🎙️ EP69: Get Off the Fence: Renate Crollini's Startup Blueprint | InvestHer Podcast

Hi there. Welcome or welcome back to InvestHer Podcast. I'm Anne Ravanona, your host and funding friend, and I'm so glad you're here. InvestHer Podcast exists for one reason: to share the real, unfiltered stories of funded women founders, investors, and ecosystem changemakers from around the world, and to give them the visibility and airtime they deserve. Because here's what we know: women are building extraordinary businesses. And yet their stories are still too often missing from the conversation. We're here to change that. Every episode, I sit down with someone who's in the trenches of building, funding, or backing women-founded ventures, and we talk about the real stuff— the pivots, the rejections, the fundraising lessons nobody tells you about, and the wins, because there are plenty of those too. Now, I can't wait for you to hear this. Let's dive in. Most women founders Don't stall because they don't have an idea for their startup. They sometimes stall when that idea has to become something that they can show someone else. Renata Croline helps build the bridge across that gap. She's general manager of Tech Ready Women, Australia's leading accelerator for women founders who are non-tech. 9 years old, 6,500 women through their door, 8-week programs that end with a founder who can state her problem in 30 seconds. In one session, 14 women who had never written a line of code before walked out the door 2 hours later with working MVPs. She's our first guest from Australia, and she has a message for women entrepreneurs still sitting on the fence.

Enjoy.

Welcome everybody to another episode of Investor Podcast. If you are a first-time listener, welcome to the podcast family. And if you are a regular listener, welcome back, and viewer, welcome back. Today I'm thrilled to have our first guest from Australia, Renata Croline. She is the General Manager of Tech Ready Women, the leading accelerator to help women founders in Australia. Welcome, Renata. How are you?

Good. Thank you very much for having me here, Anne, and I'm thrilled to be one of your first guests from Australia. It's a, it's an honor to be here with you.

Well, it's an honor to have you with us, Renata. So I'd like to kick this off by starting to help our listeners and our viewers learn a bit more about you. So can you share one fun fact about yourself?

Absolutely. And I love sharing this one because it is, it is quite an accomplishment, I think. I have been to every continent on the planet. So I've been to all 7 continents. The last one that I crossed off the list was Antarctica. It is a mind-blowingly beautiful, stunning place, and I highly recommend everyone should go down there and visit.

Wow.

You're so—

I'm jealous. It's on my bucket list, but well done, you. I'm super jealous.

Okay.

So, okay. Before we get into Tech Ready Women, what's been your journey to become part of the How did you get into Tech Ready Women?

Yeah, absolutely. So long story. I've had a very amazing and wonderful and fortunate, you know, career spanning, you know, the past few decades or so. And I lived in New York with my husband and my 2 small children. We packed up and moved back to Australia at the end of 2022. And like all people, I came back and started looking for, you know, a 9-to-5 job, a normal, safe job. And I ended up finding myself in the startup space. which I never imagined in a million years I would be an entrepreneur. And that was it. I loved it. I was hooked. Couldn't go back. It just— it just— everything about being your own entrepreneur and building the plane as you're flying and doing all those great things just was completely captivating and energizing. So I did that for a few years and then reality hits and I realized I had to actually start to go and get a job to supplement the startups that I was building. And I stumbled upon Tech Ready Women and it was like the most perfect alignment possible because it was, it was 100%. It was the job supporting female founders, leading the Female Founders Startup Program, and really talking to women all day, every day about the lived experiences I have experienced for the past 3 years. The highs, the lows, the everything in between, you know, just celebrating the win that someone liked your comment on LinkedIn. You know, these little, you know, nothing moments, but for someone in the trenches, means the world. So I found myself, like I said, as a program lead for Female Founders Startup Program at Tech Ready Women. And then fortunately, I was offered the role of general manager a few months later when the previous general manager left and went on to her dream job. And it's just been the most incredible, incredible, incredible experience and role and so rewarding, hard, but so rewarding just supporting female founders on their business journey. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

And I love the way you explain your journey into it because I'm not how you— I wanted a steady full-time job and then I became an entrepreneur and like the complete opposite. But hey, and then now supporting. So I love it. It's a real kind of full circle moment, isn't it?

