Female Founders: Business Lessons from Women in Technology

How do female entrepreneurs overcome hurdles, redress power imbalances and create a business with coveted unicorn status?

High-growth enterprises on a rocket ship growth trajectory and tech unicorns with a value of more than
1billion have the potential to transform the economy. But building a unicorn is not an easy task. And it’s even more difficult for female-led enterprises than it is for male-led start-ups.

Female Founders’ Playbook brings together the experiences of the leading women entrepreneurs and VC investors. These successful businesswomen share their thoughts on every aspect of launching a high-growth business, from coming up with a unicorn-worthy idea, through to building a multi-talented team to winning investment. Their tales of success and failure are drawn together by commentary and insightful analysis by award-winning technology founder and architect of Starling Bank, Anne Boden, creating an easy-to-follow guide for any female leader.

Rather than talking about who might be the next Bezos, Gates or Jobs, Female Founders’ Playbook tells the true stories of those women who are guaranteed to inspire and help the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

Anne Boden, based in London, founded Starling Bank in 2014, after a distinguished 30 year career in financial services. She led Starling from its early days as a fast-growing fintech start-up to become a leading bank. She stepped aside as CEO in June 2023, but remains on the Board.

She is widely considered as a thought-leader in the fintech sector. She was awarded an MBE for services to fintech in 2018 and is chair of the government’s Women-led High-growth Enterprise Taskforce. She also sits on the Business Advisory Council of the Mayor of London. She is the author of The Money Revolution, published by Kogan Page