A Review of ‘Funded Female Founders’ by David B Horne

Lucy Demmon, Paralegal at Healys LLP, provides an insight review of David B Horne’s latest book, ‘Funded Female Founders’.

‘Funded Female Founders’ provides an honest and eye-opening insight into the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs when raising capital. Starting this book, I knew very little about “what it’s really like out there” for female founders (the focus of the first part in David’s book). I was, however, quickly gripped by the sharp and analytical style of David’s writing. He breaks down complex issues into easily understandable insights and practical solutions.

David, in this book, addresses the biases and discrimination that exist in venture capital. He highlights that, whilst female representation and accessibility to venture capital firms is improving, it is limited in comparison to men. The statistics are stark at times and I was shocked to learn “it would be 2045 before all-female teams got from the current <1% of total funding to just 10%.”

However, the book is not all “doom and gloom” for female founders. David is quick to celebrate the successes of female entrepreneurs in securing venture capital funding and utilises the real-time life lessons from female founders who have attained funding to advise his readers.

In part two of the book, David uses his knowledge of the industry, and the challenges he highlights in part one, to guide his readers – even asking the question: “Do you really want to raise money?”

I particularly enjoyed learning about the different avenues for funding and the real actionable advice for anyone trying to raise finance. It includes guidance on common misconceptions, potential issues, and the benefits of successfully utilising the funding techniques. I learned a lot from these chapters about the funding landscape for both male and female entrepreneurs. David’s unique focus on women-led businesses, however, means this section is particularly relevant for female founders.

Finally, David presents options for industry-wide change that would support female founders to obtain the funding they need to grow their businesses.

In this book, David does not disregard, and in-fact respects, the value of women-led businesses. He demonstrates the core barriers to female entrepreneurs securing the financial support they need to grow their businesses by citing statistics and research studies conducted by top institutes around the world. He presents the options available for funding and provides actionable advice for female entrepreneurs before highlighting that supporting female founders would create huge opportunities for investors.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone, regardless of gender, who would like to gain a deeper understanding of the fundraising industry and the options available to female founders.