Investing in Female Founders: A Trillion-Dollar Community for Women-Led Startups

Speaker A: Startups with at least one female founder outperform all male teams by 68%. The data is out there and like, I heard people talking to the guy in the room and the guy is her pa. She's the CEO.

Speaker B: The Startup Sensations podcast firsthand accounts of the real stories behind the successes, challenges and opportunities of starting and growing a startup company from both sides of the pond. With Belent Osman and Shelley Bayes. And, uh, welcome back to yet another episode of the Startup Sensations podcast with me, Belent Osman. And I am here in the uk, just outside London.

Speaker C: Hey, Belent, how are you doing today? This is Shelly here in California.

Speaker B: Nice to see you again, Shelly. And hey, Shelley, Guess what? This is the final episode of season six.

Speaker C: I know it. My goodness.

Speaker B: Can you believe it?

Speaker A: No.

Speaker B: And M, of course, just before the end of the year, just before the Christmas holidays.

Speaker C: This will be a fun one. This is a great way to close out 2025. Our guest, David Fogel, who is one of four co founders of Alma Angels in the UK and, uh, we'll let him explain the impressive nature of Alma Angels, then we'll wrap up and look forward to next.

Speaker B: And I'm delighted to say David Fogel now joins us from northwest London. David, uh, brilliant to have you on the show. How are you today?

Speaker A: I'm good. Enjoying the sunny weather.

Speaker C: Hi, David.

Speaker A: Hi, Charlene.

Speaker C: Nice to see you again.

Speaker B: Well, David, um, as we said, uh, in our introduction, you are the co founder of Alma Angels. Uh, so please kick us off by telling us a bit about Alma. What is it all about and what specifically do you do in your role?

Speaker A: What? I'll start with an overview on a really high level. Alma is a movement. We're not a syndicate, we're not a fund. We are a community of diverse angels that are investing in startups that have at least one female founder. We started it basically six years ago now. And, uh, the community is about 600 angels and investors, 75% of them women. And we've invested in close to 250 startups over the last five and a half years.

Speaker C: That's a cool track record, I have to say.

Speaker A: Uh, investing, yes, but, you know, investing is also about returns. So tell me. I'll tell you in 10 years if it works.

Speaker C: I love the whole concept of angel investing, having spent time in that ecosystem myself for years and years. Tell me a little bit about what you see happening today. What are some of the challenges? What are some of the positive things that have happened over the last several years, both from the investor side and from the startup side, I'm kind of interested in that.

Speaker A: I think uh, angel investing as a whole has evolved I think. And again there's the European British angle of it versus the American one. But I think in general there's just a lot more angel investors. I think people are a lot more comfortable with the word. And again it's relative because the number of angel investors in the US is still probably one of the highest, uh, if you accumulate all other angels across the globe. But the UK and Europe have been a lot more prevalent into creating and doing that. I think one of the challenges is that the average angel in Europe is still more kind of a senior exec that has capital and has made their fortune through work and not through startups. But even that is little by little changing and we have more generation like that. I think specifically now there's a lot more push towards deep tech and bio and health. So if in the past, uh, when you invest as an Angelo was rather generalist approach, there's a lot more thematic going deeper, focusing more. And uh, sometimes, although it's always about the people, having specific knowledge becomes super relevant.

Speaker C: That's interesting.

Speaker A: There's still B2B SaaS, not to say there aren't.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: But like deep tech, especially in Europe over the last five years have taken like a front row center kind of bouncing uh, up or more VCs coming about. So more angels experience with them as well.

Speaker C: So do you find that the angels in your organization feel the need to kind of school themselves in some of these technologies or are they still just pretty brave and willing to go by the team and the concept and that sort of thing?

