Women Entrepreneurs - Win FREE ACCESS to "Positioning Powerfully with Investors" Apply by March18th!

Hello everybody, good day. Robert Khan here from Leader Like You. I am here today to talk to you about my mini module together with Global Investor, and what we put together is a course called Positioning Yourself Powerfully with Investors. And I may be joined by Anne Ravanona from the powerhouse Global Investor, though What I would like to do is tell you a bit about this and share with you, uh, some information about it. So what this course is called is Position Yourself Powerfully with Investors, and it's a $49 course, and I'm running it together with Global Investor Academy through Anne Ravanona. And Anne is Putting up a whole bunch of classes for— oh, I've got Anne just joining right now. Hello, Anne, how are you doing? All right, so Anne, I'm not hearing you right now. We may need to— hold on, let me just— let's check your microphone. See if we can get your stream there. Not hearing you. Anyway, it's great to see you right now. Yeah, so I'm not hearing anything from you, boy.

Sound check. Can you hear me now?

Yes, I can hear you. How's your day going?

All right, very well. How are you?

I'm good. It's nice to see you. And I know, I, I know that March is such an important month for Global Investor.

It's a big month.

Yeah, it's a big month.

We're all about the female founders. So tell me more.

Well, I was just, I was just talking to people about, uh, about the class. Yes. And, and, and, and I wanted to tell people that we're running this class called Positioning Yourself Powerfully with Investors, and it's priced at $49. And what I wanted to start with, Anne, was ask you to introduce yourself And, and tell us how you got started by helping female founders.

Sure. So hi everybody, delighted to meet you all. Hope you're having a great day. So I'm Anne Ravanona and I'm founder and CEO of Global InvestHer, and we are a platform and a community, a global community that provides great funding content for women entrepreneurs and Why did I do this, Robert? Because I am passionate about helping women entrepreneurs get funded and to close that funding gap. Because today women entrepreneurs only get 2% of venture capital, very small percentages of angel capital, and I want to help change that. And that's why we want to work with you.

And it's great to have you here, Anne. And I was interested a couple months ago you told me about the funding gap between what male investors and female investors tend to get. Tell me a bit about that.

Sure. So this funding gap— so when I started all this off, because I went to an event in London where I heard a woman entrepreneur speak, and I asked her what— from the audience, what was her greatest challenge— and she said it was access to funding. I'm like, hmm, is that harder for women? So I started to read the research, and I found a piece of research in 2013 from the World Bank, um, and it said that the funding gap— so the gap, the credit gap between money raised between male entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs at the time was $300 billion. Now that was enough to get me going, and that's why I started to create Global InvestHer, to help close that funding gap by education, community, and other resources access to funding in the next phase. And now today, Robert, that funding gap— let's say before COVID hit us, it was estimated to have grown to $1.7 trillion, and that was before COVID And of course, since COVID has actually hit women hard across the world because more women are in lower-paid jobs, doing more of the care work, frontline workers, and for those of us who have set up businesses, It's been really, really tough. So yeah, that's why we're here. We gotta help fix this.

This is a driving force. And, and I tell you, this, this is all something that's really important for me. And I want to say something. You know, when I was a child growing up, my great-aunt Sally, who was a practical suffragette out there getting the vote for women, we used to go to her house as children before we'd go to some educational programs, and she bought us all Dollar stock portfolios. So my brother, my sister, and I—we each had a portfolio of stocks, and she would take us through the stock page once a week to look at P/E ratios. And she had been a vice president of loans for at the Minnesota State Federal Bank back in the '50s and the '60s. And she told us, men and women can do everything, and it is important for women to get ahead in business. So this is back in the '50s and '60s. She said that. And so, and for me, it's been foundational. And I, you know, if I could, I wanted to say a bit about Leader Like You. Because this is the background for some of our course. And a couple years ago, I was relaxing and looking at the ceiling thinking, what is the prime driver in my communication program? As coach, trainer, consultant was really to help people step back and look at a situation and say, as I look at this situation, what is the leader-like behavior for me in the given situation? And this is where I created this Leader Like You. So, the 2 words is leader-like. How do I behave as a leader? Though the second word is you, meaning everybody has agency to behave in a certain way. So, the question is, What do we need to do to behave successfully by design, not by chance, and help female investors create conscious responses instead of unconscious reactions? And I want to say male investors as well.

