crisis, that physical attendance is not on the cards any longer and for we don't know how long. So the event So GF Day and that event at the time was really to demonstrate leadership, women leadership in this environment, and also to remind people that technology was created by women to start with. When I was working at IBM for all those years and I could see all those big black and white pictures of women behind computers.

The big boxes, they were the computers, the women were the computers.

Yeah, and there was no such word computer in French actually. This word computer in French that IBM created in the '50s, '60s. So since before the '70s, where it became obvious that you could do a career in technology, then women was left there to do all the coding and to do all this background work that didn't seem at the time as being essential or intellectual or very important or being the new power.

Hmm.

But when it became the new power, then men invested, went into this field, and so women was left at being 30%. And we never grow. So because we're 52% of humanity, technology field, which is everywhere, it's not like a field actually. Technology is part of everything, decisions that we make, everything, that we need to be more part of it. And in order to be more part of it, we need to show role models, we need to show women because they exist. They're very much there, and they're women that changed the world because of technology. So the mission of GF Day is empowering women who changed the world with technology.

Hmm.

Showing that you can do so by launching or creating your startup, your own company, but also being part of large companies and have internal projects that help changing the world, that help dare to be different, that help dare to think differently, that, you know, a spirit.

Yeah.

Because entrepreneur or entreprendre, it's very much a spirit, right? It's bringing everyone together to do one thing, bringing women from all the continents as well, because Internet has no frontier, no barrier, thank God. And, you know, that we can still, you know, you're in London, I'm in France, and we can still communicate.

Yeah.

Because of technology. So we had one year 10,000 people attending the event.

Wow. That was huge.

And we, but we carry on, you know, throughout a lot of rendezvous throughout the year. We have also a club where we get to meet women. So really it's about accelerating their business, their businesses, because we're not just doing this just for the sake of it and just to say, look, there is wonderful women around there and, you know, let's go and meet them. No, we do business. And we show that those women are doing business. We show how difficult it is for them to get funds.

Yeah.

Perhaps this is one item that we will talk about because I have a lot of thought to share on this. And how they are, you know, struggling to accelerate their companies because of so little funds. So we need to show women that have successfully managed to get funds, how they did it. And so, and also going to meet those investors, mainly male, the male-dominated investor cycle, very much present. And how do we break that cycle? And how every woman can invest in other women. Yes. And how and why it matters.

Yeah.

Because we need to help each other in this field, definitely. We need women to really, really be part of it and investing in time, investing in coaching, investing in doing introduction, go-between, you know, investing in time and sharing is also important as investing in dollars. So GFDay is very much a community of men and women to show and demonstrate that by empowering women in this field, in technology, the world can be better.

I love it, and I think that's such an incredibly important message, and it's the reality. And I think the more women and young girls listening here, and young men who are listening, can realize that, the better, because, you know, nobody benefits when you leave more than 52% of the population outside the door. Nobody benefits. So, and we cut, you know, we stunt growth, we stunt innovation and creativity when we can't access everybody's brains and great ideas. So, I love what you're saying, that it's all about empowering, you know, women in tech to change the world. So tell us a bit more exactly. You've mentioned that it's about empowering them through helping them through contacts, through giving them visibility, through kind of helping share best practices. What else? Like, explain throughout the different events and moments throughout the year that you organize, Delphine, how concretely do you help those women entrepreneurs in particular?

So first of all, what we do, and this is very much our expertise is communication. Communication is key to get credibility.

Mm-hmm.

And obviously because the visibility is essential. So we can, we can do it ourselves, and social networks make that easy today, that we can, you know, talk on Instagram, talk on LinkedIn, and do that ourselves. But having a very good article in the media is really helped a lot of startups and entrepreneurs to show that they, you know, to get credibility and to get knowledge of their company because there is so much noise.

Yeah.

You need, you know, to get the message and you need to, and then you can emphasize it on social media. So our core action is really helping them to be visible Helping them to be visible in the media, helping them to have a voice. So this is one, and we do that throughout the year with our media partners and, you know, France Info, RFI, France 24, Madame Figaro, Challenge, La Tribune, you know, we're talking—

Very, very big readership and publications. Yep. Definitely.

