What I’ve Learned from 50+ Women Entrepreneurs I’ve Advised

Lessons Learned from 50+ Women Entrepreneurs

By Deepti Beri, Founder, BizWise Advisors

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My association with Women Entrepreneurs started around a decade back, when I started working in advisory and mentoring capacity. Around that time, I was also the Chief Financial and Commercial Officer (CFO) role at SHEROES, a women’s growth network, which opened me to diverse women-led businesses and their challenges. As I built BizWise Advisors over the years, I created a special vertical BizWise for Women, for Women Founders. It is not just a service line – for me, it has become a purpose.

Today, having advised and supported more than 50 women founders across India, from first-time entrepreneurs bootstrapping their startups to high-growth enterprises raising Series A-B, I’ve seen patterns emerge. These aren’t just business lessons. They’re insights about resilience, resource allocation, and the unique challenges women face in building sustainable and scalable businesses.

If you’re a woman founder reading this—whether you’re validating your first idea or preparing for your next funding round these lessons are for you. 

1. Women Founders Underestimate Their Financial Power

Something I’ve noticed consistently is that women entrepreneurs often have exceptional product intuition and deep customer empathy, but many underestimate their ability to master financial strategy.

In over 60% of my advisory engagements with women-led startups, the founder initially believed finance was “someone else’s domain.” Yet when we dove into unit economics, cash flow modeling, and investor metrics together, these same founders became some of the most financially astute leaders. 

The lesson:

Financial literacy isn’t innate—it’s learned. And women founders who invest time in understanding their numbers gain a competitive advantage that translates directly into better funding outcomes and stronger business decisions.

What changed:

When founders started tracking metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), burn rate, and runway themselves—rather than outsourcing this entirely—their confidence in investor conversations skyrocketed. They could defend their business model with data and, not just passion.

2. The 2% Funding Gap Is Real—But Preparation Closes It

Less than 2% of venture capital funding goes to women-led startups globally. In India, that number isn’t much better. This isn’t just a statistic—it’s the reality my clients face every day.

But here’s what I’ve learned: while we can’t control investor bias, we can control our readiness. The women founders who secured funding had three things in common:

• Investor-ready financials: Clean books, audit-ready compliance and transparent cap tables
• Strong governance frameworks: Internal controls, risk management policies and, board structures
• Compelling data stories: Performance metrics that demonstrated traction, growth potential, and efficient capital deployment

The lesson for Women Founders:

Preparation doesn’t eliminate bias, but it removes excuses. When your business fundamentals are airtight, when your financial projections are defendable, and when your compliance is beyond question, then investors have fewer reasons to say no.

Real example:

One women-led startup I advised initially struggled with raising investments. After six months of restructuring their financial operations, implementing proper controls, and building an investor-grade financial model, they secured seed funding at a better valuation.

3. Women-Led Businesses Need Different Support Systems, Not Lesser Ones

One of the biggest myths I encounter is that women entrepreneurs need “simplified” or “easier” business advice. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Women founders don’t need less sophisticated financial guidance—they need support systems that acknowledge their unique constraints and contexts. Many are navigating industries where they’re the only woman in the room. Many are building businesses with limited access to informal funding networks that male founders tap into easily.

The lesson:

The best business support for women entrepreneurs is comprehensive, not condescending. It combines strategic CFO services, technology enablement, compliance expertise, and growth advisory—delivered with an understanding of the entrepreneurial journey women specifically face.

What works:

At BizWise, our “BizWise For Women” service line provides end-to-end support from incorporation and IP protection to fundraising and M&A advisory. This isn’t about making things “easier”—it’s about making expert guidance accessible and relevant.

4. Compliance Is Your Secret Competitive Advantage

Here’s an unglamorous truth: proper tax structure, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance aren’t exciting but they’re powerful differentiators.

I’ve seen promising women-led startups lose funding opportunities because their legal structure was messy, their IP wasn’t protected, or their tax filings were incomplete. Meanwhile, founders who prioritized compliance from day one—even when bootstrapped—built businesses that investors trusted immediately.

The lesson:

Compliance isn’t bureaucracy. It’s credibility. When you have your trademark registered, your shareholder agreements documented, your tax structure optimized, and your books audit-ready—you signal professionalism and long-term thinking.

Practical advice:

Don’t wait until you’re raising capital to get your house in order. Start with the basics:

• Proper incorporation and legal structure
• Trademark and IP protection
• Regular bookkeeping and tax filings
• Founder agreements and equity documentation
• Basic internal financial controls

These aren’t costs—they’re investments in fundability.

5. Technology and Automation Aren’t Optional Anymore

When I started working with women entrepreneurs a decade ago, technology adoption was a “nice to have.” Today, it’s a survival requirement.

The women-led businesses that scaled fastest weren’t necessarily those with the largest teams. They were the ones that embraced automation early, right from accounting, CRM systems, platforms, integrations to AI-powered customer insights and workflow automation.

The lesson:

Technology levels the playing field. A solo founder with the right automation stack can execute like a team of five. A startup having AI-enablement and using the right applications, softwares and tools to do financial reporting, investor presentations, capital table management and legal contracts management can make decisions at the speed of larger competitors.

What I recommend:

Focus automation on three areas first:

• Financial operations: Automated invoicing, expense tracking, financial reporting
• Customer engagement: CRM systems, email automation, customer support tools
• Operational workflows: Project management, team collaboration, document management
• Digital Marketing: Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing, Email Campaign Management and Content Creation

These don’t require large budgets. They require intentionality.