Entrepreneurs, you mean entrepreneurs.

Be careful. Sorry. Thank you. I said investors. Entrepreneurs. Thank you. And, and, and as these entrepreneurs come and tell their story, how are they congruent to self? And really be themselves, though tell a beautiful story. So, with the module, the opportunity is to help people look and say, how do I show up as a trusted advisor? How do I augment my confidence and tell my story? Though I don't want anybody to have to create a new person. Is who am I leader-like and what do I need to do right now? And if I may share, there are 3 archetypes in my model. There is— I'll start at the bottom in the red area. There's the authoritative, what I call power-over person. And this might be the investor that the founders are talking to. And authoritative could be a fighter mentality. It could be something they're putting on to protect their business. Though, what we need to learn is how do we behave in front of the authoritative people so we ourselves don't become authoritative. Or so that we don't go to the power under apathy mode where we become subservient to these power over people. And so, the objective is to create what I call power with dynamics, which is the green assertive area. Now, I've noticed, Anne, that a lot of people confuse authoritative and assertive.

Mm-hmm.

Assertive is when I'm connected to my own needs, though I'm also able to hear yours, be attuned to them, though act in function to what's important for me and what's important for you. So that is where we ourselves have agency, and this is stepping into something called the agentic frame. Now, I have learned that the world is been fairly authoritative, apathetic power over, power under for centuries. And I think even politically right now, we're seeing some of this. So the upper level, the green power with, for many people is a trained conscious response. What do you notice when entrepreneurs step in front of investors?

I find in particular for women entrepreneurs, many a time they may see themselves as power under. So they see themselves as beneath the investors. They say, oh, you know, they're the guys with the cash. And I do say the word guys because that is the majority of investors. So they go into that meeting not feeling super confident because some— it's not everybody. There's a tendency for women entrepreneurs to go in not feeling confident. Why? Because for their experience, for many of them, when they're in that meeting, they're being spoken down to actually and not taken seriously because oftentimes they will spot a that's very different to the type of problems that investors are used to seeing, and/or they may create a solution that's different to their usual framework. So it's kind of like sometimes women entrepreneurs can be seen as kind of aliens because the guys are like, whoa, hold on a second. Do women have curly hair? Is that a big market for selling products? I'm like, yes. Well, let me go ask my wife or my girlfriend about that. Honestly, that's what a lot of them say. So a lot of women entrepreneurs may go in feeling power under where they're like, I'm not the same level. where we want to get them is power with, as you say, which is where it's win-win, where the founder sees herself as very much a partner, a potential business partner to that investor. So they're peers and equals and not them power over where that doesn't work.

I love the partner because when we go in as trusted advisor, which I want to talk about in a moment, We really show up to say, your money's safe with me, though I'm gonna work together with you to make good choices. And I wanna partner with you. I'm not looking for a quick deal here.

Yes.

And do you find that female founders actually are able to then quickly step in to say, I wanna partner with you and work together with you?

What's the big challenge? I think the big challenge is actually also, honestly, it's investor bias, whether they're male or female. It's sometimes they have a pair of glasses where they have their own personal preferences that come into play, and they're not fully aware and present in that meeting to listen to the opportunity and see the opportunity in front of them. So I do think there's— that is one big challenge of investor bias. And it's been proven, Robert, through the research where, you know, Harvard and Wharton researched the same presentation that was given to male and female only audiences, investors. And the only difference was the voiceover of a male or female voice. And the male voice was 70% more likely to get funded just because of the male voice. The content was 100% the same. So that was an interesting experiment. And now, thankfully, what we're hearing as well is that, Robert, women entrepreneurs don't get the same questions from investors. And the bias comes in also in the question angle, where they will be asking prevention questions to female founders. So they'll be saying, how do you mitigate this risk? Or how do you overcome this challenge? Whereas they'll be asking more promotion questions to the male entrepreneurs, like, how are you going to grow this market? How are you going to build these partnerships? So that's where I think the, the tool that you share through your model is so important to help female founders to read the signs or signals and then kind of transform some of those questions because unfortunately it's the women who have to be modeling themselves and changing themselves to adapt to the situation for the moment, and that is what needs to change. So at least through your tools, through your model, what you're helping them to see is like, okay, I can see this is at play, so I need to play at power with. I'm not going to play up or over. I'm not going to start telling them what to do because that's not going to wash. There are egos in the room.