And so, so that is a very strong and important part of the work we do. And we do that throughout the year, but we also do that at one time of the year, which is when we have Les Margaret Awards. So we have 5— sorry, 4 categories of this award: Digital Woman of the Year Entrepreneur, Digital Woman of the Year intrapreneurs, so women working in large companies.

Yeah.

And from Europe and from Africa. Brilliant. And this year, so we have a jury of very experts in this field meeting together. We received around between 300 and 400 applications. Thank you. This year, and then we select around 10 nominees and the jury decides of who will be the winners.

Amazing.

So it's an amazing time where it's very emotional because we have all those women and we have to make a choice. And I have to say, all of them were brilliant and they all have so incredible, incredible ideas, and they're not necessarily bankable to start with.

Yes, yes.

But you need to make risk. You need that. And so we selected them, and on April 21st this year, we're gonna be announcing them to the world, and they will be— they will have a lot of media at that time.

Oh, wonderful.

So that's one part, so communication. And also, we're communicating with our partners, which are very key to this program, because without them, we wouldn't be existing. And I want to really thank them for their support.

Mm-hmm.

So we're communicating, of course, about how those large companies helping and support the ecosystem of entrepreneurs. And we're doing this around manifesto for a more inclusive digital world. We had an event on March 4th and you were there, Anne, and it was so good to see you there. So we announced that our partners have achieved this year, because of all the action that they have towards giving equality and diversity within the companies, within their companies, but also with all the outside programs that they support for entrepreneurs, such as Orange or La Poste, who has a very strong program to help women entrepreneurs. So communication. Then the other part is meeting.

Convening, yeah, bringing people together.

Yes, definitely digitally. So for that we have obviously all our social networks live and kicking on Instagram, on Facebook, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, where we share best practices, etc. And we have rendezvous, we have live on Instagram, and we are gonna be talking live on Monday.

Yeah, can't wait!

So, and also we have prior to this crisis a way to meet physically, which is our club, the DFD Club. We have one space in Paris, a 300 square meters place for people just to network. Because I think it's essential to succeed. You'll never— you can't be alone.

Absolutely.

people around you.

Yeah.

And you know, Paris on the world scale is in a very good position. It's the 6th city in the world where women are women entrepreneurs.

Yeah.

Just behind Silicon Valley and Los Angeles. So, you know, we are in Paris and we have also a club in Africa, but in Paris there is a very— a lot of things are taking place. around women entrepreneurs. So very proud to have this place, 300 square meters in Paris, for women to network, to carry on networking, and to help each other. So we have an event each month talking about different points of view, leadership, etc.

Yeah.

So those events are going to take place physically—

Virtually, yeah.

Until this crisis is over, because this crisis will be over.

Yes.

We need women entrepreneurs to very focus on what is going to be the future after.

Yes, yes.

Because those 3, 4 months, it's very little in a lifetime.

Yep.

But it can be so damaging if we lose the momentum.

Yes.

Of all that time we had to work towards something, and if we have to start again, then we lose.

Yeah, you— so you— and I love, I love your spirit. You can hear your passion, Delphine, when you're talking. You can hear the passion and like everything that you're doing, that there's such a strong purpose. It comes out of you very strongly, and it's so lovely to hear and important to hear. And I think that I really agree with you. We need to have face-to-face moments to be together as well as virtual. And of course, the face-to-face will be back on as soon as everything gets back to a new normal, because that's it. I think that the world is going to change. I hope anyway in the world of working as a result of this corona crisis. So tell us just a little bit. How can women entrepreneurs be part of the club? Because be part of the bureau, the bureau club in Paris. If if Because it could be a great call for new members while you're getting organized, if you can get some membership, because you might be organizing your digital events in the meantime.

