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Business Strategy and Execution – Women Founders’ Advice - Part 20

Writer: Women Story
Women Story
Sep 21
8 min read

Updated: Sep 22


In the Business Strategy and Execution Series, we feature the insights of 10 women founders who share their lessons on starting before feeling fully ready, building expertise and strong foundations, and growing with authenticity and purpose. Their advice highlights the importance of competence, financial awareness, meaningful relationships, strong systems, resilience, and protecting your values while building a sustainable business.

Featured Women Founders

  • Manpreet Kooner  My biggest advice to aspiring women founders is to start before you feel fully ready.

  • Salonee Sanghvi  My first advice would be, ask.

  • Pauline Lau  "Own your micro-status." Many women founders feel they need to look "big" to be taken seriously.

  • Claire Mckeown  Build inner strength before external scale.

  • Tracey Rashid  My first piece of advice is simple: start before you feel ready.

  • Marina  My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is to lead with authenticity and trust your instincts.

  • Karen Vickers  If I could share one core piece of advice with aspiring or early-stage women founders, it would be this: build depth before you chase visibility.

  • Kash Rocheleau  Here’s what I would tell aspiring or early-stage women founders: 1.

  • Laura Caddy  Build depth before chasing scale.

  • Lora Cerulli  Build expertise before building visibility.


Manpreet Kooner – My biggest advice to aspiring women founders is to start before you feel fully ready.

Company– Manpreet Kooner INC

Website: TBC

LinkedIn: TBC

Advice

My biggest advice to aspiring women founders is to start before you feel fully ready. Confidence often comes after action, not before it. Too many talented women wait for perfect timing, perfect clarity, or perfect conditions — and those rarely exist in entrepreneurship.


Second, build strong relationships early. Your network, mentors, and community will open more doors than any single marketing strategy. Surround yourself with people who are honest, supportive, and growth-minded.


Third, protect your energy and focus on consistency over intensity. Sustainable success is built through small, disciplined actions repeated over time. There will be seasons that test you — personally and professionally — so build systems and habits that support you for the long game.


Finally, lead in a way that feels authentic to you. You don’t have to copy someone else’s style to be successful. When you combine competence with genuine care and integrity, trust follows — and trust is the foundation of any lasting business.


Salonee Sanghvi – My first advice would be, ask.

Company– My Wealth Guide

Advice

My first advice would be, ask. We often hold back from asking for what we want/ deserve and hold ourselves back. When you ask there is a 50% chance of no. When you don't it's 100%.


Second, build knowledge & depth. Women often suffer from impostor syndrome. Confidence grows from competence. Invest time in mastering your domain.

Third, create support ecosystems. Family, staff, mentors, peer groups help manage multiple roles that we play.


Pauline Lau – "Own your micro-status." Many women founders feel they need to look "big" to be taken seriously.

Company– Hongkongers Magazine

Advice

"Own your micro-status."  Many women founders feel they need to look "big" to be taken seriously.  My advice is to prioritize authenticity and authority over headcount.

Leverage your 'Why': People don't just use a product; they join a mission.  If your mission is authentic, the community will become your biggest advocate.


Build Strategic Ecosystems: You don't need a staff of 50 if you have a network of 50 allies. Partner with organizations that share your values (like we did with UKHKer Neighbourhood CIC).


Protect the Standard: Never compromise on quality just because you are "small."  If you treat your work with the rigour of a global brand, the world will eventually see you as one.


Claire Mckeown – Build inner strength before external scale.

Company– True Porential Hypnotherapy

Advice

Build inner strength before external scale.

Confidence is not something you wait for; it is something you build through action. Do not shrink to make others comfortable, and do not dilute your message to fit in.


Develop resilience. Business will test you financially, emotionally and mentally. The ability to regulate your nervous system, make clear decisions under pressure and stay aligned with your values is your greatest asset.


Focus on depth before speed. Build credibility. Deliver real results. Reputation compounds.

Most importantly, embrace your uniqueness. The qualities that make you different are your competitive advantage. When you lead from authenticity rather than comparison, you create influence that lasts.


Tracey Rashid – My first piece of advice is simple: start before you feel ready.

Company– Essence of Cake

Advice

My first piece of advice is simple: start before you feel ready.

Confidence rarely comes first, courage does. Many women wait until they feel fully qualified, fully prepared or fully certain. Entrepreneurship does not work that way. You grow into the role by stepping into it.


Secondly, build a business around your values, not just your skills. Skills can be developed, refined and scaled. Values are what sustain you when challenges arise. When your business aligns with who you are, decision-making becomes clearer and resilience becomes stronger.

I would also encourage women founders to price for value, not validation. Too often, women underprice in order to be liked or to secure early traction. Sustainable businesses are built on confidence in the transformation you provide, not on discounting your worth.


Another key lesson is to move from “doing everything” to building systems early. It is easy to stay in the comfort zone of being the talent, the creative or the technician. True growth happens when you step into leadership, creating processes, empowering others and protecting your time for strategic thinking.


Relocation, reinvention and expansion taught me that adaptability is a superpower. Markets change, seasons change and personal circumstances change. The founders who thrive are those willing to evolve without losing their core identity.