And, and, and this switch from, okay, I consciously realize I got a prevention question. What are you going to do if somebody gets your technology? What are you going to do if this goes bust? What are you going to do if— is certainly to answer it, though, then quickly do what I call bridging. And I think we're going to, in our future modules, talk about some of these techniques. How do I use a bridging technique to get to a promotion response?

Yes, exactly.

And move to promotion. All right. So one of the things I wanted to talk about was trusted advisor. And, and if, if I may just, you know, respond to this, is when founders go in the room, is really conveying these signals that one— I, I have 7. I want to talk about them for a moment, if that's okay. I want to talk about the long-term commitment. You know, I'm not here just to get some money and go. Uh, also, we're in the chit-chat as we move into the room, and it might be just Did you find it okay, or did you connect well? You know, is everything okay? Is that warm emotional connection? And that really sends the signals, listen, I can get the job done, and, and I'm authentic, passionate, and enthusiastic. Also, that when we get questions or when we describe and talk about our numbers, that we completely understand our industry, and we have the business acumen and the competence. That founders, you know, female founders, male founders know inside and out their numbers and they can shoot from the hip, I think is really important to say, you know, what questions do you have? Let's field those. And also is in the questions that we can show this high say-do ratio. So which conveys your money is safe and well-invested with me. And I can demonstrate in my past decisions that what I've said, I've done.

Hmm.

And then the 6th component here is that founders can show up and that when they talk, they can communicate a credible story. So they have metrics, they're succinct, they're well-organized. And then the other one is interesting though. The final one is I can get close up and personal So I'm demonstrating a high level of likability, though at the same time I'm professional. So this, this is what we talk about in the course, Positioning Yourself Powerfully with Investors. And which one of these would you say right now, post-COVID, is the most important? Ooh, if you had to pick one.

If I had to pick one, I am going to talk about the long-term commitment because I'm always thinking, I'm always thinking of You know, the G20, the work I'm doing there, working with the W20, and it's, it's like, what do governments and people around the world— we want to build forward better. We don't want to go back to the old way. So it's, I think, founders and women entrepreneurs showing up and showing their commitment, their personal commitment, their long-term commitment to building a sustainable business and wanting to build sustainable business partnerships with their funding partners. I would choose that one, Robert.

Great. Well, we certainly delve into it, and, and we, you know, we will talk about it. Uh, I want to say a bit about the, uh, the, the room we're in, or on screen with people, is that we constantly have inside-out messaging. I want to move to this. Inside-out messaging is what's going on inside my head right now. You know, just a few minutes ago I made a mistake. Did you pick up on that, Anne? You corrected me. I said investors, and I meant entrepreneurs. And so, what happens when that happens is, did I trip and can't recover? Or do we go, oh yeah, thank you. And we move ahead. So, my inside out is working. Though, as I look at the people in the room around me or on the screen, what's happening outside in? You know, are they looking at me like this? Are 2 people in the room leaning over talking and making a comment? I don't know what they're saying. So, I have to have positive intent for myself and for them. And occasionally, I think I need to stop and say, James, Maria, do you have a question? No, no, we're good. Keep on going. So, I manage 2 levels, inside out and outside in. And we have 3 facets of who we are. We show up with this. Who I was born as, I gotta know that. Though, the question is, what are my learned communication behaviors? Who do I want to be in the room without moving to what I call in the red zone, who I am under stress, pressure, threat? If I let the outside in move me to power under or let it move me to power over, I'm probably a less good expression of myself. Do you also see that it's difficult for people, female founders, to manage the outside in and the inside out when you debrief with them after a pitch.