Definitely. So women entrepreneurs can get their membership online, or they can join us, or they can just email us and we can, you know, talk to them. It's a 1-year membership. They will be part of 400 very influential women group. So we have 400 members and growing. Large companies as well as startups. And this is really much what we're doing, which is we getting those people to meet up between them and to get connection. And this is what one of the also very main action that we're doing is we're helping companies to accelerate.

Yeah.

To accelerate their growth by meeting the people at the right time for them. I can give you some examples of really women that have today succeeded and that when we started with them, they just really, really started. I don't know if you know Frishti, for example. Frishti is led by a woman called Julia Bidjawi in France. She's a part of the Next 40 companies. So the French Tech Next 40 announced by your French Ministry of Digital. So only one woman out of 40 companies. Wow. She— we started present her in 2016. So when she was— there were 2 people at Frishti. 2 people. And we were just doing, you know, bits and bits with her and trying to get her, you know, presented to all the partners of the event. And we— it's a food delivery basically.

Yeah.

Very nice, very healthy. And today she raised €30 million.

Wow!

She was having a duo with our president Our French president.

Amazing.

So we're very proud of that because we believed in those women that when they really started at the beginning and—

You saw that spark early on.

Yes. And we took a risk. This risk is worth it. It's worth it when you know that, you know, they came out of it and they succeed. And, you know, did they succeed? They— we never succeed. We just get going.

Yeah.

And she's on another scale now, and she's, you know, she's got investors on her board, and it's a very different way of working. So we— and she was one of our— we did a duo talk with her and the company that invested in her. Benoît Grossmann, IG Invest, and they talk together and how they, you know, how did they— they did that together. And so, you know, it's in a male-dominated investment environment, I think it's important also to show them that, you know, we're not pointing at them, but we're highlighting all the great work that some of them are doing.

Exactly, and I love the way you say that because we cannot change the dinosaur funding system, the VC system, without bringing the men with us. And so we absolutely need to highlight and show what the good guys are doing and then kind of show up, if we will, I would say, kind of remind some of the ones who are not there yet, look, this is the path, have a look at these guys who are doing it right, and look at the returns. Look what you can— well, look at the returns for your fund, for your business, and for society that you can get by doing things this way. And that's something that I'm very passionate about as well, Delphine, at Global InvestHer. And one of the projects I'm working on is going to be working with Harvard to work on a key set of very practical tools to help VCs when they are actually watching and analyzing pitches so that we can get rid of some of that unconscious bias. So a methodology that's proven, that's evidence-based— how can we bring that to them and help to change the system with very practical tools? So now give— yeah, go on.

And I think investing money is centered around trust. Absolutely. A white 40-year-old man will invest in a white 40-year-old man. Yes. And the same if they went to the same school. Yeah. Technical founders will invest in technical founders, not rock stars, because they don't understand each other. Yeah. So you trust someone most like you.

Yeah, and this is where I think exactly the Frishti example that you gave, it's those outliers, showing those people who are creating new business lines, new business models, who see it before others and saying, hey, you want to keep an eye on those too. And you're absolutely right. I think it's all this pattern recognition of I invest in what I know and what I'm comfortable with. And men tend— white men tend to be comfortable in white— other white men of the same generation, as you say, who've been to the same universities or business schools. And I think that it's through showcasing those incredible women-led or diversely led businesses— of course we include everybody in that, LGBTQ friends, anybody who is diverse in any way— we need to be able to show who they are and how brilliant they are and what an opportunity you're missing out on by not investing in them. So I think that's, that's a really good message that you're sharing, that Yes, we need to help them to change their mindsets, and that's a long-term— that can be a very long-term goal and objective. I mean, the fact is the global— that, you know, the World Economic Forum has said that if we don't change things the way they are today, it's going to take over 220 years in the economy to get gender equality. And I know that you talk about the 120 years as well, the general gender equality at JFD. And the manifesto, you know, and it's simply not acceptable, is it, Delphine? I mean, we can't just say, yeah, that's no problem. We won't be around to see change, and we're both, and all of our teams, are working so hard to change that. Isn't that right?

