Ep. 172 - Kate Brodock has played a huge part in advocating for gender equity and diversity in the tech space by funding women-owned tech startups. She shares a lot of tips and advice she has acquired through her more than 15-year career. Kate Brodock is Founding Partner of W Fund, a VC investing in underrepresented-led tech startups, and CEO of Women 2.0. She has lived in the tech startup world for over 15 years and has played an active leadership role in the women in tech ecosystem for over a decade, having previously led a global organization focused on women in technology and entrepreneurship as its President for several years. In this episode, Kate talks about her passion for empowering women in the tech space through capital funding. Listen in to learn how to have a robust go-to-market strategy, profitability potential, and founders’ coachability to attract investors to your startup. You will also learn some tips on how to reassess your time and effectively have a balance between work and life.
Key Takeaways:
- Start hitting customer acquisition by having the ability to distinguish high-quality customers
- How to shift your mindset on how you approach work and life to find a balance
- The importance of finding mentors and advisors as a startup founder and how to find them
"As a business owner, you have to protect yourself. You have to be able to show up every day the best version of yourself." -Kate Brodock
In this episode you’ll discover:
How she became passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech space [2:12]
The women community work she hopes they can continue doing as they’ve been doing [3:32]
How to approach the capital, thoughtfully gain customers, and be effective on social media [5:23]
How she’s reassessed productivity and time effectiveness to balance work and life [9:13]
The different ways to pivot your business during Covid time to continue growing [12:20]
Tips on how to vet and establish a team of advisors in your business [16:05]
The three most important things Kate and her founders look for before investing in a startup [18:30]
The different business opportunities available for women entrepreneurs right now [22:02]
Kate shares some powerful tips for before and during the capital raise process [25:00]
She describes all the aspects they consider when funding women-led tech startups [27:59]
Why Kate recommends Radical Candor book by Kim Scott for women entrepreneurs [29:56]
How and where to get mentors for support and advice to grow your business [32:44]
Why your capital resources are the biggest thing you should be thinking to grow your business [37:43]
Kate shares some tips and resources she’d like to leave as takeaway [39:48]
CAREER
Kate Brodock is the Kate is the CEO of Women 2.0 and Managing & General Partner of the W Fund.
Women 2.0 is a for-profit, for-good company, committed to equality and inclusion, and thus innovation. They work to push conversation forward, and take and encourage action around parity. Women 2.0 is a company focused on gender, diversity and inclusion in the tech and startup spaces. The company serves over 300,000 through content, programming, products and services and have been an industry leader in the space for almost 15 years.
Women 2.0 offers resources for founders and professionals to grow their companies and careers, as well as provide products for workplaces and the startup ecosystem to create inclusive environments that support the advancement of women and other underrepresented groups.
Kate Brodock has lived in the tech startup world for over fifteen years, and has played an active leadership role in the women in tech ecosystem for over a decade, having led a global, 60+ chapter organization focused on women in technology and entrepreneurship as its President for several years.
She’s also an Enterpreneur-In-Residence at LaunchNY, and a long-time mentor for Techstars. She was recently CMO of untapt, an AI-driven tech talent marketplace based in NYC and has held the role of Adjunct Professor in Public Relations and Marketing at at Syracuse University.
Driving diversity, equity and inclusion action and awareness has been absolutely central to her work, and she additionally enjoys putting her experience in the tech industry to work advising and mentoring startups.
FEATURED SPEAKER
Kate has spoken at and been featured in 100s of places, including SXSW, Collision Conference, Fast Company, Fifteen Seconds Festival, UNLEASH, Microsoft, IBM, MSNBC, Techcrunch, IBT, the BBC and Al Jazeera.
EDUCATION
She holds BAs in Political Science and African American History from the University of Rochester, an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from Goizueta Business School at Emory University and an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
RESOURCES
Empowering Female Founders with Women
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