Speaker A: Yes and yes. I think the challenge, uh, this goes back to who we are as a community. So Alma's mission itself is to generate $1 trillion in women led wealth by 2050.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: It's not just a big number. We come out of it. We literally like started from the end and the reverse engineer, which is what we always recommend startups to do. And the rationale behind how we started it comes from the fact that I would say for me specifically it started way back in 2017 when the MeToo movement happened. I was a partner in a big VC firm, £150 million. And I was shocked of what happened in the industry and I was like, okay, I need to do stuff to change stuff. And uh, at that time I didn't know what to do. So I just started working with female founders, said listen, access is number one. If you need access to investors, let me Help and connect you. And bit by bit, I think spent about two years just pro bono supporting female founder. And I got exposed to what today I called the shit show with fundraising will be in a woman, which is completely different than fundraising will be in a man. I heard people get comments like, you know, when you get pregnant, will probably be in a proper CEO to replace you.

Speaker C: Oh gosh, yes, yes.

Speaker A: More than once. Or you know, this is probably like, uh, you're not too smart to get this. So I'll talk to your co founder, which is a guy or just talking. She's the CEO or talking to the guy in the room and the guy is her pa. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: We've heard that story before.

Speaker A: And it was like, it just kept coming across the board. But uh, there's also the whole sexual harassment aspects stuff like, no, if you come to my hotel room, we can close the deal faster. Or just you and I on Friday 8pm, let's close the deal. You wear a shirt to skirt. I'll probably say yes faster, and so on and so forth. Mhm. And like I was infuriated.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: But I was like, this doesn't compute. Most of the female founders were like, yeah, we'll just disregard that and continue doing uh, our own thing. And they end up raising and building startups. And I was there furious, saying I need to change something. And at core, the angel investing specifically. But every early stage investment people have a fallacy that it's all about data and stories. It's like, can I actually see the business? Actually a lot of early stage investment. And Shelly, you've done this a lot. You know that also is about do I like you? Do we connect as an individual? Do I believe that if I give you my money, you work your ass off for the next 10 years and do I want to be part of your journey?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And that is something that nature built us. Very simple. If we look alike, where we have higher likelihood to connect.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And all of that is not problem is just bias. It's existing in everything. But the reality is 90% of investors across all levels are men.

Speaker C: Mm hm.

Speaker A: So they connect faster with other men. And there's no malice here. Nobody says stop investing in mendicant.

Speaker C: Right.

Speaker A: But it just naturally happens. And I can do with my money whatever I want. And if I connect with you, I'll do that. And the core, when you look at the scale of it, we realize that over the last 25 years you probably heard these numbers a lot. 2% of venture capital goes to all Women team on average every year. And uh, if you took a diverse teams, it grew from 6% to about 10%. That means 88% of capital goes to all male teams. But if you're asking about why it hasn't changed, our thesis is the reason is the people who write the checks connect faster with people who look like them.

Speaker C: I think that's interesting because we've heard various people put forward theories. You know, some people said, well, we need more women trained in stem.

Speaker A: We're a pro bono organization, have zero marketing budget and we see a thousand startups a year all within our criteria, which is tech or IP science. IP with at least one female founder that owns a material stake in the business. Yeah, there's no deal flow problem. It's not. Women don't know the stories. And this is as an investor that was both a VC and an angel and a corporate venture investor. The system is built the way a fund is built is that you decide who you want to invest and you believe in that individual. And again, there's nothing bad with doing this, but you have no incentive to change the behavior because it works.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's right.

Speaker A: Like why should I work harder to diversify in my pool of investees if the one that I currently have is not bad? Like it works.

Speaker C: It's good enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: And changing your bias makes like it takes a lot of effort. I don't know if you ever tried like uh, stop smoking. But we have a hundred like 50 years of data to show that smoking is bad for you. Nobody debates that. And still people smoke like crazy. Like it's not about the data.

Speaker C: It's not an intellectual decision is what you're saying. Yes.

Speaker A: Completely unrelated. In 2015, first round capital from the Valley did an analysis on um, their own portfolio and they showed, and it's public on the, on um, their website that startups with at least one female founder from their investment over the last decade outperform all male teams by 68%. Data has been out there for more than a decade on venture capital like funds. Yeah, but if you actually go to that level, the mission of our how do we want to create that 1 trillion is not to educate you to stop your bias, just lean into the bias. We just need to move the number of investors. So having more Shelley's invest and 10% women investors to 50% women investors and they women have the same bias.