Oh, completely. And I think it's really important to be able, you know, Tech Ready Women really makes sure that the people that we work with have those lived experiences because everyone wants to support, you know, founders and startups, but you have to have lived it. I've been in the trenches for years. I know exactly how hard it is. I know the small wins. I know those little things that can just tip you over the edge. But man, it's fun. It is so fun.

And I love it because it's true that not everybody who works in accelerators has been in the trenches. They can have other expertise, but not necessarily as an entrepreneur. So I think that's a very valuable thing to bring. So, okay. So now let's— before we dive into Tech Ready Women, what would you say is the big picture for women founders in Australia right now? For those of us on the other side of the world that really don't know what's going on. What are the kind of key trends and what things do you see?

Yeah, women in Australia are building businesses or starting businesses at a rapid rate. We have so many ideas. You know, we've lived the problem, we've lived the experience, and now we've come up with a solution to solve whatever problem it is that we're, that we're facing. And the ideas are so innovative. It's, it's death tech. It's, you know, it's making a digital will that one of our founders is doing. It's, it's, you know, um, it's It's momentizing photos and things like that. It's doing supply chain data. It's like the ideas are so vast and varied. They're so incredible. And these women are so passionate and so ready to just get going. There's so many of us just starting phenomenal businesses. But I think the thing that the women founders need in Australia is just that little bit more support, that little bit more confidence, and that little bit more encouragement to say, yes, you can do it. I know you're wearing a million different hats. If you want something done, give it to a busy woman because we will make sure that we get it done. And that's what we're seen in this space. Just so many phenomenal women starting great businesses.

Love it. Love, love, love. Okay. So tell us about Tech Ready Women. What's your mission and who's it for?

Absolutely. So Tech Ready Women has been around for about the past 9 years. And through that time, we've served about 6,500 women. So 6,500 women come through our doors in some way, shape, or form. And our, our mission is to support female founders on their business journey, wherever that might be, and to give them the confidence to take that next step. So whether it's you have an idea and you don't know what to do next, we have an education program to support you to do that. Whether you've got your idea and now you need first paying customers, we have an education program to support you to do that. Now you've got your first paying customers and you want to become investment ready, we have another education program to support you to do that. So Tech Ready Women supports female founders through education programs aligned to where they're at. And we do that with live workshops, with small group office coaching. So we have a mentor and a handful of founders that get to come together to really dig deep into the issues and the struggles that they're facing. And then we also have award-winning online e-learning modules that the women can actually take home, study, listen, do the exercises and activities, and come back even stronger and better. And I think the special sauce about Tech Ready Women is the mentors that we bring in to support these founders. Like we said before, have all walked the talk and lived the experiences.

Mm-hmm.

So some of these women have built businesses and sold them and exited for, you know, very, very very successful in high numbers. Others have been in the trenches for years and years and years. Others have been on the flip side and actually witnessed this problem. But we're all walking the talk and we've all done it and we all just want to give back and support women founders and to see them grow and thrive and just crush it. And we're creating that safe space, that community for women to come together to ask the silly question. I know everyone says there's no such thing as a silly question and there's not. I've asked them all and I asked them multiple times and I keep asking them. But it's that place that you can have a community to ask that question. Ask for help, seek guidance, share a win, share a loss, and just build, build your tribe to help you build a phenomenal business, whatever that might look like for you.

So, I mean, it sounds phenomenal. Absolutely. It not just sounds, it is phenomenal. Tell us a little bit more about the fact that you really support those non-tech female founders because it's Tech Ready Women. That is the name for a reason. And so many of us Start off as being non-tech and probably learn the tech along the way. So why your focus on non-tech female founders?

Well, like you said, every business at some stage will have to have a tech component at some stage unless you're selling candles in a market, which is totally fine. But if you, even if you have an e-commerce product, you have to, you have to build your website, sell it, social media, all that stuff. So what we find as well is a lot of women, we're very good at making excuses. We're very good at making excuses. So let's actually now support these founders to say, We will help you. Let's actually get you up and running with the business. Let's help you give the roadmap around what it is it looks like, how you can actually start to develop and grow. And then don't worry about the tech. We'll connect you to people as you go along the way. But what we're really trying to do at Tech Ready now is to bring the tech back into Tech Ready. So actually trying to teach women, you know, the skills to better embed and utilize AI. How can you vibe code something so you can actually get it into your hands of your potential customers before you have to go and spend tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars on software development. Let's actually get you tech ready so you can go out and build your business.