6. Women Entrepreneurs – Your Story Matters – But Your Metrics Matter More

Women founders often have extraordinary origin stories and the problem they’re solving is most often, deeply personal. Their customer insight is hard-won and their mission is authentic.

Investors appreciate this. But they invest based on metrics.

I’ve coached dozens of women entrepreneurs on translating their compelling narratives into compelling data. The founders who succeeded weren’t those who chose between story and metrics—they mastered both.

The lesson:

Your story opens the door. Your metrics close the deal. Learn to speak both languages fluently.

Framework I use:

For every qualitative claim (e.g., “Our customers love us”), have a quantitative proof point (e.g., “92% retention rate, 45 NPS score”). For every mission statement, have a corresponding business metric that demonstrates progress.

7. Building a Support Network Is Strategy, Not Networking

Women founders often tell me they don’t have time for networking. I get it—when you’re managing product development, customer acquisition, fundraising, and often family responsibilities, networking events feel indulgent.

But here’s what I’ve observed: the most successful women entrepreneurs I’ve worked with didn’t build traditional “networks.” They built strategic support systems—advisors, mentors, peer founders, and expert partners who could provide specific, actionable guidance when needed.

The lesson:

You don’t need a large network. You need the right partners. A fellow founder who’s been through fundraising. Fractional CFO, CMO who understand your business and most importantly your vision. A tax advisor who optimizes your structure. A business consultant who can spot blind spots. 

How to start:

Identify the three biggest gaps in your expertise right now. Then find one expert in each area—not for general networking, but for specific guidance. This could be through advisory relationships, formal mentorship, or consulting partnerships like BizWise.

8. Fundraising Readiness Begins Years Before You Raise

One of the most common requests I receive is: “We want to raise funding in six months. Can you help us get ready?”

The honest answer? Six months isn’t enough if you’re starting from scratch. The women founders who successfully raised capital had been building fundability for years—sometimes without even realizing it.

The lesson:

Investor readiness isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon. Every financial decision you make, every compliance milestone you achieve, every customer metric you track—it’s all preparation for the conversation you’ll eventually have with investors.

Start now checklist (even if you’re not fundraising soon):

• Set up proper accounting systems and maintain clean books monthly
• Track key performance metrics consistently (revenue, margins, CAC, LTV, churn)
• Document your IP, trademarks, and proprietary processes
• Build a cap table and founder equity structure that makes sense
• Create basic financial projections and understand your unit economics
• Establish governance practices (board meetings, financial reviews, strategic planning)

When fundraising time comes, you’ll be ready and not scrambling.

9. You Don’t Have to Do Everything Yourself

This might be the most important lesson, and the hardest for women founders to internalize.

There’s a cultural expectation that women should be able to “do it all”—run the business, oversee operations, manage the books, handle compliances, and somehow also maintain work-life balance. This is unrealistic and unsustainable.

The most successful women entrepreneurs I’ve advised recognized early that delegation isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom. They brought in fractional CFOs, CMOs and Subject Matter Experts, outsourced tax compliances, partnered with business advisors, and automated repetitive tasks.

The lesson:

Your job as a founder isn’t to do everything. It’s to build something remarkable. Everything else can—and should—be delegated to experts who can do it better and faster.

Calculate the math:

If spending 15 hours per week on contracts drafting, vendor onboarding, bookkeeping and compliance takes you away from product development and customer acquisition—and a professional can do that work in 5 hours with better accuracy—you’re not saving money by doing it yourself. You’re losing opportunity.

10. Women-Led Businesses Are Built for Sustainability, Not Just Scale

One final observation that consistently stands out: women-led businesses often prioritize sustainable growth over aggressive scaling at all costs. This isn’t a weakness—it’s increasingly recognized as strategic wisdom.

The women founders I’ve worked with tend to be more thoughtful about burn rates, more careful about unit economics, and more focused on building profitable business models from the start. In an era where we’ve seen spectacular flameouts from overfunded startups, this approach is gaining respect.

The lesson:

Build for sustainability first. Scale when the fundamentals support it. Your patience and financial discipline will be rewarded—both in valuations and in building a business that lasts.

A Note to Women Founders Reading This

If you’re building something right now—whether it’s an idea scribbled in a notebook or a startup preparing for Series A—know this: you’re not alone in the challenges you face, and you’re absolutely capable of overcoming them.

The patterns I’ve observed across 50+ women founders aren’t warnings—they’re roadmaps. Every lesson here was learned by a founder who came before you, who figured it out, who persevered, and who succeeded.

You don’t need to navigate this journey alone. Whether it’s mastering your financials, preparing for fundraising, implementing automation, or building governance structures—expert support exists. You just have to be willing to ask for it.

At BizWise Advisors, supporting women entrepreneurs isn’t a side offering—it’s central to everything we do. Because when women-led businesses succeed, they don’t just create economic value. They create opportunities, challenge norms, and pave the way for the next generation of founders.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If any of these lessons resonated with you, and you’re looking for expert business support to take your women-led venture to the next level, let’s talk.

BizWise Advisors provides comprehensive CFO services, strategic finance, AI enablement and automation, startup advisory, transaction support, and tax and regulatory compliance. There is a special focus on women entrepreneurs.

Schedule a consultation with Deepti →

Or learn more about BizWise For Women and how we support women-led businesses from idea to exit.