Speaker C: That's right.

Speaker A: It's not that we're going to fight her. Yeah, women will invest more in women founders and that's how we actually change the narrative.

Speaker C: Interesting.

Speaker B: David, can you. I mean, this is, this is a fascinating area and Shelley and I have explored this in previous seasons of the podcast. We've had various guests talking, uh, on, on this subject. So really what you're saying, David, is that you'll obviously assess the founder and the founding team for their vision and, and, and the ability to execute and hopefully to deliver the returns that you're looking for. How do you go about assessing that? You know, so putting gender to one side, how do you decide? Yes, I'll wish to invest in this, uh, female or this male or whatever.

Speaker A: So I've been in the industry for 25 years. I've invested, as I mentioned, as a VC, with my own firm, as a corporate venture investor, and even did a Stanton M and A. I can attest to my own personal experience. But if we try to, uh, talk about Alma, um, I think the challenge with ALMA is that I don't take any decision. And this is how we're unique. Our job within ALMA and the way you actually get to 1 trillion by 2050 is by being a decentralized investment platform. So most platform, most communities, you know, basically build syndicates where, let's say Shelley, Blunt and David are the decision maker, decide which startup to look at to do due diligence, and then if Shelly says this is great, everybody pile in. So you either trust Shelley with her judgment or not. Yeah, but basically the challenge is it's limited by number of people that are able to do due diligence. And if it's Shelly and David, that means we see an invest in five to 10 deals a year, Alma, on average. The way we work, we invest in 50 startups. And the way it's because our goal is to help Shelley make her own angel investment and share it with the community. So when Shelley sees something interesting, she goes into the community, say, I'm, um, looking to do a due diligence on this startup. Anybody wants to join behind the scenes, this is what we do. We go to everybody. If you in your profile said you're interested in health tech, B2B SaaS, and Shelley, that's what she brought in. We're organized. The due diligence, you all get it in your inbox with an invite calendar with all the details, and you say yes or no if I want to, if I'm interested in. So we provide access to all the founders saying, suddenly you can get 50 angels that said they're interested in the field to take a look at your Day out of them, 10 will probably join the call. Out of them, five or eight may end up investing. So all we do is operations behind the scenes. And that's why we end up doing about 120 due diligence calls every year.

Speaker C: So rather than sort of pitches, what you're focused on is more the content in a way, which is really looking at the content by subject matter experts, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker A: Exactly. The, the relevant people within the community dive deeper. And they already said we're interested in this type of business. So any type of business, uh, like this they will look at. But that also allows us to do it in a decentralized manner. So Shelley Investing is not related to David Investing. And it's predominantly helpful for the founders because they get cash faster. But it's also one due diligence is not delaying another. And again, the last six years basically have been purely pro bono, but we just became a nonprofit and we want to build a fund that will align with this. But the goal itself, and how do you get to 1 trillion, is build a community that does this with 10,000 members. So currently we're 600, about 250 of them active every year. But that's how angels, basically they have a three year lifespan because like that's how you invest your own money. So you invest for three years. Years, take a year or two break and then come back. But if you have an ongoing community and we scale the community to 10,000 members, that's how we actually end up with a thousand investments a year. Out of them, only a hundred may be venture backable, but that means a thousand startups out there end up getting capital and getting opportunity. And if you do that substantially over the next 25 years, you build a portfolio of 20,000 startups.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: Out of them, 2,000 will survive. It will be great companies. Companies out of power law still works. Uh, out of those 2000, only 10%, 200 will be amazing companies. And out of all those 2000, one will be in one hell of a trillion dollar company.

Speaker C: And that's the one that you boast about. What's your process for creating new angels? For making this, you know, not an exclusive little club, but a more inclusive kind of organization.

