Underestimated, Overlooked, Undeterred: What Drives Female Founders

Why are women at university? To find a man. That’s what a professor told her and her fellow students in a lecture back in the early 1990s, Evelyne de Gruyter recounted during her opening keynote address in the packed Graf-von-Soden Forum. The figures presented by the executive director of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Germany (VdU) aren’t much more encouraging either: Only about one in five startups in Germany has at least one female founder on its team. “But I was told I should also share something positive,” she says with a smile. The audience laughs.

De Gruyter’s appeal to the students is clear: “If we as women want a seat at the table, we must demand it.” And if it doesn’t work out? “Get up, straighten your crown, and keep going.” An example of what that might look like is displayed on one of the large bulletin boards at ZU’s ZF Campus: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” The quote is attributed to U.S. politician Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in the U.S. Congress. It sums up de Gruyter’s message, which runs through the entire day: Waiting for an invitation accomplishes little. If you want to have a say, you have to claim your place yourself.

The panel discussion “Young, Bold, Branded” quickly makes it clear what it feels like to be underestimated as a young female founder. Juliane Reuter, co-founder of the tennis app ScoreGO—which has around 150,000 downloads—recounts how she once attended an event alone and was asked twice whether she was there as a stand-in for the CEO. She had to clarify several times: “No, I am the CEO.” Sophie Prinz, on the other hand, got her matcha drink PRINZZ onto Edeka shelves nationwide in just under a year, even though skeptics wouldn’t have believed she could do it for at least two or three years. Her motto and advice: “Be flexible in how you execute, but stay true to your mission.”

Francesca-Barbera Eckert’s workshop also serves as a wake-up call. The founder of FemmeInvest debunks the myths that deter many young women from investing: “I’m bad with money,” “I’m still too young,” “I need a lot of capital for that.” Women invest less often—not because they’re more risk-averse, but because no one has explained it to them, according to Barbera-Eckert. You don’t need a lot of capital to get started. But her most important point is the age of the audience: “You have the greatest asset of all: time.” Shortly afterward, the workshop participants leave the room with a specific task: to choose a broker and set up their first small savings plan before the end of the week.

The question of one’s place at the table becomes particularly tangible in the panel discussion with Romina Haller and Kirsten Greten. This discussion centers on a table where so many important decisions are made: the family table. Romina Haller grew up at this table. Together with her sister, she took over the family business, Haller Raumgestaltung, even though neither of them had ever really wanted to. As she tells this story, she glances at her father, who is sitting in the audience, with a smile. What ultimately changed her mind was the question: “What do we want to make a difference in the world?” Today, they run the business with over 60 employees. Back then, they had searched in vain for female role models. So they decided to become role models themselves: Since they joined in 2021, the proportion of women in the company has risen from 30 to 60 percent.

Kirsten Greten, who works as a management consultant supporting small and medium-sized businesses, tells the opposite story. In her husband’s entrepreneurial family, which dates back over 100 years, the daughters were never even given the option to play a role in the company. When the couple wanted to modernize the company, the older shareholders blocked their efforts until the family finally sold their shares. Her advice is rooted in her experience: “I’ve had to fight far too hard.” It’s better to understand where the older generation’s resistance comes from.

Bianca Brunner explains where to get the folding chair for the table. She was the first in her family to attend college, and this year she was named “Leader of the Year.” Her trick: don’t ask, “Can you help me?” but rather, “Do you know anyone who could help me?” Once you’re part of a network, things quickly take on a life of their own. “A cup of coffee can be just as valuable as an MBA.”

Students at Zeppelin University built the table for this event: For nearly a year, a 17-member team organized the Female Founders Night alongside their studies. “Our goal was never to celebrate female founders as the exception,” says Matilda Fritzmeier, who co-led the event with Constantin Sachsenberg. “We wanted to show how commonplace they’ve long since become and how much of a difference they make.” So the goal of Female Founders Night is clear: that someday, no woman will need a folding chair to get a seat at the table. But until then, she’ll just have to take it for herself.