Definitely. We need to find a way to accelerate, to not wait 120 years, and having more women in executive roles benefits the corporate bottom line.

Absolutely.

Companies with women in at least half of leadership positions deliver higher sales growth, earnings per share growth, and return on assets. So I think, you know, it's— this is why it's important to invest in women and girls.

Yes.

And when you think of this number, it's 70% of the 1 billion poorest people in the world are female. Yeah. So the great news is that investing in girls and women is going to help get rid of poverty.

Exactly. It's a very important tool.

It makes economic sense. Yeah. And those women, they may have some ideas that, you know, they can't— an idea is worth nothing unless you have a resource plan.

Yeah, unless you've got a plan and resources. And that's the challenge. It's like Men get access to both, to the planning, the strategy, and the other types of financial and network resources through their networking. And because it's kind of a man's world, it has been up until now, and I think that things are— the balance is going to change, and for good. I really do, I really do think so, Delphine.

Yes, yes.

So tell us a little bit more now, given this current coronavirus situation that we're currently living in, what are you doing to navigate, to pivot the changes in your business as a woman entrepreneur leader yourself?

So, you know, GFD and the Bureau has to lead by example. We have been promoting how digital is essential, is important in our life, in our day life, in our business life. So we need to show and demonstrate that technology is The solution. Digital is the solution. More than— if anyone has to do it, it's you.

It's you guys.

You know, we have to do that. We have to show that we can and show example. And so the way we're doing it, and it's not easy, of course not, but we were ready. At IBM, I worked for 15 years, working from home was just a culture. You know, if I had no meetings, I was not at all welcome at the office.

Mm-hmm.

So it's a cultural way of working. We need trust, of course. We need to trust our team, and I trust my team of them working, and I know they are. And I know it's difficult for them because we all need you know, physical meeting, but we're not— we have to be connected. So the way we're doing it is we're working with all the Zoom and all those tools to be connected, to see each other.

Mm-hmm.

We also made a radical change of GF Day in our way of doing our rendezvous. So we're doing all the rendezvous online. So every Monday on Instagram, for example, on the topic, and the next one will be with you, Anne, talking about women investment.

Mm-hmm.

Every Wednesday is one experience we're sharing to our community through the different social networks platform and our newsletter of our voices, key tips from women entrepreneurs. We have this very strong value of helping each other at the club. When you go in, you have a big picture and it's Madeleine Albright and a quote to say, there is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.

I love that quote and I love Madeleine.

Yeah, and so we need that. We need to, more than ever, we need to get to get that going. So we're reinventing ourselves, but also it's not that difficult because this was part of our DNA anyway.

Mm-hmm.

So, you know, it's for us business as usual, just missing the physical events. But hey, it's okay. I mean, I think also there is time also, and this is a message that I gave to my team and that I really strongly believe in, which is, let's listen to what Mother Earth is telling us.

Yes.

Listen to what she's saying, which is, actually, you're not doing very well because you— the pollution that has stopped radically since this crisis is also showing that We were not taking care of her.

Yes.

And so she's not taking care of us.

Yes. Yeah.

So let's take this time to reflect on what we have been doing and perhaps, you know, come out of this and be different.

Yeah.

Dare to be different. Dare to be— stop, let's just wait. Do we want to do something just to do something? Do we need to actually go and take a plane to do 200 kilometers just to have a 1-hour meeting? Zoom is fine and it's more productive.

Yeah.

So, and yet again, you know, we need to network. We need— and, you know, in this male-dominated environment where men spend 80% of their time networking with each other.

Yeah.

And doing recommendations on each other. We need to do the same.

Yeah.

We need to do the same and we need to do it digitally.

Yes.

And we need to carry on being ourselves as well.

Absolutely, yeah.