Speaker A: So, um, two ways to get into alma. You either get an ALMA to nominate you, or you just join a breakfast or an AMA session and nominate yourself. But the core requirement is that you take a pledge that you have the money and are able and willing to invest in at least three female founders over the next 12 months.

Speaker C: Okay.

Speaker A: Advice and mentorship and education all is nice. But what matters is actual capital deployment. And this is what we differentiate between. And the pledge is not a legal document, but it's like a declaration of intentions that I know that this is about investing. And then we take on um, all the burden of education. So we have sessions basically teaching you about angel investing if you haven't done it before. But again we come from startups so our entire approach is you need for the. This is why we said 12 months. The first six months is probably just getting to learn and join the community. But our internal KPIs, if you join 10 due diligence calls within the first six months. Because angel investing is learning by doing it.

Speaker C: Absolutely is.

Speaker A: I don't know if you know the stats like all of those online education platforms usually have a conversion of 1 to 2% into angel investing within the first year because like theoretical doesn't matter. It's about actually going, seeing deals, seeing startup, building your own conviction. So everything is about pushing angels to meet startup, to meet founders and to get in front of them as much as you can. And that's how you build your own ability to say this is good, this is bad. I can put 20k in after 2 hours of meeting or not.

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: Uh, and again we do that as a community. So each angel supports each other. Uh, like we create currently on Slack and WhatsApp. But on um, Slack you can create private channels for people who are interested in specific deals and they can share their thoughts and insights and advice on this.

Speaker C: Well, it is a community but the thing that people sometimes forget is, is it has to be an active community and that takes behind the scenes support.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker C: You know, it doesn't just happen by itself. I wanted to ask you a question before I forget. Are you seeing any major change in the demographics of um, angel investors? Are there lots of younger people that are starting to play in the game or not or what do you, what are you seeing?

Speaker A: So again like in the very limited lens of the UK and perhaps Europe, I'll add specific to the uk. Yes there is. But one of the benefits or the, the incentives for this, uh, and Blend will know this even better is that there's uh, an amazing tax benefits here to do angel investing.

Speaker B: Seis and eis.

Speaker A: Exactly like to the level that you can invest as an individual 200k a year every year and get a 50% of it automatically as income, uh, tax relief the same year. But also if you exit after three years, you are not Taxed on any capital gains on that?

Speaker C: Yeah, it's superb.

Speaker B: And there's loss relief as well, isn't there David?

Speaker A: There's another loss relief. So if you actually close, if the business is closed, another 25% out of the original 100 you can actually claim loss relief. And the really interesting part is you can actually reinvest other capital gains via this scheme and won't be taxed on them till you realize.

Speaker C: Wow.

Speaker A: So if you, if you sell shares, gain something instead of being taxed on that gain, you can invest it as under this scheme, into a startup and only pay the relevant tax like three to five to 10 years when that startup exits and the equivalent sum of your original investment.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: Now this sounds amazing but it's only 200k more or less the same scheme with, it's called EIS for more mature companies. It's true for up to a million a year.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So a million a year with 30% or 200k for 50%. Basically if you're angel investing, if you have ah, like portfolio like asset uh, management and you're not angel investing the UK because like you're leaving money on the table.

Speaker C: On the table, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: So there's a lot more interest in this. And just to like to put in perspective in numbers through these schemes, I think the last numbers are from 2023, 3, 3 billion pounds has been invested in the UK economy and that still is only 10% of the people who are actually eligible to claim.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: So yes there, there, there's a lot and you do see a lot more, you know, late 20s PE, like young uh, professionals coming into this because they realize that even if they put 10, 20, 30k that they made gain the gain somewhere else, they can actually benefit.

Speaker B: You've mentioned the word education a few times and you're talking about educating corporates to angel investors. What about the founders themselves? What support do you give especially after funding? Right, so they've raised some money, uh, they've got some cash to spend in their businesses to help them grow. What support is there for them to grow their businesses and hopefully get to an exit for everyone.

