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Business Strategy and Execution – Women Founders’ Advice - Part 19

Writer: Women Story
Women Story
2 days ago
7 min read

In the Business Strategy and Execution Series, we feature the insights of 10 women founders who share their lessons on building businesses with strong fundamentals, understanding customers, managing finances, creating effective systems, and executing with clarity and resilience. Their experiences highlight that sustainable entrepreneurship requires more than a great idea—it takes conviction, strategic thinking, financial discipline, continuous learning, and the willingness to take action, learn from mistakes, and build for long-term value.


Featured Women Founders

  • Nandita Rad:  Build your business around commercial fundamentals, not just your expertise.

  • Shruti Ankit Agrawal:  Believe in your vision, even when others don’t immediately see it.

  • Katherine Jerez González:  To women who are just starting, I would say: do not wait until you feel “ready” to begin.

  • Alice Carroll:  Don’t build for approval - build for conviction.

  • Ritika Agarwal:  Advice to Other Women Entrepreneurs Start before you feel ready — but start with clarity.

  • Emily Gall:  My advice is to start before you feel ready, and do not wait for permission or perfection.

  • Nisha Nancy Edelquin James: Advice to Aspiring and Early-Stage Women Founders 1.

  • Dr Nidhi Khurana:  Build competence before you build visibility—and build systems before you chase scale.

  • Tania Cicmil: My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is this: Do not underestimate the power of who you believe you are.

  • Sonal Seth:  Validate real customer pain early with quick tests, not assumptions.


Nandita Rad – Build your business around commercial fundamentals, not just your expertise.

Founder – HRxP

Advice

Build your business around commercial fundamentals, not just your expertise. Understand your numbers, protect cash flow, and focus on solving a clear problem that clients will pay for. Confidence comes from clarity and preparation, not from waiting to feel ready. Invest early in networks, mentors, and strategic thinking, and design your business intentionally so it supports both growth and the life you want to build.


Shruti Ankit Agrawal – Believe in your vision, even when others don’t immediately see it.

Founder – Hygiecare Innovations Private Limited

Advice

Believe in your vision, even when others don’t immediately see it. Start before you feel completely ready—clarity comes through action. Build strong fundamentals: understand your market, finances, and customer needs deeply.


Katherine Jerez González – To women who are just starting, I would say: do not wait until you feel “ready” to begin.

Founder – Katho Jerez Marketing

Website: www.katho.cl

Advice

To women who are just starting, I would say: do not wait until you feel “ready” to begin. Confidence does not come before action; it comes because of action.


For too long, women have been led to believe that we must know more, prepare more, or prove ourselves more than others to deserve a place at the table. My advice is to trust your vision, invest in strategic knowledge, and surround yourself with people who support your growth rather than limit it.


I would also emphasize the power of digital education. Today, knowledge is a tool for independence. Learning strategic skills, such as digital marketing, not only strengthens a business—it strengthens autonomy and decision-making power.


And most importantly, do not be afraid to compete. It does not matter if there are larger companies with more resources. With strategy, clarity, and consistency, it is possible to build something strong and sustainable.

Female leadership is not an exception; it is a transformative force.


Alice Carroll – Don’t build for approval - build for conviction.

Founder – Foxes Bow Whiskey Co

Advice

Don’t build for approval - build for conviction. Start with a real customer tension and make your solution distinctive, not just “nice.” Move faster than feels comfortable: momentum beats perfection. Know your numbers weekly (cash is oxygen) and sell earlier than you think you’re ready — relationships and distribution are built in the field, not in a deck.


Ritika Agarwal – Advice to Other Women Entrepreneurs Start before you feel ready — but start with clarity.

Founder – Yuka Games

Advice

Advice to Other Women Entrepreneurs

Start before you feel ready — but start with clarity. Passion alone is not enough. Be clear about the problem you are solving and why it truly matters. The market rewards solutions, not emotions.


Second, understand numbers early. Learn margins, cash flow, inventory cycles, and unit economics. Financial awareness is not optional — it is survival. Many good ideas fail because founders ignore the math behind the model.


Third, resilience matters more than talent. There will be phases of slow growth, rejection, delayed payments, and self-doubt. The difference between founders who build something meaningful and those who quit is consistency during uncomfortable periods.


Build credibility patiently. Whether it is product development, customer trust, or distribution, real growth takes time. Avoid chasing shortcuts that dilute your brand or values.

As women founders, we often balance business with family responsibilities. Instead of seeing that as a limitation, use it as strength — it builds emotional intelligence, multitasking ability, and grounded decision-making.


Most importantly, don’t wait for validation. You do not need permission to lead. You need conviction, discipline, and the courage to keep refining until the market responds.

Entrepreneurship is not about proving something to others — it is about building something that lasts.