A mother, a wife, and so, and why do— would I want to— I want it all. That's what Greta Thunberg said. Why do I have to make a choice? Why would I not chosen one on another. And digital is key to make that happen, to succeed. So that's what we do at GF Day. We're showing the world, we're showing the women, we're showing the media that in this difficult time— and I'm thinking of all the people that are sick today, and, you know, and that some of the people that have passed away, and this is a nightmare. And this is, you know, thanks God we we're in good health. And but, you know, we need to be strong for them. We need to be strong for— with what has happened. If we're not doing anything differently, then what's it for? We will have gone for nothing.

For naught. Exactly, exactly. And I just also hope that the world leaders will take heed and see that the way we've been doing things at a global level is just no longer sustainable on every single level. And, you know, this thirst for power that is always there, that's the male way of doing things. It's not our way. That's not the women way of doing it.

Yeah.

When we have power, it basically means we've access to resources at the highest level and we use it to help others. That's how we use the power. We do not tend to use it for self-aggrandizement for ourselves. That's the big difference between men and women. I'm not saying all men are are like the opposite, like some people who have strange colored faces and say very strange things on the television for TV ratings, who shall not be named. I love that, he who shall not be named. But okay, let's get down to how do you think things are going to change for women entrepreneurs as a result of this? Because you've talked about generally how you're dealing with it at JFD and the Bureau, so how How do you think things will be different for women entrepreneurs as a result?

I think there is a lot of women entrepreneurs out there that has not been yet invested in because their projects are not, you know, 100% commercial projects. If I take an example of when we did our picture of we were all in white shirts because there was a picture of 11 men demonstrating the French startup success, and there was just 11 men wearing jeans and white shirts. So we did a similar picture with 11 women in white shirts. Then we created a white shirt with a very famous French brand.

Mmhmm.

it, just to show that, you know, we are entrepreneurs, we do business as well. We're not just there to say, hey, we want to be on the picture. The journalist has contacted me to say, look, I'm really sorry, I know you're right, but you know, there was a reason why there was no woman on that picture, is because they had to achieve €100,000 investment. They had to be invested in €100,000.

Yeah.

And so, well, that was the criteria for them to get into that picture. So for me, it's 2 things. One, which I said to her, well, change the criteria.

Exactly.

First of all. And 2, why, why the project of the women that are changing the world, and I'm thinking of Techfugees, Joséphine Bouygues, I'm thinking of Sandra Ray, Glowee, all those women that have tremendous projects that are going to make the world better. Nobody will invest in them because it's not, you know, something that is— they're gonna have a return on investment straight away from a sales perspective.

Yeah.

So I think To answer to your question, this crisis will show how many women around that we're not yet familiar with are doing projects that are, you know, caring for other people.

Yes.

That should be at the heart of anything that we should be doing. It's not just about selling clothes that Indian young boys are having to create overnight. It's about being together, making, you know, this world better.

Yes.

There is a lot of women who are— and they're shy, they're not asking for investments. I mean, this is another thing, they're not. Or when they do, we tell them, oh, you know, they ask for too much. And they're having difficulties of getting funding, but also because they do us. Yeah, so they get going, they go, and they don't have necessarily this objective of succeeding money-wise, but succeeding helping others. Yeah. And that's what women are about. Yeah. You know, we should be bloody proud of it.

Yes, I love it. You're right, we should, and we are. Yes, it's very true.

Excusing ourselves. Oh, I'm sorry, you know, I'm a nurse, I'm sorry, I'm looking after people. Well, you know, thanks God you're doing this. Thanks God. And we— they are the heart of, you know. And so I think what will come out is perhaps we will maybe listen to them more.

I like that.

And invest in them more.

