Guest Blog written by Lorraine Curham, NDRC Accelerator Director

Women tech founders fill Dogpatch’s Vaults at Fierce’s first session AI & Startups: 18-Month Outlook with Patricia Scanlon

Lot of events out there for women and women founders in tech exist to tick a box. Rinse and repeat; maybe because that’s how it’s always been done? And it works. Sometimes. Eighteen months ago, NDRC started a network because we wanted to see more women founders in tech getting the support they truly need - whether it’s through the NDRC Accelerator, Enterprise Ireland, or simply through a wider network of connections. It organically grew to 400 women founders in tech. We ran action-focused events. They were good - but we knew Fierce could do better. So, two months ago, I (Lorraine Curham) locked myself in my study, bought a whiteboard, and became very familiar with my old friend, caffeine. It was the first thought every morning and the last thought at night. I spoke with successful women founders in tech, new women founders in tech, and with failed women founders in tech. An 80-hour week, every week, became the norm.

And it was worth every second.

Last Friday, Fierce (the since dubbed ‘Glastonbury for Women Founders’) took over the Dogpatch Labs Vaults, supported by NDRC. It was incredible. It was practical. It got sh*t done. So, I am sharing my learning with you. Because, if we are going to change the narrative, it will be through collaboration - not competition. Let’s break things.

Reason #1 | Entrepreneur-led & Founder-First Mentality

Roundtable: Do’s & Don’ts of Acquisition with exited founders

We made a decision very early on that this event would be entirely founder-first and entrepreneur-led. That meant founders were at the heart of every decision we made. It’s why there were no consultants or advisors in the room, why it was invite-only, why every session was led by a founder. It’s why we facilitated free childcare (in fact, it’s why the entire event was free!), and was held on a Friday.

Our goal was to allow every founder to shape the day to their needs - regardless of whether they wanted to focus on fundraising, building product, talent acquisition, leadership development or gaining traction. All the while, having opportunities to build up their network, with all attendees getting access to each other pre and post-event to facilitate connection.

This event was built by women founders, for women founders.

Reason #2 | Focus on Outcomes

I love being inspired as much as the next person. But the reality is that inspiration doesn’t get the work done. And at Fierce, we want to get down to business, and fast.

One-to-one Investor Mentoring with experts from Delta, Sure Valley Ventures, MiddleGame Ventures, AwakenHub and more

Putting ourselves in this founder-first mentality meant that we really focused on what women founders need and want. So, we did our research, spoke to founders and curated the day around the outcomes they wanted, rather than appeasing to organisational preferences.

This translated into one-to-one investor mentoring, product mentoring and legal mentoring (from a startup solicitor), access to workshops on investment rounds (angel, venture capital, and Enterprise Ireland funding), expanding into the US, hiring tech talent, getting acquired, startup tax and legals, building scalable product, and startup supports, plus fireside chats on our mainstage from founders who have lived through the biggest problems out there.

Finally (and this is my favourite part), we held 8-9 closed-door roundtable discussions on all the topics above (as well as a session on Founder F**k ups), where entrepreneurs learned from other founders who were a couple of years ahead of where they are right now. Attendees left these sessions calling them ‘founder therapy’ and said they now had a roadmap in mind on what they needed to achieve in the next few months to get to their next important milestone.

Reason #3 | Build the Right Environment

Founders swap war stories, and lessons with early-stage founders

To start with, we created the right environment. Chatham House Rules was upheld in every session across the day, creating a space of integrity and trust that everyone leaned into. Rooms all over Dogpatch were set up differently depending on the session (a few bottles of vino may even have broken out for one particular session). The result? Complete vulnerability. Founders opened up, telling real-life, no holes barred stories. There were no anecdotes here of 5am starts, followed by a run, meditation and green smoothie before moon-walking into work with a smile on their face. Things got real. And this demonstrates a very simple fact - if you can get the right people together, in the right environment, magic happens.

Friday was amazing. We cannot wait to do it again. And, if you are a woman founder in tech reading this, remember:

You are Fierce. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.

Be part of Fierce