Speaker A: So I would say there's two aspects. As an individual I do a lot of hours supporting, advising founders between two to five hours a week, just one to ones with founders. This goes back to how do you create systemic change and scalable one. Our goal in Alma is to make the angel that person for the founder. So we actually do live sessions of angels sharing their own experience on how they help and support Their own portfolio founders and how you should go about doing it and how should think based on your own relevant experience. And of course, if one of the ALMA angels says, hey, my founder needs support in this, we either find them the support through the community or jump in and support that. That's the favorite part of the work, working with the founders.

Speaker C: You know what? So David, one of the things, speaking as a woman, um, that women are often bad at because of many of the reasons you talked about earlier is asking for help. You know, lots of times they're worried that that will be seen as a weakness or whatever. Do you see that happening with your female founder portfolio?

Speaker A: Less so.

Speaker B: Oh, ah, good.

Speaker A: Less so. And like, I'll, uh, I'll tell you something that was clue. I was clued in by my co founder. So ALMA is founded by four people. Uh, Ella Dipali, Roxane and myself. And there were two things that I didn't think about. But the composition of the community mirrors the, the founders. So we're 75% women on the founding team, but also and the community. And the moment women become more than 50% of, of something, then the discussion changes the way that we're having the discussion. And they feel a lot more comfortable being themselves versus acting up to somebody else. And then I do think and see both angels and like, uh, founders asking for help and supporting. It's still weird because it's an online platform and unless you meet the person, people still feel comfortable to do it one on one. But it's not as bad or as challenging as other places.

Speaker C: Tell us a little bit about your background and uh, the kinds of things that were pivotal to how you ended up here, which is very impressive place.

Speaker A: Usually I get this question in terms of like, so what happened? Did you have a daughter or something happened to your wife?

Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.

Speaker A: And the reality is like, it is part of a lot of self reflection and my own personal journey, I think on a really high level, like not going too deep because we don't have the time. I was born Romania, uh, and we fled communism to Israel. And I never, I'd never realized it, but Israel was the only place in the world I as a Jewish man, I can go grow and be part of the majority. And it defined a lot in my sense of self. And I wasn't aware that there's anti Semitism. Well, of course I was aware because like I heard the stories Holocaust, my grandparents and all that. I never experienced that till I left like in 2010. And suddenly like, oh, I'm A minority. I never thought about that. And then through that journey over the last 15 years, I ended up. I worked a lot in Africa. I scaled the startup there to 150 employees and about three and a half million users. And there's a lot of cultural differences, but also expectations. And, you know, I. I remember having conversation with my, um, black British friends that in many cases, they come into the room and they're the only black person there, and they're like. And we get that feeling where, you know, nobody's looking at us, but everybody's looking at us. Yes, yes, of course, you. You understand that intellectually. But then I went to Africa, and I remember a car, like, a time I walked in the middle of the village and I looked around, I was like, that's the feeling. Because nobody was looking at me, but I was the only white person from 500, uh, miles around, and everybody were looking at me. And then you get a glimpse into the other side, uh, of people and what they face. And again, for me, the whole aspect when the MeToo movement happened, that was my. And I know in a very naive aspect is like, sexual harassment happens everywhere. Like, uh, it's not unique to Venture. But I was, like, completely taken aback because I didn't even think about it, because, again, the privilege of being a white man in this ecosystem is that you don't think about this. Yeah. And then I got exposed to it, and I got more and more and heard the stories, and I think all that made me say, like, this is something I want to help because I believe in this ecosystem. And, like, I was. I grew up with, like, a weird sense of fairness, that life should be fair, and if not, you should try and fix it.

Speaker C: Me, too. And it isn't.

Speaker A: But, like. But that was, for me, the moment when. Because I remember when I was, like, raging about all this unfairness and Venture and how this happens. And, like, people I know, like, behave like this. And this smart, awesome woman, uh, and VC is a good friend, took me aside and said, david, we know who these people are. It's not new, but now it's public. But we know for a while, and we just, like, they have money, their network, we can't do anything.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: It is what it is. I was like, I should not accept that. And Alma, today, in the narrative and everything I shared is very simple, but it took us a lot of time. Like, I spent two years talking about this and thinking about this, but then I met Ella and Deepali and Roxanne, and, like, it's a Lot clearer today. But it came from just a desire to change and not to be a keyboard activist, but to actually do stuff.

