How Venture Studios Propel Women Led Businesses with Melissa Wallace

When you invest in women, you invest in all of humanity and the economy.

Melissa Wallace is the CEO of Fierce Foundry and co-founder of Fivefoottwo Marketing. Melissa has more than 25 years of marketing experience across many different areas - B2B, consumer, and the creative agency world, with a focus on pioneering technologies and entertainment. In 2023 Melissa launched Fierce Foundry - the first-ever FemTech Venture studio designed to reduce and equalize the deficit and funding for female founders. 

Unlike traditional accelerators or incubators, a venture studio builds companies from idea to exit, offering full lifecycle support to founders. Melissa explained how Fierce Foundry provides both entrepreneurial and business expertise to help women founders launch and scale their companies, with the goal of driving these companies to exit and reinvest in other female-led ventures, creating a "flywheel" effect.

Male-focused startup model doesn't work as well for women entrepreneurs. Women face different challenges and need a tailored approach to success, one that better reflects our experiences and mindsets that don’t have drinking bourbon and smoking cigars mindset.

Women also have more phases in their lives, need reinventing, and as Melissa stated even middle of the life retirement. Reality is just different and career paths and models should be different as well. For Melissa resilience is a key trait for women in business but self-care is a critical component of success in entrepreneurship.

We are all equal, but we are different and that is why women should support other women in business, from investing in female-founded businesses to simply creating space for women to thrive without burning out. 

Show notes:
👩‍💼 Melissa has been a huge proponent for women for decades: traction on the prototype was not possible, so she started bridging the gap through her venture studio. (3:59)
⭐ What is a venture studio: building products with creators to de-risk the investment, while incubators and accelerators only offer partial support. (08:15)
🤩 How the venture studio is funded: crowdfunding, donations, family offices, VCs, and angel investors. (13:07)
🆚 Female vs. male model of doing business: women need a model with flexibility. (16:48)
👠 Two phases of women’s lives: saving, reinventing, and being resilient. (20:49)
🗝️ Learning about yourself through entrepreneurship: mindset, self-care, and time management are key pillars. (24:58)
⚡Positive stress is energy that pushes and motivates you: learn your capabilities and work within boundaries that keep you happy and healthy. (27:24)
🌷 Learning from being laid off: take the opportunity to rethink your direction and focus on your happiness. (29:43)
🎤 Melissa will be a panelist at She Leads LIVE 2024: her membership includes a community for female founders. (31:55)

Links:

Connect: www.linkedin.com/in/melissahudsonwallace

Website: www.thefiercefoundry.com/about-us 

-Connect with Adrienne: www.sheleadsmedia.com

-Listen to podcasts for women by women on the She Leads Podcast Network: www.sheleadspodcasts.com

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