Which is more vital now more than ever. It really is. With, with, I mean, AI is, is incredible. It is changing. And those companies that do not embrace it are left behind already. They just don't even realize it. So I think it's, it's phenomenal. And again, it's that all the ongoing problem of the fact there are not enough women in tech, not enough women who are doing the, the engineering or the computer science degrees, et cetera, or further. And again, I think it's super important that we need to have more companies that are run and led by women that are tech-enabled. It doesn't always have to be a full tech stack, fully focused tech company, but tech-enabled, as you say, in order to be able to scale.

Yeah, absolutely. Or to get your product in your first paying customer's hands. You can actually say, how does this look, feel, touch? Do you want it? What doesn't work? What resonates? All this type of thing. We did a vibe coding session a few weeks ago with Vercel, and it was amazing. to see 14 founders in the room that had never vibecoded before. And in 2 hours they all had fully functioning websites and products. And it was to see their faces and their confidence in themselves to be like, I had this idea now and 2 hours ago it was just an idea in my head or some notes on a paper. Now it's there. I can look, I can see, I can show customers, I can show investors, I can show, you know, potential pilot partners. This is what it is. And you can see and click and touch around and play with it. So like you said, with the world of AI, people can actually build things faster.

Yeah.

To get the idea out of their head and into the real world and then, you know, develop and grow and scale how you like. But let's, let's get moving and let's help them take that first step on their journey.

And it's phenomenal because we, we need to be using AI in everything in our daily lives as well as in our startups as we're building and scaling. So also because it's going to be more expected, Renata, you know, the investors on the other side or the corporates or the other partners, they're all using it and/or will be expecting it. So it's not just a buzzword. I mean, this is what the new era— it's like electricity. It's not even the internet. It's like electricity. That is the tsunami of revolution that AI is bringing in. And if you're just not using it, you're gonna be left behind. And I know it can be very daunting, myself included. For the first few months when I started using it, I was like, baby steps. And my God, I use it every single day for everything now.

That's great.

You still need to have your human brain to say, no, no, This is not right. We'll never replace the human brain.

Absolutely. And that's also something, you know, Tech Ready Women is really focusing on supporting female founders where they're at. Not everyone is ready to dive all in. Some people are, but we're really starting to build programs, you know, focusing on AI in addition to the general, you know, core business about how to start a business and get investment ready. And how can you actually use AI to grow your social media and scale with ads? Like, how can you actually Take these amazing technology that's there and, and help it support you to reach your customers faster and reach your end goal faster.

Exactly.

So, so we're trying to build those into programs to support women no matter where they're at, no matter what they wanna do.

Brilliant. Okay. So now I wanna dive a little bit deeper into some of your programs, Renata. Let's start with the 8-week startup program. Tell us a bit more what happens and what changes for a founder when she's finished.

So walk us through the program.

Yeah.

It's actually amazing. We, we have a cohort of about 50 women for the Female Founder Startup Program, and we cap it to 50 because we want them to build that community. You know, they say it takes a village to raise a baby. It takes a community to build a business, and you're each other's champion and support and accountability stick. So the women that come through the startup program are early stage. They have an idea. Some of them have 10 ideas and they have no idea what to do. So we guide them through the journey and the first— and we do it through the 8 modules, like I mentioned, with live workshops, small group coaching, and online e-learning modules. The first module that we start with is the why. It's the founder's journey. Because if you're doing this to make a quick buck tomorrow, you know, it takes 17 years to become an overnight success.

Yeah.

Sometimes you really got to work hard. So if you're in it for a quick buck, you're probably, you know, not sure about that. But we really make sure that you're connected to the why. Why you? Why this problem? Why are you the one arrogantly and so confident that you have to solve this problem? Because you need to connect to that when it gets really hard and you've lost everything and, you know, this business and this email and blah, blah. You dig deep. You say, "I really am passionate. I have to." That's that's the first kind of piece that we really want to ground and set expectations. And then we go through the idea. You know, how do you clearly articulate your idea? What is your idea? Who are your competitors? You know, who is your customer? Who is your ICP? You know, throughout all the startup business jargons, what does your market look like? How big is your market? You know, Tam Sam Som, all these type of phrases and slogans that these women have not most of them have not heard before. And then we work them through business and financial modeling. So we partner with a phenomenal fractional CFO company called Planet Startup that actually starts to get under the hood and look at, you know, and talk about business modeling and how do you price your product, how should you start to think about this. And then we connect them to, we have one of our friends from Zed Law that come in and do the startup legals. So it's thinking about shareholders agreements and your governance structures and what is a constitution. And everyone wants to have an IP and get a patent, but like, is that the first thing you should be doing?