Speaker B: Talking about change, David, what further change, uh, do you think that we should be considering acting upon we as a society or we as a community to actually improve the chances for female founders? And are there any legislative moves that you would recommend Governments maybe in the UK but other places as well to try to bring in place.

Speaker A: I think this is a touchy subject because people always assume when you talk about let's create all kinds of systems to create a more diverse. It's about against the average white man. And I think the reality is data doesn't move people because the data is out there. But I'll give you a good sense that when it became a uh, tipping point, So I think 2017, the CEO of BlackRock came out publicly and said we will not invest in any company that doesn't have at least one woman on the board of directors two years after, I think or just less uh, than that. 2018, 2019, the CEO of uh, legal and General said the same within less than five years. All Fortune 500 companies have at least 33% women and diverse board members.

Speaker C: Interesting. Wow.

Speaker A: The equivalent for venture is the LPs. I think the reality in uh, if you think about the UK and Europe, I don't know if in the US they know this, but the biggest LP in both ecosystem EU and UK are the governments. The British business bank in the UK and the European uh, investment bank in uh EU. They anchor I would say 80% of the new funds that have been created in each of those jurisdictions.

Speaker C: Wow, I didn't know that. Interesting.

Speaker A: And uh, the rest of the money is usually from Americans and Canadians pension funds less so from like local pension funds. Like there's a whole debate there. But like pension should allocate at least 5% to private equity and venture capital. In the UK they allocate about 1%. So all the, all the success of the UK uh venture ecosystem goes to the moneymakers in Canada and the us but also the BBB and eif. But they don't have any requirements. Like this is taxpayers money they invest.

Speaker C: Uh-huh.

Speaker A: And they don't have any requirements. Now the BBB in the UK now has a program the building. They realize you need to build more diversity into this. And they started this, a small program that will start deploy next year. The pathway, which is basically for diverse investors that have no track record. And then basically you can create small funds that are up to 20 million and they can put 5 million into it to get you started, uh, and build a track record for that. And again, they're doing stuff. But the LP layer, if the LP layer will say, this is material, we want to see this, it will happen. Think that the funniest thing that happened. And this is why I like, I would say it's the equivalent of gender washing in 2017. Because part of this fiasco of the Me Too movement, so many VCs in Europe were like, there was a lava like shout that they don't have any women partners. Even today, I think only 11% of all VCs in Europe have a, uh, female GP that gets fat of the carriage. But that time it was even worse. And the really interesting thing is suddenly every woman in every fund became a partner. But if you actually look at it, they just changed the title from associate to part time. So suddenly there were no associates. Everybody was partner, but there was managing partner, general partner, uh, like associate partner. Today we're a bit better than that. But still, uh, I think this is the aspect of people pandering to how it looks versus to what it actually means. But again, if you think about how venture is built, Venture fund is predominantly disincentivizing to bring new people to the partnership because that means I'm going to share my pie and give my money to other people.

Speaker C: That's right.

Speaker A: So the best thing is, I don't know if you heard of Unlock vc, uh, but it's basically a conference in uh, Europe led by, uh, an amazing, uh, woman, uh, Sophie Wilward. Basically just brings together four or five hundred, uh, women investors every year. And it's very similar to all rise in the U.S. okay. And again, it's about how do you build more diverse ecosystem by allowing women to rise and giving them capital to actually invest.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Because again, people keep talking about the data. The data is out there. Nobody cares about the data. The most, uh, annoying thing you learn about venture, Sorry, like, last point of this is that because when I first came in, I said, okay, I need founders to choose me because the best funders have options. So I need to be really so supportive and helpful, which is great. But what you learn is to raise a fund. What you actually need is rich people to give you money because then you can also play in the field, but you at least have the money and

Speaker C: do what you want with it. Yes.

