Communities play an essential role in societies. They bring people together, provide a sense of belonging and enable them to grow with like-minded individuals.
In the startup world, these communities serve an incredibly valuable role — more so for underrepresented entrepreneurs such as women founders. The myriad of challenges women founders face are well documented (among them a lack of female role models, obtaining funding, and reckoning with feelings of inadequacy).
Therefore, these women-centric communities help them support one another during their entrepreneurial pursuits and in their fight to overcome the unique barriers facing them.
Community support for women founders is the way forward
My team and I actively hear about the importance of communities from women entrepreneurs who participate in our Google for Startups programs, most recently from two Southeast Asia-based founders who graduated from the 2022 Founders Academy, a mentorship-focused program that connects women-founded startups to Google’s resources, mentors and networks.
Azalea Ayuningtyas, the Founder of Indonesia-based business solutions startup Krealogic, shared these key learnings from the program, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, and finding the right communities and mentors can really take you places.”
Also Read: #She27: Celebrating 27 women shaping the future of tech
In a similar vein, Levana Sani, Founder of Singapore-headquartered biotech startup Nalagenetics, said, “The best part about this program is the friends you get to make. I now know I have friends all over the world, just doing great things. It feels like I am a part of a community.”
The Founders Academy has supported 27 women-led startups in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) from 2020 to 2022: seven startups in 2020, 10 in 2021 and 10 in 2022, a testament to Google’s ongoing commitment to level the playing field for founders, especially those who haven’t been afforded the same support or opportunities as others.
Our reason is simple. If women and other underrepresented founders aren’t given the same opportunities to build innovative new companies that bring products and solutions to the world, we all miss out, whether it’s solutions to improve your day-to-day life or drive economic growth. That’s why supporting all types of founders is important to us.
In the last three years we’ve run the Founders Academy in APAC, we’ve observed that women founders are increasingly innovating in health solutions. DAL Company, a female technology startup from Korea, uses AI and data to help female patients who suffer from menstruation, female diseases and sexually transmitted diseases, diagnose and treat their pain and discomfort.
India-based Zyla is a care management platform that provides personalised health interventions that include nutrition, physiotherapy, exercise and medication to deliver continuous care to patients.
Through mentorship and workshops, the Founders Academy has not only helped women founders take their businesses (like the ones above) to the next level but grow as leaders and entrepreneurs.
Sani shared, “Founders Academy came at a time when I personally needed professional coaching. A lot of alternatives were highly expensive and not practical for the company, so this program ticked all the right boxes.”
She outlined, “I got coaching. I got to have hard but necessary conversations with my co-founder. I also got feedback from investors about the company.”
Also Read: #MeToo in startups in SEA and the silence surrounding it is deafening
Ayuningtyas added, “Founders Academy helped me improve my leadership and communication skills, and more importantly, helped me connect and learn from other amazing women founders and mentors from the Google community worldwide.”
Since both founders graduated from the program in November 2022, they have seen significant growth in their startups. Sani’s Nalagenetics secured two major biotech clients and has been increasing its revenue by 80 per cent month over month, while Ayuningtyas’s Krealogi has partnered with a fintech firm to provide financing solutions to their MSME users and is finalising a pilot with a minimart chain to offer curated products to their users.
Final thoughts
Partnering with startups and watching them grow is what drives my team and me every day. Supporting startups will continue to be an essential part of Google’s work globally, especially in APAC, a hotbed for innovation, entrepreneurship and home to one of the world’s most tech-savvy, youngest and most ambitious populations.
We believe that startups are solving the world’s important challenges with agility, innovative technology, and determination, and we’re proud to help. Through various Google for Startups initiatives, we hope to bring our products, connections and best practices to help even more startups — especially the underrepresented ones — thrive and grow their businesses. When they succeed, our communities and economies succeed, and everyone benefits.
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