Like, can you afford it? Mm-hmm.

Defend it, and then we finish with pitching. So really trying to teach women how to clearly and articulately and succinctly say their problem in thirty seconds. You know, we've had one of our mentors that actually said she pitched in an elevator and literal elevator pitch to an investor that ended up being her first investor in one of her businesses. So as women, myself included, you tend to la la la la la la la, but like get to the point. Yeah, get it across succinctly because it's really really important. So that's that's the startup program.

It really gives you the fundamentals.

mentors and the roadmap on what should I do, how should I do it, and do I want to do this? And you asked me about the biggest change. And I think one of the biggest things is 2 cohorts ago that we ran is a bunch of women came in, multiple ideas, couldn't clearly articulate, weren't really sure, wanted to do this, but wasn't really clear on what it was. At the end of the 8 weeks, they all introduced themselves as, hi, I'm blah blah blah, I'm the founder of, or hi, I'm Renata, I'm CEO of. And they clearly articulated the problem and their solution. And I was like, you did it. Like, you— and that for them to see the confidence on their face and in their bodies and how they held themselves. Done.

And in 8 weeks, Renata, because normally, I mean, the standard practice that we see around the world is like 12 weeks. It's usually a 3-month program.

Yeah.

So I mean, that's phenomenal. Phenomenal. And I suppose because you're kind of hybrid, you do have in-person and then the online learning. So that, that maybe speeds up the fact that you do it in 8 weeks, or is it 8 weeks by design? I'm sure it is. I'm answering my own question, but tell me more.

Yeah, it's 8 weeks by design. And we do really love it when we have a geographically restricted cohort. We love to do an in-person orientation, in-person graduation because it's just better in person. Conversation is more freer and the connections are more strong. But we do offer the actual learning online and we do it in 8 weeks because we're all busy. It's my least favorite word in the English language, but we're all busy. So let's make it an intensive 8 weeks. Everything's recorded. So if you miss one workshop here, there and everywhere, it's fine. But let's just make it 8 weeks, dedicate that time to yourself, not everybody else that you're looking after, to yourself. And let's just get it done. You know, at the end of the day, you have a result or an excuse. It's one of my favorite mantras. But it's 8 weeks to figure out, can I do this? Do I want to do this? And how do I do this?

And get out of the perfectionism, you know, because I mean, you basically get them into, um, out of their head, starting to do things, and then talk about it in an articulate way. And all of that builds momentum. And that's, that's the power of an accelerator program. It is there to give you To give that push in the gentle way. It's like the pull and that push, that nudge to get you to the next one. Okay.

And gentle, gentle is right because sometimes you need, you need that push. Come on, you said you'd do this 2 weeks ago. Let's go. Um, but also that space to grow and learn.

And I mean, particularly again, I want to say for women founders, because we tend to be juggling many other, um, responsibilities, caregiving responsibilities, whether it's younger children or older, older parents or elderly loved ones. So So yeah, that's, that's important. I mean, we just do more in every single day. It has to be, it has to be factored in. Real quick, Anne here. InvestHer Summit 2026 is coming to Paris in October, connecting global scaling women entrepreneurs with investors, corporates, and others to scale faster. Save 20% with early bird tickets at investhersummit.com.

That's investheorsummit.com.

Now I'd like you to walk me through the, the, your new AI operator program. So how are you helping those women build MVPs with AI? That sounds fascinating.

Yeah. So we help, so like we said, we wanna bring the tech back into Tech Ready and really help these women work smarter, not harder, because most of them are solo founders. Maybe they have a co-founder. They're wearing a gazillion different hats. I'm a founder myself trying to do everything And it's at the same time, it's, it's hard. So we're partnering with Mia Bauer, who's phenomenal. She's been teaching women how to better use tech. I think it's for about 5 years and especially around AI. So we partnered with her to actually do this, this program. And it's really about everyone's talking about agents, build an agent, automate this, automate that. What this AI operating program does is actually stops and says, what should you be automating? How does your business run?