Speaker B: So, David, um, this has been a fascinating conversation and, uh, would like to sort of ask you a final couple of questions. Uh, of course, as an investor what level of optimism do you have that some of these metrics that we've talked about, talked about will actually improve and the numbers will get better for female founders and things will improve over time. Do you have that optimism or are you still a little bit cautious?

Speaker A: Uh, 100% of optimism. I think we're just looking at different timelines and this is perhaps from understanding how ecosystem works specifically for this. The US has been working in the venture ecosystem since 1940. 48. That's more or less 80 years. If I'm being super generous for the European ecosystem and I'm maining super generous, we've been doing it for 20 years. But in venture, the average venture fund is returned within theoretically 12 years, actually 15 years. So if you look at the lifetime of 20 years for the ecosystem, that means we return one fund and we're in the process of doing the other. The ecosystem, like the number of serial founders in Europe as a whole, is not that big. People that came, failed and tried again and again the access to venture capital and venture capital their thinks about scalability and power law. So I do believe the change is going to happen. I just don't think it's going to happen the next two, three years. And this is why when we set up to build Alma, we built a vision for 2050. Because you don't change the system within two, three years. You build it and it's one domino after the other and suddenly it's happening. And it's true for every. If you've seen law changes in the US across states, like different states come up with like legislation that is pro women, pro women, pro women. Suddenly 50% uh, of the states have already done that and then becomes federal law. But it's the same the opposite way change happens by just going at it bit by bit and then suddenly we're like 50, 60 of it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And this is why I think this is a mission for a lifetime. This is 25 years. And just to put in perspective, because people always want the change to happen faster. I would love to, but uh, within my lifetime, women could not open a bank account in the UK without their husband's approval.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: It only changed in the early 80s or late 70s.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Again, I'm not saying we're there, like there's still a lot to do. But that wasn't that far.

Speaker C: No. And we should be able to make our husbands take us along for them to open a bank account.

Speaker A: Proper management.

Speaker C: You got it.

Speaker A: But I'm super optimistic. You see more and more diverse investors Coming in and uh, just again going back to the thesis. Diverse investing diverse doesn't mean good or bad like there are shitty startup in both sides of the table. Uh, but it just provides more access and more capital to uh, everybody. So it's a rising tide raisers all boats. It's not like secluding other people.

Speaker B: What key bits of advice would you give female founders who are listening to this show and are inspired by what you've said? What, what advice would you give them?

Speaker A: M. I think I always hate this type of questions because like I don't believe in like silver bullets. Like it's like in my past experiences always lead bullets. It's not just one thing, it's 500 other things they need to do. But I think the reality is and uh, it worked for me, hopefully will work for you. Self reflection and focus are some of the most difficult thing that if you manage to do it right can help you make a change. And if you are building a startup, your job is to make sure that you focus on the right thing and hear the feedback. But don't listen to everything. Listen to and triangulate based on the data to allow you to move to the second thing. And the most important thing is that this startup may fail but if you're focused on the problem itself, not the solution, you'll come up. I know founders that like building their third startup till they solve the problem. The goal itself is to find something that you're really passionate about and can actually make a difference.

Speaker C: Yeah, solving a real problem, not just a problem that doesn't exist or no one cares about.

Speaker B: Well, it's been, it's been a great conversation, David. And if people want to get in touch with you or, or to find out more about Alma Angels, what's the best way for people to do that?

Speaker A: Alma, uh, angels.com and we also have our email there and uh, you can find me on LinkedIn daily fogart. Super simple. I have a smiley uh, ahead of my name because I'm a very happy guy. But it also helps again bots.

Speaker B: Well we should put those details in the show notes so uh, people can find them. And uh, you may be happy but I think Shelley and I are also happy, happy to have had you on the show. So thank you very much for coming on today. Yeah, it's been a fascinating conversation so thank you.

Speaker C: Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks so much David, of course.

Speaker A: Thank you for having me.

Speaker B: Well Shelley, that was a positive conversation with David, uh, especially in light of the very shocking stats about female founders. Uh, with, you know, only a tiny percentage of them getting funding.

