Female founders forum empowers Cambridge entrepreneurs
The Choral Hub’s CEO and co-founder Xann Schwinn has launched a new forum for female founders which has been enthusiastically embraced by Cambridge’s top female entrepreneurs.
Xann says that quite often the difference between success and failure is having someone on your side.
“What we’ve been looking to do is to create new spaces for founders,” she said shortly before a network event at The Eagle. “Places for women to find each other, which has been harder than you might imagine.
“Everyone is always very welcoming in Cambridge but often people don’t get the support they need, or feel they should have had it earlier. It’s about celebrating neurodiversity. The future of evolution is like this – creating new spaces.
“Cambridge is a comfortable space if you’re successful in the system. I think that as a female founder the stats speak for themselves – female founders only received 2.2 per cent of investment in 2021.”
Starting the group has been a cathartic experience for Xann, whose company is currently beta-testing the Choral Hub app, which encourages people to sing well in a fun way. The company successfully completed the Accelerate Cambridge programme and is now in ‘Accelerate Plus’ mode.
“If anything the article really started a fire under me,” she says of the feature published in the Cambridge Independent in June which offered a female-centric view from 10 founders among a new cohort of 13 start-ups joining the Accelerate Cambridge programme.
“I’ve started the group Accelerate Cambridge Female Founders. It’s a What’sApp group and once a month we have a Zoom. We talk about fundraising, and what we’re trying to work on.
“It’s the same issue with all the other intersectional groups. People of colour probably face a lot more opposition than female founder… others who might struggle to start their business, or struggle to get support, can connect to the group. It’s only by working together that we can create social change.
“I’m fortunate in that I’m able to be articulate on this topic, so I see it as my mission to go in and ask: ‘What are you doing to help make this change?’
“We need more people coming out and saying: ‘I’m proud to be a female supporting others running a business.’ It’s also about language, so I’m saying ‘I recognise your differences and I celebrate that and am helping others celebrate’.
“We have around 35 people in the chat group which is just in Cambridge. We’re all female founders at Accelerate Cambridge. Accelerate Cambridge has around 250 founders in total.
“Things are changing. I think it’s my superpower – creating new spaces for people whose voices aren’t usually heard, especially those who usually don’t come forward.”
Xann’s own go-to support is Andrew Hatcher, the Cambridge-based investor and entrepreneur who is also managing director of The Applied Knowledge Network.
“I asked for Andrew to be my coach because people were saying my idea had no hope,” Xann says, adding: “I’ve recently raised £500k and that’s what Andrew has done for me. I credit my success to Andrew, for what he’s done for me.
“It all comes back to the same point – creating spaces for those who don’t feel supported. All we’re trying to do is show the truth – at the end of the day representation matters.”