Finally, I would say: own your voice. Your lived experience is not a weakness, it is your differentiator. Whether you are building in a creative industry, corporate space or social enterprise, your story carries authority. Don’t wait for permission to lead.


Build with intention. Lead with courage. And remember that sustainable success is not about doing more, it is about becoming more.


Marina – My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is to lead with authenticity and trust your instincts.

Company– Trak Marketing

Advice

My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is to lead with authenticity and trust your instincts. You don’t need to fit a traditional or aggressive leadership mold to be successful. Empathy, integrity, and relationship-building are not weaknesses—they are powerful leadership strengths. I was once told I wasn’t “cut out for sales” because I was too nice, and proving that belief wrong became a defining moment in my journey with Trak Marketing Inc..


In the early stages, focus on mastering the fundamentals before chasing scale. Learn your numbers, understand your customer deeply, and build systems that support sustainable growth. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or invest in support once it makes sense—trying to do everything alone for too long can slow your progress and lead to burnout.


Finally, surround yourself with people who genuinely want to see you succeed. Community, mentorship, and accountability—especially through organizations like BNI—can accelerate growth and confidence. Your voice, perspective, and leadership matter. Build a business that reflects your values, and success will follow.


Karen Vickers – If I could share one core piece of advice with aspiring or early-stage women founders, it would be this: build depth before you chase visibility.

Company– ARC Wealth Pty Ltd T/A Auxilliam

Advice

If I could share one core piece of advice with aspiring or early-stage women founders, it would be this: build depth before you chase visibility.


In today’s environment, there is enormous pressure to scale quickly, appear successful, and compete loudly. But sustainable leadership is built on substance. Invest deeply in your expertise. Understand your industry better than anyone else. Master the regulatory, financial, operational, and human dimensions of your work. Confidence that comes from true competence is unshakeable — and it cannot be manufactured.


Secondly, do not dilute your vision to fit existing categories. If you see a gap in the market, trust your insight. Many transformative businesses do not initially fit neatly into a predefined box. You may need to educate your market before it fully understands your value. That takes resilience — but it is often where the greatest impact lies.


Third, protect your integrity fiercely. Growth achieved at the expense of values will cost you more in the long run. Particularly in industries that affect people’s livelihoods, health, or dignity, your reputation is your most valuable asset. Choose long-term trust over short-term wins.


I would also encourage women founders to become financially literate and commercially confident. Understanding cash flow, margins, risk, and compliance is empowering. Financial clarity gives you strategic freedom and strengthens your leadership voice in any room.

Finally, build resilience deliberately. Entrepreneurship will test you — emotionally, financially, and psychologically. There will be moments of doubt and isolation. Surround yourself with advisors, peers, and mentors who challenge you constructively and support you authentically. Leadership is not about never feeling uncertainty; it is about continuing with clarity despite it.


Above all, remember that leadership does not require you to become louder — it requires you to become clearer. Lead with competence. Lead with conviction. And build something that reflects both your expertise and your values.


Kash Rocheleau – Here’s what I would tell aspiring or early-stage women founders: 1.

Company– Outgrow Accounting & Finance

Advice

Here’s what I would tell aspiring or early-stage women founders:

1. Don’t wait to feel “ready.”

Confidence rarely comes first. Competence does. Start before you feel fully qualified — you will grow into the role faster than you think.


2. Build financial literacy early.

Know your numbers. Understand cash flow. Separate revenue from profit. Clarity removes fear and gives you power in negotiations, hiring, and growth decisions.


3. Charge appropriately.

Underpricing is not humility — it’s unsustainable. Price for the value you deliver and the outcomes you create, not just the hours you work.


4. Build systems before you desperately need them.

Growth exposes cracks. Invest in clean processes, clear reporting, and documented workflows early. Future you will be grateful.


5. Get in rooms where decisions are made.

Join networks. Sit at tables that stretch you. Ask questions. Speak up. Leadership is built in proximity to other leaders.


6. Protect your energy.

Not every opportunity deserves a yes. Strategic restraint is just as powerful as bold action.


7. Own your leadership style.

You don’t have to lead like anyone else to be effective. Strength, clarity, and decisiveness can coexist with empathy.


Most importantly:

Build something you are proud of — not something that just looks impressive from the outside. Sustainable success feels aligned, not performative.


And remember — growth will stretch you. That doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re building.


Laura Caddy – Build depth before chasing scale.

Company– Laura Caddy Lifts

Advice

Build depth before chasing scale.

Master your craft. Serve your first clients exceptionally well. Document results. Refine your systems. Authority comes from excellence, not noise.

Don’t dilute your positioning to appeal to everyone. The clearer your niche, the stronger your brand.


Most importantly, invest in your own development - as a leader, not just a technician. Confidence is built through action, and credibility is built through consistency.

Women don’t need to be louder to succeed - they need to be clear, strategic, and disciplined.


Lora Cerulli – Build expertise before building visibility.

Company– PCV Group

Website: PCVGroup.ca

Advice

Build expertise before building visibility. Master your craft.

Charge based on value, not insecurity.


Protect your integrity at all costs. Reputation compounds.

Don’t rush scale. Build systems first.


The setback that embarrasses you today may become your brand tomorrow.

Entrepreneurship requires emotional endurance. You must believe in your value long before the market fully recognizes it.


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