Definitely. And I would say one of the reasons as well, Robert, is simply because we're having to expend energy in managing all these different dynamics and fielding these questions that are not the same for everybody. So this, like, inside out, there's a constant chatter going on in our minds and in our brains that we're having to deal with that is taking away some of our energy. So I think that's really powerful what you've just shared, and that I know the Women Entrepreneurs are going to learn so much from your course to arm them to better manage that inside-out chatter versus the outside-in. And so to be able to be fully present in the room, and I would say from the outside-in, it's also to be able to— you cover very beautifully how to read the body language, how to read what's going on, actually going on, and not misinterpret it, which is also important.

Yeah. And one of the things that we cover and then is important for me is, you know, how do we sit? How do we stand? How do we face people both in the room and online? Anne, how much of the founders' work right now is online and how much do you say is face-to-face?

Ooh, that's a really good question.

Are we back to face-to-face or are we still pretty much online?

I think we're still pretty much online. We're seeing more face-to-face, and I know that last year I went to 3 events, 3 speaker events and 3 conferences in the whole year. Now I could have done that in a month or more, you know, and it was kind of— we were all very awkward. It was like we're so used to being— we were still wearing masks, of course. We're all fully vaccinated, um, to be able to go to those places because we weren't allowed in otherwise. However, just the rituals of meeting up with each other and speaking face to face was kind of weird for everybody. So I would say we're honestly 90% still online, Robert. And that's why it's important that, you know, you share with us some of those tips on how do you project your energy, um, you know, effectively to those investors so that you're power with through the screen, because that ain't easy.

No. And you need to manage the room even when you're on the screen.

Yes.

And you may even have some people who turn off the camera, who ask you questions. You know, you don't have the view of everybody and they may, they actually may not be fully with you. So how do you keep them with you? And a lot of it is energy. And a lot of it is being assertive.

Yes.

What I want to say is also important and we'll look at this is I'd like female founders to set an objective, to track the objective though. And I want you to talk a bit about, you know, how the class is set up and the backend and everything is so that this is a class that they can come back to.

Yes.

It's not just a one-time, uh, it's not, it's not an event. It's a process. And, and they can track their, their, their, their scores. And so, I want to move to that. I want to talk a bit about the contest.

Yes.

And let you talk about that, though.

Well, just before that, Robert, though, I think just link to it because I know you're going to talk about the contest. But let's before talk about within the course what you said was super important. So, it's a resource for founders to go back to before they're preparing a new investor meeting or when they want to kind of debrief with maybe a mentor, an advisor, with some of the tools. after an investor meeting. That's the first use case. The second one is when you, when you become part of this course, part of the course community, there's an online community there for you to actually interact with other founders who've taken the course, to share your experiences with the model and how it's worked for you, and interact with Robert. That's really important because it's kind of the first part of the bridge, if I'm using your analogy and your words. you know, to bridge to the next phase of, okay, how do I take this further? How does this help me for the next step? So you won't just use this course once. You can go back to it. You can come to the community to touch base with Robert and ask him your questions. And then there'll be more opportunities for one-to-one coaching with Robert as well that you learn once you're in that community. But you got to get in there first.

Yes. And to help people get in there, here's the exciting thing. Let me just talk a bit about this. So we're running a contest. We want to give away 10 classes, which are usually $49, to 10 female founders who think they have a really good idea and a reason that they want to win. And we're going to hold the class— the contest up to March 18th, and I think we'll do a drawing then. We do have a request.

Yes.

And maybe you can say a bit about what, you know, what our request is after you take the class.

