Women’s startup accelerator Stella Labs in partnership with Stella Angels and Ad Astra Ventures is hosting the Women’s Venture Summit on September 17th and 18th, an annual event focusing on women-led startups. The Summit will again be virtual due to the pandemic, but it will also have an in-person viewing option at The Well-Community for Women in La Mesa, California.
In addition to scheduled speakers that includes Elaine Swann of The Swann School of Protocol, Dr. Silvia Mah of Ad Astra Ventures, and keynote Vanessa Johansson of RainShadow Labs, the Summit’s first day has a number of Interactive Breakout Sessions Workshops. . Their focus is to support female led startups and women business owners through a range of topics that include:
- Investor-focused Ask Me Anything with Heidi Patel of Rethink Impact
- Entrepreneur-focused Ask Me Anything with Jaime Schmidt of Schmidt’s Naturals and Color Capital
- Just Due It Workshop. Learn how to apply the framework to evaluate entrepreneur pitches in an accelerated timeline.
- Grow Your Money, Change the World Workshop
- Scaling Your Startup: Investors & Dealmakers’ Perspectives.
- Next Gen Rising Panel. A panel of female college students or recent graduates discuss the current state of women in business and offer their perspective on innovative ideas on how to change the current trajectory.
Panel discussions over the two days are:
- Panel I – Women’s Power Index
- Panel II – Just Due It
- Panel III – This Isn’t Tinder: Respectful Relationship-Building Between Founders & Funders
- Panel IV – Accountable Womanhood
On Demand Sessions are available for listening both days on a range of informative topics.
The Women’s Fast Pitch Finals highlight the second day as seven female entrepreneurs vie for the $10,000 investment grand prize and $35,000 in business services. The winner will be announced mid-day. While every entrepreneur would want to win, the event organizers emphasize that those who competed in prior Summit’s possess the high potential to raise outside funding. This is based on the women entrepreneurs raising over $18 million in funding.
The seven female founders in the finals navigated regional pitch competitions over a six-week period held across the United States this past summer. One additional spot was filled on August 31 in the event’s founding city of San Diego that hosted the first competition eight years ago. The other representing regions are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, plus a wildcard category.
“To provide women founders with equal footing, we must meet them where they are and that means looking beyond traditional startup hotbeds and tech to include other industries like consumer goods and services,” says executive director of Stella Labs Raven O’Neal. “Innovation is everywhere and we are stretching our net of inclusion to give people a stage to tell their stories, solve problems and design the future.”
Stella Labs Business Accelerator based in Solana Beach, California fosters female innovation and assists entrepreneurial women in starting and growing their businesses. Its accelerator program is both on site and virtual. The Summit and the Women’s Fast Pitch are its two signature events. Through curriculum and access to funding their goal is for women entrepreneurs to prosper and grow their businesses.
In addition to the finals competition, over the course of the two days new founders and seasoned entrepreneurs and investors will hear from experts that includes angel investors and venture capital firms on funding opportunities, how to identify and neutralize bias, investor trends underway mid-pandemic and more.
Notable speakers and panelists include: Vanessa Johansson of RainShadow Labs, Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest and Allison Robinson, founder of The Mom Project, are featured presenters, and closing speakers include Megan MacDonald, Elizabeth Gore and Danielle Telleria of Hello Alice.
The 2021 Fast Pitch Contest finalists for each region and San Diego are:
- Northeast: Adriana Vazquez of Lilu- Massaging bras for breastfeeding mothers (New York, NY)
- Southeast: Anastasia Mikhalochkina of Lean Orb- Compostable food packaging company (Miami, FL)
- Midwest: Alexa Jones of TheraB Medical- Holistic jaundice treatment that fosters maternal-infant bonding (Lansing, MI)
- Northwest: Laura Oden of Pandere Shoes- Stylish and adjustable shoes for swollen feet (Anchorage, AK)
- Southwest: Veena Somareddy of Neuro Rehab VR- (Virtual reality system for physical therapy (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX)
- San Diego: Pree Walia of Preemadonna-Maker of Nailbot, an intelligent at-home manicure (San Diego, CA)
- Wildcard: Melissa Kiguwa of Obanj-(Subscription platform for borrowing high-end designer jewelry (Scottsdale, AZ)
Stella Labs’ Women’s Startup Accelerator is open for applicants. For those seeking to attend the Summit, they may find registration and more information at www.womensventuresummit.org.