Yeah.

Let's actually look where that, where, you know, where the low-hanging fruit is and let's start to connect the dots and build agents for here, there, and everywhere. And then connect it all together in an operating system. So it just runs by itself, not just this fragmented set of tools that you still have to monitor and check and engage. So it is, it is a, it's a lot of work. And I think this is the biggest mind shift with AI as well. It's you're constantly learning, you're constantly having to build on it, you constantly have to update it. You can't just set up your bots and disappear and you work 4 hours every month and your business runs on AI. Yeah, you still have to get in there and do the work. So that's what we're teaching the women, you know, put in the time now. It's gonna take time. Put in it now because you'll be rewarded down the track. And so that one's almost finished now. And then the next one that we're starting is all around using Kord for paid ads and social media.

Nice.

Again, so how do you actually attract more paying customers with as minimal effort as possible so you can focus on other things?

That's it. Because once you've built it, then it's okay. We need the eyes on the prize. So we need to build that traffic funnel, the front end of the funnel to get people through your lead generation Et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, absolutely fantastic. So, okay, now we've learned a little bit more about some of your key programs. What would you say are your USPs versus other accelerators in Australia and maybe in other parts of the world, Renata?

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think there's 2, and one is the, the deep caring that the mentors and the program leads show for the founders that come through these programs. It's not just a check the box. It's not just here we go, we show up, do this work, blah, blah, blah, off you go. So a lot of it is, you know, on their own time. A lot of it is above and beyond. A lot of it is calls at 7 AM on a Sunday. I mean, I answer the phone 24/7. So it's really making sure that everyone involved in the Tech Ready Women ecosystem just naturally goes above and beyond to support female founders. Actually, there's 3 things that I think is our USP. The second one, the second one is the fact that if you're gonna give us your time, we make sure that you get something tangible back.

Hmm.

Again, putting my founder's hat on, I've gone through so many programs and webinars and lunch and learns where someone talks at you.

Yeah.

But then you walk away and you go, what do I do with that? Like, yeah, I have no idea. So we make sure, you know, and this, who is your ICP? Write it down. Go talk to them. Why didn't you talk to them? Go talk to them again. What did they say? Like, actually make sure that your value exchange for your time, you're getting something that you walk away at the end of the programs and be like, I've done this, I've achieved this, and I know what to do next. And then the third definitely is the community. It's the community that we're building at Tech Ready Women. Like I said, we've been around for 9 years. We've we've had six and a half thousand women that have walked through our doors. We have women that just referrals is one of our biggest selling funnels, and it's because the women that do our programs see the value. They understand the you know what they get from it, and it's just changed some of their life. And some of these women are out in the global stage raising millions, and they literally post on LinkedIn. I wouldn't be here without tech ready women. Ah, wouldn't have been here. So it's that community. It's that community that I think a lot of people miss. And that's what we're really conscious at TechReady is to build that community of female founders supporting everyone, female founders.

Love it. Love it. Love it. I mean, there could be no better recognition for you and the whole team than that. I mean, that's just fantastic. That's full circle. And I think that's, that's very important that we also recognize the people who have really supported us on our journey. That's, that's important. So now I want to get into the Funding Readiness Program. So first of all, what does investment ready mean to Tech Ready Women for you?

Yeah. Yeah. So the Investment Ready Program is one of our flagship programs, and that's for women that they have the idea, they have the MVP, they might have first paying customers, and they know that in the next 12 months, it's time to level up, it's time to ratchet up, and let's actually get going and make this real. So we keep that one quite small. We keep that one to at most 20 founders because it's also very intense and we make sure that the guidance and the mentorship is really targeted and you actually have time for everyone to ask specific business questions. And so the goal for that program is after the 8 weeks that in 12 months, that business is ready to seek investment, whether that means grants, family offices, angel investors, VCs, or customer revenue because that one you get to keep.

Exactly.

So whatever that might look at the end of that program, your business knows your financials inside out. You have a private session with our friends at Planet Startup to stress test your numbers and your business models. You know, if you're gonna reach $1 million ARR in 12 months, well, this doesn't make sense. Your pricing doesn't make sense. How are you gonna— what is the spend to get there? So we really go underneath the hood and sometimes rip these business models and financial planning apart. Um, we connect them again to our friends at Zed Law to be like, you're gonna go out and seek funding in the next 12 months. Where's your shareholders agreement? This constitution doesn't stack up. Have you trademarked this if that's what you wanna do? Where are you? Are you registered? To really make sure that we get these women up to a place that they can actually go out into the world and be like, I'm ready to go.