Absolutely. So the request is for those of you who want a chance to win one of these 10 free access to the class— it's only for 10 people— the request is for those of you who are happy winners, first of all, we will announce the winners on March 21st, so you have until March 18th to apply. And I'm sharing the link. I've shared it with Robert and his, and his colleague T. I'm going to put it in Robert's LinkedIn as well underneath as a comment so you guys can already sign up, apply for the competition. All we want to know, we ask you 2 questions. We ask you, okay, tell us one of your funding challenges so far. What has been a challenge for you when you've been interacting with investors so far? Why? Because that's going to help us help you better in the course. Okay, so we ask you that question. And the second is like, okay, why should we pick you for this? What, like, how do you think this course is going to help you? So on the link that I'm sharing, um, under this recording that you're going to be watching, you will be— you'll have links to the intro video from Robert who reminds you about the conversation, plus the form. It's 2 quick fill-in boxes real quick as to why we should choose you.

Yeah.

And we have a link on the landing page to the course content so you can go and see, because we want you to read this and see if this is for you. We want to make sure this is for you because, hey, we know if you're an entrepreneur trying to build your business, Having these conversations with investors or potential partners are crucial, and knowing how to position yourself effectively and powerfully is a tool that's transferable. So honestly, honestly, invest in yourself as a founder, as the CEO of your company. Invest in yourself and inquire in acquiring these skills that you're going to learn from Robert because they will be super helpful in everything you're doing in your business.

And right now I'm putting up the— I want to put up the banner, which is, um, a link to Global Investor. And there's your Bitly. Yes, fast funding. What will we find there, Anne?

So you will find the information about the course, you will find information about the conversation— about the competition, sorry. And you're going to learn about all the different resources that are available from Global Investor for you if you're a female founder. I want to say, Robert, We are so proud to partner with you and with leaders like you. I think it's important for those who don't know, we have a history. We've worked together in the past when I was a leadership consultant.

Exactly.

I had the honor and pleasure of, you know, leading leadership training with Robert. He's phenomenal. Like, I sought him out. I said, let's do something together, Robert. I know you're brilliant. I know you've got the skills, the knowledge, the tools, and that you'll be super helpful to founders. So I'm really proud, Robert. Thank you for partnering with us to bring your knowledge, skills, To the founders, particularly to female founders, because we do need an extra leg up. There's nothing wrong with us. It's just, this is about equity. It's about getting us to a similar level of—

Leveling the playing field.

Yes, it's about leveling the playing field.

And being equal on the mat.

That's what we want. That's all we want. I mean, we don't want special treatment. It's just give us access to the same opportunity. That's all we're saying.

Absolutely.

Simple.

And I want to say how good it is to work with you. And for the forum, once we get to, you know, developing this forum, is I also coach in French, Spanish, German, and English. So if these languages meet some of your needs out there, these are some of the things we can look at. And later, I know this is coming up later, is specific pitch rehearsals. You know, we will talk about some of the packages later, though this is a lot of what I do once the model is in place and the microbehaviors we talk about Voice, tone, gesture, inside out, outside in, respect, likability. Once that's all down, then we look at gestures, rehearsing. What do I do when I get interrupted? How do I take these questions? So for me, that's also a really exciting component to get to.

Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Well, I thank you for coming today.

It's awesome. So thank you so much. Tell me, tell me more. Finish that. Go on.

No, I think I'm good to go. We had said we've got about half hour.

Got it. So I've just shared in the comments below this livestream in Robert's LinkedIn profile where you're seeing it. You can see it there, the link to the landing page for you to apply to this competition. So if you are a woman entrepreneur, apply now. If you are a person, a man or woman working in a corporate, and you know entrepreneurs and you know women entrepreneurs, or you know accelerators, or you know somebody who knows someone, pass on the link because that's how you can help as well as a leader in your corporation. You know, we want more women entrepreneurs to do business with your company, okay, to partner with you. So actually the skills they will learn in this course with Robert will also be very helpful to that in that stakeholder management and managing positioning themselves effectively, um, also with you if you're in a corporate. So yeah.