Yes, and I would say To all of you listening, stay tuned because you will have heard in my podcast just before this one about the 1 Million InvestHER initiative and campaign that Global InvestHER is launching this year. That is, how can we get 1 million women entrepreneurs funded by 2030? And, you know, we are working on a partnership here with Desvigne and JFD to help, you know, as part of that and move things forward. talking to the French government and to other incredible international stakeholders because we can't do it alone. So stay tuned, keep an eye on the Global InvestHER website to learn more for this 1 Million InvestHERs because we need to fund the women entrepreneurs. I totally agree with you, Delphine. I think it's when we invest in more women-led businesses, we will reignite the global economy because we actually are holding it up. It's like, I always love that story of— it's not just a story, the fact, you know, of the women who went on strike in Iceland, all the women who went on Strike in Iceland in 1975. They all decided to go on strike, and the whole country came to a standstill, literally. And so they said, "We're not going to work, and we're not—we're not cooking at home." And one of the fun things is like the men suddenly realized, "Oh goodness! We really need these women. We—they're doing an awful lot, and the economy just didn't function without them." And one of the fun side effects was that the butchers, les bouchers, they were. they ran out of sausages because it was the only thing the men could cook, sausages on their pans, for that evening. But really, as a result of that one-day strike, what changed in Iceland is very soon afterwards, I think it was one year later, the first female president was elected. And after that, Iceland went on to lead the way in so many different ways with women leaders. So, you know, I would love us to do a global strike at one point where all All the women of the world, we decided to stop working for one day and just show how the economy would stop. The whole world would stop. We would not look after children, we would not do the caring, we would not do the housework, we would not do any of the paid work. So we wouldn't do the paid or the unpaid work and just watch how the whole world— it would be like this in confinement but 50 million times worse, because who'd be cooking their dinner? Who'd be washing the sheets? Who'd be doing all that stuff on top of making money? So All right, now let's get down to the practical dos and don'ts. Delphine, what would be your practical key tips for those female founders who are looking for funding in this climate? What would be your ideas given your wealth of experience over the years?

So, Anne, start again.

What would be your practical key tips for women entrepreneurs who are looking for funding in this climate now?

So my key tips will be network, network, network. Meet as— and another thing that, you know, it's the founder of LinkedIn who said, when you launch when everything is perfect, that means you've launched too late. Women have this capacity of, you know, of they need everything to be perfect and then it's fine, you know.

Yeah.

We— it never will be, and it's okay. So that will be my tips, perhaps, to say, you know, never wait too long. Ask really quickly because it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.

Yes.

And you need to keep it from a long, long, long perspective. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes years and years and years. So never give up. And also, I think, never— don't think that— you can ask even for small amounts. There is no— you know, it's fine. I mean, you don't need to raise $2 million if you don't need them. If you just maybe need just $100,000 or $10,000 or $20,000 just to get started, then it's okay. You know, you need to— you can raise funds, but you can raise clients.

Yes, absolutely.

It's, you know, raising clients, making, you know, and because one— and keeping clients happy. One client happy will say to 5 clients, but one client unhappy will say to 20 other clients.

Yes.

So you need to constantly keep them happy, keep them going. So I would say never ask for— don't think that you're not Able to to ask for money. Of course you can, and that you absolutely entitled. There is lots of different way to get invest to get investments. You can also ask easily your bank. You know, that's that's there is a lot of ways because fund you know lever des fonds. I don't know how you know where's funding.

Yes.

It's— and when you raise funding for millions and millions, it's not everyone who can ask for that amount.

Yeah.

And it's fine also to ask for little. So I would say that. I would say, and never wait when everything is perfect. And network, meet people, share with other entrepreneurs, you know, always have this idea that Like the founder of Amazon, like every day is like take it as day one.

Yeah, I like that. Yeah.

And yeah.

Cool. So I love that. So what would be some of your favorite resources that you want to share with our listeners to help them move forward in their business, Delphine? Some key resources that you like.

Yeah. So I read a lot of Forbes, but also Forbes Africa and Forbes Europe. Because it gives me also some insight of how other entrepreneurs are successful.

Mm-hmm.

There is a French website that I love reading about, and it's called FrenchWeb. So it's in French, but it gives a lot of tips on, you know, investment.

Mm-hmm.

Where investors are investing.

Mm-hmm.

There is a lot of fundraising information. Also, I love looking at Arianna Huffington Instagram because she has lovely quotes and that, you know, quotes get you going.

Yes.