I'm ready.

And then the, the content is focused around your capital strategy. So what types of funding are available? Where should you seek funding? Are you ready for funding? What is your strategy? Um, and then obviously we make warm introductions to investors because that's the hardest part. And the most important part is actually getting, getting in front of those investors.

And you'll have accompanied them on that whole getting ready journey, that investment readiness journey. So you know better how to match them, but also how ready they are. And so therefore to help them cut their teeth on this type of investor or this type of contact first before the next one, etc. How long does the program last, Rana?

That one's also 8 weeks. It's intensive as well. And it's also same group, it's same small group coaching, online learning. Um, and then we bring in the mentors and the professionals that can actually help them at that stage. And we're very lucky that TechCrunch is owned by Scolari Group, and they, um, they're an AS-listed stock exchange for those in the EU, um, investment firm that actually supports female founders and founders in general. And they have a lot of commercialization services, a lot of financial experience, and a lot of investor experience. So they lean in very heavily to help support the women at this stage of the program to make sure that, yeah, we've seen it all, we've done it all, this is what good looks like.

Phenomenal. And so 40% of your founders raise seed, and you've kind of described how you get them there. So that's like absolutely phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. So I want you to kind of share your key tips to Australian women currently fundraising in Australia. What are their dos and don'ts? Because you know the landscape very well.

Yeah, so there's 2 things that I would probably say. Know your numbers. Know your numbers inside out. If you, you know, what is, what is your 12-month projection? How are you gonna get there? What is your cost of acquisition? What is your sales cycles? What is your pipeline? And actually like monetize that and actually know these numbers. Don't just speak in an abstract way. Know your numbers inside out and be prepared to defend them at every opportunity you possibly can is number one. I think that's, that's crucially important. Number 2 is just get out there and ask.

Mm-hmm.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. I see so many phenomenal female-founded businesses that sit, I'm not ready. When we land this on this or that, would it just get out there and ask? Yeah. Because, I mean, again, I have mantras for everything. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Ask. The worst case is they'll tell you what they wanna see. Go away, work on it, and then go back. I mean, I've done what you've said. Here it is.

Yeah.

I think it's important to note as well that fundraising and seeking external investment might not be for everyone, and the best form of revenue is from your customers.

Totally agree. It's my logo as well. Not logo, it's my motto. It's something I share on Buy From Her platform.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Okay, so what would you say needs to change in the funding ecosystem in Australia for women founders?

The confidence to get out there and ask and just to have to, to be in those spaces. And I think people need to open a few more doors as well. Um, Australia has a strong investment space, but everyone's a little bit scared, a little bit risk-averse, and you really do need those warm introductions. So I think let's get out there, let's, let's both take a chance on each other, let's open those doors and make those connections. Um, you know, a strong economy is an economy that is diversified and has, you know, both men and women at the table.

Yes.

You know, creating phenomenal businesses. Um, so we all need to, we all need to do our part and to support and make that happen.

Love, love, love. Okay, so now tell us a bit more about Female Founders Grow and your partners like Westpac. Um, how do— how does your community keep, you know, founders going and growing?

Yeah, absolutely. So something that we find during these intensive programs that we've mentioned, the women feel supported, they feel accountable, they, you know, they know where to turn if they have questions. They know, they know who and where to ask. And 9 times out of 10 at graduation, I say, well done, ladies, you've graduated, well done. They all go, well, what next? What do we go now?

Yeah, where do we go now?

What, who's going to help us if we have that silly question? Or like, if I have something to ask, like, where do I go for this resource? So we heard that time and time again. So we started Female Founder Grow, which is our community for female founders between programs, before programs, after programs. Maybe they don't do a program at all, they just want to be part of a community because the startup journey is lonely, it's isolating. Most people are working in a coworking space or by themselves at home at the kitchen table. I mean, that's where I worked for 3 years before I came to Tech Brody. So it's that space to be like, you're not alone. I've done this before. This is where I went. Well done. Someone wrote back to your LinkedIn post or well done. Someone shared your email. You just want to tell someone that we've created that community for people to actually be each other's support and champions and cheerleaders outside of the program. And then the perks are great. You know, we have discounts to programs and we have some of our partners in there like Planet Startup and things like that that I said that actually provide support to female founders outside of the programs. But it's just really, it's just really that space. It's just really that space to connect female founders 24/7.

