Seven harsh truths we've learned as young female business founders

1News

05-05-2025

Fifteen years of working in the finance world didn't prepare Victoria Harris for the harsh realities young female entrepreneurs face when they seek investment in a startup. She shares seven lessons she and business partner Sophie Hallwright learned when they co-founded their business
Let's set the scene. Before The Curve, I (Vic) spent about 15 years in the finance world hearing investment pitches — slick decks, sharp suits, confident projections. I thought I'd seen it all.
So when it was our turn to raise money for our own business, I thought: 'We've got this'. We had the numbers. We had the traction. We had a big, world-changing idea.
LOL. What I veeeeeery quickly learned is that being a female founder in a male-dominated industry is a whole different game — and the rules aren't exactly fair.
Here are seven raw, honest truths we uncovered along the way.
The Curve co-founder Victoria Harris tells Breakfast about the brutal - but beautiful - truths of raising money as female business founders. (Source: Breakfast)
You read that right.
Less than 2% of global venture capital funding (or VC) goes to women-led startups — and it shows.
That means out of every $100 invested, less than $2 goes to women. And it's not because our ideas aren't good enough. It's because we often don't look like what investors expect to see when they hear the word 'founder'. So we were already playing catch-up the second we walked through the door (or entered the Google Meet) — pitching ourselves before we even pitched the business.
One of the hardest — and most frustrating — truths to accept? People back people who look like them. It's not always conscious, but it's deeply human. We gravitate toward the familiar. We trust what we recognise.
And in finance, that usually means men investing in… you guessed it, men. And in the world of finance, the 'norm' is still white, male, and very at home on the corporate ladder.
So what happens when two women in their early 30s walk into the room, talking about a finance platform built for women, by women?
We've felt the shift. The tilt of a head. The polite-but-sceptical smile.
Suddenly, our ambition is seen as 'aggressive". Our confidence gets side-eyed.
We've had our numbers picked apart, not because they didn't stack up — but because they came from us.
Spoiler: we didn't just know the numbers — we built them.
This is the part that truly blows our minds. Female-founded startups generate 78 cents of revenue for every dollar invested. Male-founded ones? Just 31 cents. And yet, women get a tiny fraction of the funding. Whhhaaaat??
To go even further, female founders generate 10% more revenue over five years than their male counterparts. The numbers don't lie — women-led businesses deliver.
Having seen hundreds of investment pitches in my previous career, I thought I'd be immune to the nerves.
Wrong. It's totally different when it's your baby on the table.
Your dream. Your pitch. Your vision that someone's about to judge — usually in a room full of people who've never had to fight this hard to be taken seriously. The imposter syndrome is real.
Turns out, when women pitch to investors, we're not just judged more harshly — we're asked completely different questions.
Men are way more likely to be asked about how big their business could be — things like growth, potential, and vision.
Us? We got grilled about what could go wrong. Risk, churn, competition, failure.
So while a male founder might be asked, 'How will you scale to a million users?' we got, 'How will you stop people from leaving?'
Even worse? When asked these questions, we naturally answered in the tone of the question. So when we are asked about risk, we naturally talk about risk — and boom, you stay stuck in the 'safe but small' box reserved for women. The cycle repeats.
And the sad news is that we weren't even conscious of this happening until after we'd left the room and it was too late to change the dialogue. Cool.
We pitched The Curve over 100 times to various potential investors. Some meetings were energising. Some were soul-crushing.
Some investors loved the idea but didn't understand the space. Others thought it was 'a bit niche' (aka 'for women', who are over 50% of the population, I might add).
Eventually, we stopped trying to win everyone over. Instead, we focused on finding the right people — investors who got it, who got us, and who had a passion to be a part of something bigger than just our business.
We've always been protective of The Curve. It's our firstborn. So the idea of bringing in outside investors? Terrifying. What if they didn't get it? What if they tried to change it?
But we made a decision early on: we didn't want to just take money. We wanted to take the right money. The kind that comes with belief, support, and the kind of brainpower that helps you scale.
The Curve now has a group of investors filled with incredibly talented women, fintech veterans, brand experts, and operators who know how to build things that last.
And yes, we eventually raised the money we needed to raise our baby.
So, if you're a woman thinking about raising capital — do it. Just know it'll be tough. Know the stats aren't on your side (yet). But also know that the more women who raise money, grow their businesses and scale — the more we change the narrative.
Also remember, fear is growth.
If you ever need a gut check, a pep talk or a behind-the-scenes download, our DMs are wide open.
Let's raise the curve.
Victoria Harris (with Sophie Hallwright) runs The Curve, a finance education platform.