Recession Be Damned, Women Founders Bullish On Future At Electrify Aotearoa 2024

With yesterday’s announcement that NZ has seen just 0.2% in GDP growth this past quarter, many around the country are bracing themselves to batten down the economic hatches for another grim financial quarter.

But for the 600-odd women startup founders and their supporters assembled at Electrify Aotearoa 2024, spirits were high and the future was bright for women leading globally bound ventures.

The sold out event, intended to celebrate, connect,and inspire women founders, took over Wellington’s historic St. James Theatre for a day of learning, stories and strategies for success to level the playing field and remove the friction that exists for women in the startup sector worldwide and in NZ. and connection.

Despite the fact that women are disproportionately impacted by recessionary environments, the conversation was focused exclusively on growth for founders of businesses, said Electrify Chairwoman, Marian Johnson.

“When we think about the added pressure of recession on founders, what’s new? They’re already pushing boulders uphill, they’re already struggling for capital, they’ve already had to build resilience and perseverance. Same thing, different day and if anything, It’s exactly this time when so many new founders will emerge,” said Johnson.

Electrify Aotearoa saw the NZ premiere of global documentary Show Her the Money, a film that addresses how women worldwide are getting less than 2% of venture capital funding.

The documentary strengthened the event's call for greater investment opportunities for women, says Johnson.

“This is an issue of the investment capital world having been built by men, for men. This is about doing startups differently. We are a progressive nation with an appetite for ethical capitalism and our wāhine toa exemplify this superpower. If we can reach the bare minimum of parity amongst New Zealand founders, we’re looking at $32b of increased employment and GDP to our country’s bottom line. It’s an epic no-brainer to “show her the money!”

This topic came to a head during one public discussion, where a male investor noted what he considered the relatively low risk-taking of women founders, thereby representing what many considered the subconscious bias that is rampant within the investment community .

The investor went on to share the stats that underlined this view such as men’s higher rate of smoking, car crashes,drug use and other risky behaviours.

“Women may be less likely to do dumb stuff, but as founders they take broadly well-informed risks with an understanding of the opportunity at hand. In fact, despite being far less likely to receive investment, women founders outperform their male-founded counterparts, generating 78 cents of revenue for every dollar of funding,” said Electrify’s Marian Johnson.

Across all presentations, discussions, and masterclasses, the systemic issues facing women in the sector was a theme on everyone’s mind.

“I had a member of my extended family who on the first international shipment of Ethique, was asking me whether the products I was sending were really good enough? 22 countries later and the answer is yes,” said Brianne West, founder of Amazeballs.

“Where we women tend to get left behind is where we undersell ourselves,” said Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins.

“If you don’t believe in what you’re selling you can’t sell it. So you need to believe in yourself in order to sell your dream,”

Collins also hinted at additional support from the Government to the technology sector, in the form of improvement to the ESOP scheme with guidance from the startup council, and the potential of a “Global Growth Tech Visa” to help kiwi businesses access the best quality talent from around the world.

Wellington’s sell-out event followed sell-outs in Christchurch and Auckland in previous years. Despite the growing momentum for change, Electrify Aotearoa’s message of increasing equality for women in globally bound startup - especially in capital investment - remains as relevant as ever.

“People need to stop talking about imposter syndrome. The environment needs to change, not you,” said Anna Curzon, former CPO at Xero.

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