Entrepreneurship is, is everything here is also valid for entrepreneurship. If you're pitching something internally to your board, to an investment committee, you still will get promotion prevention questions. You will still have to manage the inside and the outside. So these are transferable skills. It doesn't mean because you're pitching externally. As relevant internally as externally. Absolutely, absolutely, Robert.

I think that's super valid. So kind of see it that this course is for everyone. We are kind of positioning it because GIH, Global Investor, we, we help specifically, we serve women entrepreneurs. For those of you who are non-women entrepreneurs but who are curious about this great stuff or know and love Robert already, have had the opportunity to learn with him, you love this. You already know how good he is. Hey, so if you know a woman entrepreneur, get her to apply to the competition. If it's for you, come on, invest in yourself as well and have more fun with Robert. Continue the learning with him in here.

Oh, thank you. Hey, can I just share a success story?

Please.

So, I worked with a female entrepreneur and she had done a panel presentation, oh, probably 2 years prior, and it did not go well. We worked together, we rehearsed, we did the voice, tone, gesture, body, we learned how to— and she went back and pitched again. She got it, she got what she wanted, she got even more, and one of the members on the panel came up and said— I'll call her Sophia— Sophia, I don't know what you've changed, something seems a bit different, though you certainly convinced us today you have our full support and buy-in. And, and when she wrote me, it touched me because she said, obviously a lot of it was me and I couldn't have done it without your support. And I'm not saying it because it is— I was so proud of the work she did.

Yeah.

And, and it's testimonial to how we can change the game. And so with that, I want to thank you for coming. And Anne, is there anything else we need to know about March being in, uh, Women's Month, just before we go, just let's end with that.

Let's end with that. So most of you know that International Women's Day is the 8th of March. At Global InvestHER, we make it the whole month because, hey, we're worth it, right? So all month long, you're going to hear from— we're going to be profiling and sharing the profiles of incredible women entrepreneurs and the resources that we have to help them. But really You're going to learn loads about great women entrepreneurs throughout the whole month. So stay tuned. If you're curious, check out this link here will help you get to the academy. You're going to learn about the course and there's a home button you can press to learn more about Global InvestHer. So yeah, really, it's an important month. So if you are a leader in any capacity, even if you're a parent and you're managing the Little League and you're coming, you know, a local football school or soccer or whatever it is, Or if you are a volunteer in an organization, whatever you are, you can also help. I would make this request as well, is apart from sharing our link to women entrepreneurs to apply, you can mentor a woman entrepreneur with your, with your knowledge and skills. You know, reach out to us and we'll help you know more about that. So that's like March is all about women entrepreneurs, guys.

And gals too, and everybody. And what a great, what a great month to launch this. So tomorrow we're starting the month of March. So here, here, here we are launching this, and, and we look forward to speaking to you again about it. And to all the people who want to join the contest, uh, wish you luck, and may the lucky people get the 10 classes. So yeah.

We'll be sharing across all our social media about the competition, so we will share everywhere. If you've missed this live, don't worry, we're going to share the replay. And of course, we'll be announcing the winners, those 10 lucky winners, on the 21st of March. So just the week, a few days afterwards, we'll go live and tell you who the 10 lucky people are.

On the equinox. Is that spring in the north and fall in the south? All right, great.

Like, that's really good for equality. Oh, I really like that, Robert. Thank you.

Great. Some things are shifting and moving. Okay, so with that, I want to thank everybody for coming. And Anne, thank you for dropping by. It's been great to to speak to you. And I'm, and, and I'm always— I want to say this, and I don't say it lightly— I'm, um, I'm inspired by, by your, your quest and, and your results. So thank you very much. Thank you. You know, I have a daughter and I have a son, and I want this for both of them.

That's my motivation too. My daughter is now turning 21, my son just turned 18 yesterday, and that's it. I want to leave a better world for they both have equal opportunity, and specifically in this one in this area and also for their children, my future grandchildren, great-grandchildren, whatever. I hope to make a difference. Thank you, Robert.

Thank you very much. And with that, everybody have a good rest of the day and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Stay well and be leaderlike.

Thank you. I will. Thank you, Robert. Take care, everybody. Bye.