And it's inspirational and it's, you know, and this— entrepreneur is like, it's a roller coaster of emotion and And you need to keep strong. And the other thing that I would say, for me, what works actually is yoga. Yoga, meditation, and spend time to, you know, to keep strong.

Yes.

Because you have to be strong for yourself, but also for others.

Yes.

You don't realize until it's too late if you have gave to your team or to the clients or to your partners or to your investors A doubt, like you think, oh, she's not strong enough, then everyone is letting— is going. You always have to— you can't show— I don't think you can show vulnerability so much in business. You need to be strong.

You need to show the strong side. Yeah.

Definitely, definitely. You can't. And I think it's probably a mistake that women do. And I do. If I show vulnerability, then it's over. You have to keep strong, and for that you need to do something that keeps you strong, even if it's boxing, if it's whatever it is, that is something that you do for yourself.

I love that advice, brilliant advice. And so what would you say— these are the last questions now— so what needs to change in the funding world for women entrepreneurs, Delphine? The key things that need to change?

Well, I think this male-dominated investor cycle has to stop. I think we need more women to invest in women. So that will be my, you know, and also, so we need women that have been invested in telling the world how it has been important for their business and how That helped them growing.

Yes.

Growing fast. Because this is the thing, you know, in this world of everyone is doing the same thing as the other, an idea is worth nothing if you don't do it fast. Fast is the new big. Fast is definitely the new big.

Yeah.

Tomorrow, you don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, so you need to do fast. You need to be fast.

Yeah.

And so money helps you to be fast.

Yes, I love that.

You need to execute fast.

Yes.

Not well, fast.

I love that. I love it. Yeah, and fail fast, if you will. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so now what's the best way for our listeners to connect with you, Delphine? Because they want to hear more from you and see more from you. Where are the best places for them to go and find you?

Yes, so I'm on Twitter @delphine. I tweet every day. I'm also on Instagram, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook.

Mm-hmm, and we'll put the links in the show notes, so that's cool. Everybody just check the show notes so you can see them. Yeah.

And we have also— you can go on our website and you can subscribe to our newsletter Voices that goes out every other week, and it's in English and It's Laura Calment, who is my vice president, who is doing a great work at bringing all those women talking to each other throughout the year. And it's a great, great, great newsletter, and I encourage everyone to look at this newsletter and follow the hashtag #JFD on all the networks, all the social networks, to have our latest information.

Fantastic. And the final word, how can we put more fun into funding, Delphine?

By listening to your podcast and by doing— by achieving this objective that you put, which is fantastic, having 1 million women invest by 2030.

Yep, it's a big hairy goal. So cool, I love it. That's how we're gonna put the fun in. We're— and I would say to our listeners, you know, first of all, thank you so much, Delphine, for being with us today. It's been an absolute honor and a pleasure. And, you know, it's so wonderful to hear from you about all the great things that you're doing and how you see things moving forward. And I would say let's, let's have another, another podcast in the future together. We'll take stock on where, you know, how things have moved forward for you since, since this podcast. What other fantastic things you're doing and what we're doing together even. Hey, let's, let's, let's make a date, shall we? Because we're talking about network, network, network. So let's make a date with our listeners. They're going to hear more from Delphine really soon.

Definitely. I'm really looking forward to it. And keep strong, woman. Keep strong. Yes, we are the solution. We are the power. And when women come together, the power of it is just enormous.

I love it. What a No better way, no better way to finish this podcast. Thank you so much, Delphine. Merci beaucoup. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for listening to InvestHer Podcast. Don't miss more great funding tips and insights by subscribing to the podcast on Apple or your favorite podcast host. And while you're there, I'd love you to rate and review the show. We'd love to hear from you. So if you'd like to send in some questions, interact with our If you'd like to connect with our guests or suggest other great people we should feature, join our community on the Flick InvestHer group. Or send us a message on investherpodcast.com. Want more great resources for female founders about funding? Check out our InvestHer Academy at academy.globalinvesther.com. I'm Anne Ravanona and look forward to having you with us again for our next episode. Let's put the fun into funding and get more women entrepreneurs funded.