Love, love, love, love, love, love. Okay. So can you maybe just share one founder story or an outcome that you're most proud of or like that you're very proud of? I can't say most because we can never choose what our children among our children. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. So there's one, so I'll share 2, I'll share 2 and they're both very different. So there was one founder that came through the Female Founder Startup Program. She came very energetic, very passionate, very enthusiastic, multiple ideas, multiple ideas. And it was very, very hard to actually understand what she wanted to do, what problem was she solving and how she was gonna do it. So throughout the program, she listened, she absorbed, she did the homework, she spoke to everyone, she came back, she asked questions, connected to the mentors. She did everything. And at pitch night at graduation, she got up there and she nailed it. She absolutely nailed the problem she was trying to solve, how she was gonna go to market, what her solution was. And when she finished, the smile from ear to ear was insane. She was so proud of herself. And that to me was just to see her transformation from start to finish was huge.

Yeah.

So I'm super proud of her. And then another on the opposite spectrum, a graduate, 2 graduates from our Investment Ready Program, I think it was last year, Roam Technologies. They have just gone from strength to strength to strength. They've just won the Sydney leg of the Startup Angels competition. They're going over to San Francisco in 2 months' time to pitch for $1 million with other startups globally.

Amazing.

These ladies have just gone from strength to strength to strength in a field like medtech as well, and they're just dominating. So it's just, I have so many stories. So it's just amazing to see just how much these women get from these programs. They absorb it, they learn it, they listen to it, they act on it, and they're The proof is in the pudding.

I love it. They listen, you absorb, and then you act. It's all about the action that you take.

Yeah.

And it's all about the action that you take. So you— we are going to be working on a new partnership together, which we'll be sharing more in general. Yeah. But I'm very excited for Global InvestHer to partner with Tech Ready Women because you're doing a phenomenal job. So I'm super excited for what that's going to bring.

As are you. We're bringing both sides of the world together. It's going to be great.

sides of the world together. Absolutely. So now, how can our listeners, both in Australia and globally, how can they connect with you and Tech Ready Women?

Yes. So we are very active online, obviously. So you can follow us at Tech Ready Women in our newsletters. You can subscribe to that. We're on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn, all Tech Ready Women Academy. We have a beautiful green— not green, yellow and white logo. So it's very easy to spot. We share a lot of information. We shine a light on the female founders that come through our doors frequently because they're our success stories. You know, Tech Ready Women doing well because our female founders are doing well. Yeah. So definitely follow along on LinkedIn and social media and connect with me on LinkedIn as well. Renate Carlini. I'm always up for chatting to people. I love a bigger table, more seats, more conversations, more people in the network. Because you never know who you might meet and how everyone can support each other.

Absolutely. What would be your final message to our listeners and viewers today, Renata, if there's something that you want to share?

If you are a female founder and you are sitting on the fence and you've had this idea in the back of your head for a day, a week, a month, a year, 10 years, however long, and everyone's sick and tired of hearing you talk about it, get off the fence and do something. Take a program, take Tech Raiders program. Do something because you always you'll be one day older if you start tomorrow, and there's always tomorrow. Just get going. You have an idea. The world needs your idea, and it needs your prop, your solution. So do it. Reach out. We'll support you, but just do it.

I love it. I love your passion, Renata. My gosh, it exudes through the screen. It exudes through your headphones and your earpods if you're listening to. I think if you're an Australian woman, you need to get in contact with Renata and Tech Ready Women. And if you're anywhere else in the world, contact her because obviously it's so important to build bridges and to connect this incredible ecosystem. Thank you for being part of this journey today, Renata, and sharing everything that you're doing at Tech Ready Women. And congrats on being also a founder and, you know, general manager of Tech Ready Women. You're You're just an example and a mom, you know, an example of the woman of many hats, uh, the coat of many colors. Yeah, no excuse. Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you today.

Thank you so much for having me, and likewise, I'm looking forward to what the future holds.

Yay!