“YOU NEED A MALE CO-FOUNDER”
– advice we’ve been given on how to be successful
In 1973, Congress declared August 26th Women’s Equality Day as a symbol of the continued fight for equal rights.
Today, there are still many obstacles for female entrepreneurs to overcome.
Today, only 1 in 5 businesses that reached $1M revenue are women-owned*
Today, only 4.2% of women-owned business have revenues of more than $1M*
Today, less than 3% of VC funding goes to women-led startups**
And yet, according to Boston Consulting Group, women-led companies “…ultimately deliver higher revenue – more than twice as much per dollar invested”.***
Since starting Beckon Ice Cream, we’ve been given lots of advice. Some were unbelievably thoughtful and helpful, while some were discouraging. Comments that suggested our gender would prevent us from being successful were especially difficult to hear. Ultimately, we knew we had every ounce of passion, desire, and work ethic we needed to kickstart Beckon Ice Cream together. And we have an enormous community of supporters, team members and fans, both men and women, who continue to help us grow each year. One of our goals is to contribute to turning around the statistics for female entrepreneurship through Beckon Ice Cream and the brands we support!
So today, on Women’s Equality Day, here is what YOU can do to help:
- Shop woman-owned! Look for these logos on the products you buy everyday.
- Spread the word – If you love a female founded company, shout it from the rooftops!
- Check out some of these great brands:
- Hugo Coffee
- Moditoys
- Numa Foods
- Feminist Book Club
- Estelle Colored Glass
- Ashima
- Lean Orb
- Shampoo Time
- Smooth Pops
- The Letter Nest
- Stylette
- Bobo’s
- The Sill
- Parachute
- Hedley and Bennett
- Flickr
- Rent The Runway
- Stitch Fix
- Away
- Dagne Dover
- Mejuri
- Ritual
- Maelove
- Thirdlove
- Year & Day
- Lola
- Minted
- Zola
- Clare
- Birchbox
We’re grateful for our community (you) and are excited to share what we have in store for you (pun intended) the rest of this year and beyond!
Cheers,
Katy & Gwen, co-founders
*Statistics from the American Express OPEN “The State of Women-Owned Businesses 2019”.
**https://hbr.org/2021/02/women-led-startups-received-just-2-3-of-vc-funding-in-2020
***https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/why-women-owned-startups-are-better-bet