Emily Gall – My advice is to start before you feel ready, and do not wait for permission or perfection.

Founder – North of Eight Design & Marketing

Advice

My advice is to start before you feel ready, and do not wait for permission or perfection. You will learn faster by doing, and confidence comes from reps, not from overthinking.


Do not be afraid of mistakes. You are going to make them, and they rarely ruin you. Most mistakes simply teach you what to tighten up next time, whether that is pricing, boundaries, hiring, or process.

The founders who grow are the ones who treat mistakes as data, not as proof they are not cut out for it.


Pay attention to what you are bad at, and be honest about it early. That is not a weakness, it is a roadmap. Knowing your gaps helps you build the right systems, hire the right support, and stop trying to be excellent at everything.

Your job is not to do it all. Your job is to build a business that can succeed because you know your strengths, you own your blind spots, and you are willing to learn.


Nisha Nancy Edelquin James – Advice to Aspiring and Early-Stage Women Founders 1.

Founder – I2GLOBAL

Advice

Advice to Aspiring and Early-Stage Women Founders

1. Build Competence Before Confidence

Confidence grows from clarity and capability.

Invest deeply in understanding your business model, numbers, legal framework, and market positioning. When you understand your business structurally, self-doubt reduces significantly.


2. Separate Emotion from Decision-Making

Empathy is a strength. Emotional decision-making in business is not.

Learn to evaluate performance, partnerships, hiring, and financial commitments through data and long-term sustainability — not personal comfort.


3. Create Systems Early

Do not wait to “grow” before building processes.

Documentation, financial discipline, reporting structures, and measurable KPIs should exist from day one. Systems create scalability and reduce burnout.


4. Build Financial Awareness

Understand cash flow, margins, risk buffers, and runway.

Financial literacy is not optional — it is foundational leadership.


5. Stop Seeking Validation

Many early-stage women founders over-explain their vision.

Clarity attracts alignment. Over-justification dilutes authority.

Not everyone needs to understand your direction — the right stakeholders will.


6. Invest in Strategic Networks

Build relationships with mentors, investors, operators, and sector experts. Surround yourself with people who challenge your thinking — not just those who support you emotionally.


7. Think Long-Term Identity

Do not just build a business.

Build a leadership identity.

Reputation compounds. Integrity compounds. Strategic consistency compounds.


Final Thought

Entrepreneurship is not about proving capability.

It is about building value with resilience.

The goal is not to balance everything perfectly —

it is to prioritize intelligently at each stage.


Dr Nidhi Khurana – Build competence before you build visibility—and build systems before you chase scale.

Founder – goglobalways.com

Advice

Build competence before you build visibility—and build systems before you chase scale.

Authority in entrepreneurship does not come from branding; it comes from depth. Master your domain so thoroughly that your expertise is undeniable. Then translate that competence into structured processes, measurable metrics, clear documentation, and repeatable models. Hustle may create momentum, but systems create sustainability.


Burnout is not a growth plan—structure is.


When your knowledge is strong and your systems are solid, confidence becomes natural, execution becomes consistent, and scale becomes predictable. Competence backed by systems will always outlast noise, bias, and temporary attention.


Tania Cicmil – My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is this: Do not underestimate the power of who you believe you are.

Founder – Mindstate Coaching

Advice

My advice to aspiring or early-stage women founders is this:

Do not underestimate the power of who you believe you are.

Most entrepreneurs focus on learning more — more strategy, more marketing, more tactics. But success is rarely limited by information. It is limited by identity. If your self-image does not match the level of success you are pursuing, you will unconsciously cap your growth.

Work on your internal foundation as seriously as you work on your business model.


Build self-belief deliberately. Protect your standards. Be disciplined with your thinking and your emotional state. An emotional setback, rejection or slow season does not define you — unless you allow it to redefine your identity. Stay conscious of the story you are telling yourself about who you are and what is possible.


Secondly, take full responsibility for your results. Not from self-criticism, but from empowerment. When you own your outcomes, you reclaim control over your future.

And finally, think bigger than you are comfortable with. Women often downplay their ambition. Do not shrink your vision to fit your current circumstances. Instead, expand yourself to fit your vision.


When you upgrade who you are, everything around you rises to meet that standard.


Sonal Seth – Validate real customer pain early with quick tests, not assumptions.

Founder – The Gamification Company

Advice

Validate real customer pain early with quick tests, not assumptions.

Speak up; your voice is part of the leadership job.

Prioritize; focus on the few actions that move outcomes.


Know your numbers (cash, pricing, unit economics) to make bold decisions.

Hire for values and ownership; early teams shape culture permanently.

Build a support circle of mentors, peers, and allies who challenge you.


Expect setbacks and keep moving resilience is a repeatable practice.


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