Speaker C: Well, I would agree with you 100% that's, it's a very positive concept that he is developing. And in fact, what I loved when we asked him to describe Alma Angels is he said it's not a club, it's not a fun, it is a movement, is a community. And the, the whole point of the community, as you allude to, is to support female founders. So they invest in companies that have at least one female founder. Um, and it was very positive. They are growing. They're six years old, I guess, and have something like 600 investors. But angel investing itself is growing, which I thought, you know, I haven't, I haven't seen the numbers. But he felt that indeed that whole concept is growing, that especially in the EU and the uk, in part supported by tax incentives, et cetera, it's growing and investors are willing to dip into even some more complex fields like deep tech, health tech, et cetera. But I thought that was very, very positive. And he, he talked as, as we ask him to do, about the concept of women and why is this stat so bad? Why are women, uh, founders suffering in this way? And he had an interesting observation. He said women connect with women. I, ah, think he's correct in that. Um, and so the more women investors you have, the more investment in women you will get. So that's the whole basis of what he's trying to do, which I think is superb.

Speaker B: Yeah, no, it makes sense for sure. I like the bit when he, um, when we asked him why, why is he doing this? What fueled his passion for this? And what he said was that he, uh, felt being a minority for the very first time when he was in Africa.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Do you remember he talked about being a white man in black Africa and for the very first time feeling this, uh, uncomfortable sense of being a minority. And the moment he realized that women are, ah, minorities in the funding world, then he was driven to do something about it. And uh, so that was an interesting take on why he's doing what he's doing.

Speaker C: Yeah, he, he emphasized this business of fairness. He said, it's not fair and I want to do something about it. Which, yeah, that was, that was very engaging and you know, that kind of positivity. Uh, we asked him, are you optimistic that change is happening in a good way or, or not? And he said absolutely, very optimistic. He said the timeline isn't going to be tomorrow. This is going to take time. Um, but this is also why he is working so Hard at something like Alma Angels because it's about volume. It's the concept of the snowball rolling down the hill. The more it rolls, the bigger it gets, the more powerful it is. And he said, this is a lifetime mission. So I loved that attitude. And we finished up, as always, by asking him for advice. And I loved what he said. No silver bullets. Same thing as this isn't going to happen in a year. Just lots of lead bullets, meaning the basics.

Speaker B: And talking about the basics, uh, he gave three bits of advice which is worth just briefly mentioning again, which is, uh, first of all, you need to be self aware, self reflective, focus on what you've achieved, both good and less good, and stay focused to the task in hand. He also said, listen to feedback. You know, we've heard this before, haven't we, Shelley, that having a mentor and having external advice coming in from people who are experienced in your particular space is very, very valuable. But again, you don't need to obey everything that's been said. You know, I think you have to be thoughtful about it, but nevertheless take that feedback on board and action it if it makes sense. And then lastly, of course, we've heard this many times before. You need to find something you're passionate about because the road is tough.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: And there will be bumps along the way, but if you're passionate about something, you can stay the course. So I thought it was a great

Speaker C: conversation, you know, it really was. And if you think about the fact that David has been a vc, uh, in a few fund, uh, corporate fund, startup, uh, founder, angel investor. I mean he. So he speaks with not only authority, but experience.

Speaker B: Well, Shelley, that is the end of season six, just before the Christmas holidays and what a journey it's been. And uh, we look forward to seeing you all next year for season seven. Have you enjoyed it, Shelley?

Speaker C: Absolutely. It's been great. It's been great. I can't believe it's flown by so quickly, but perfect time of the year right before the holidays to wrap up one season. And uh, we'll be back to see everybody else with some great guests already that we've got lined up. M we do for season seven.

Speaker B: Absolutely. Thanks for listening to Startup Sensations. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite platform so you never miss an episode. Follow us on the Startup Sensations podcast LinkedIn page and watch video highlights on our YouTube channel. Get in touch with us. Email helloartupsensations uh.com the Startup Sensations podcast.