Unlocking Success: The Secret Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Issue 241 — September 25, 2023

📢 Attention Entrepreneurs: Are you an aspiring, budding, or seasoned founder? Regardless of where you are in your journey, this snippet from the “Women’s Health Through the Lifecycle” panel that took place at Take The Lead’s Women’s Equality Day Power Up Concert and Conference is meant for you:

Trailblazing the industry

The speaker is Eva Goicochea, founder of Maude, a groundbreaking sexual wellness company she describes as, “The first sexual wellness company you can go to your Sephora and find.”

In other words, she is intent on normalizing sexual health, which though a universal human need, is all too often relegated to the shadows of culture and commerce.

”I’m one of only ten Latina founders to have raised over $10 million,” Goicochea says. Her advice holds the attitude that separates successful entrepreneurs from those that just get by, or abandon their dreams before realizing them.

(📢 Attention Entrepreneurs: Don’t miss the time limited opportunity to apply for Take The Lead’s upcoming 50 Women Can Change the World in Entrepreneurship. Get the details and application here. End of commercial –but do it fast because the program starts October 25 and places are filling up.)

No one knows everything

How did she do it? Says Goicochea, “The key takeaway is you’re never too old to start something new. Do not worry, no one knows what they’re doing…There’s no one who knows everything. To walk into the room and be worried about if you’re equipped, stop, because just by showing up, you’re doing something.”

Femtech and women’s health founders rising

While this panel was curated to focus on women’s health through the lifecycle, two of the three panelists were entrepreneurs. This is not surprising since femtech and women’s health services are major growth industries.

It’s equally unsurprising that women would be the founders of these companies because who better to know the problems needing solutions, and who better to be able to produce those products through a woman’s lens?

Claim your titles

Dr. Sophia Yen, an adolescent health specialist and cofounder and CEO of Pandia Health, was the moderator, Her company Pandia Health was one of the conference sponsors. She echoed Eva’s assurance: “I’m a doctor. My mom said, claim all your titles. So ladies, claim all your titles. I specialize in teenagers and young adults. Pandia Health is the only woman-founded, women-led, and the only doctor-led birth control delivery. We’re building the online health brand women can trust. And we’re about to launch menopause services. I’m like, yes, we will find the best treatment and we will give it to you. Expert care by expert doctors.”

Carissa Joy Smith was the third panelist. She provided the perspective of health policy on women’s health access and outcomes. Formerly senior advisor in the Biden-Harris administration at the White House for Women and Girls in Health Equity, Smith said, “Health is so important and we need to think about accessibility, affordability and convenience for us to have sustainable livelihoods in America because everything runs on women.”

“Everything runs on women.” Gotta love that! It deserves its own t-shirt.

More sage pearls to takeaway

• Dr. Sophia Yen: “I have hashtags, like #stopsuckingitup. If you have bad evil periods or menopause symptoms, please see a smart medical practitioner to take care of that. Don’t just suck it up. And I have a hashtag #periodsoptional. I love adolescent medicine’s ability to start helping people live positively and give them the education to have healthy lives. The number one cause of missed school and work under the age of 25 is bad evil periods. So if you know anyone who’s missing school or work because of their periods, please see a doctor. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. My parents told me there’s no such thing as a stupid question. It’s the question not asked that’s the problem.”
• Carissa Joy Smith: “[There are] the through lines or as we say in policy, the red lines of policy. There is an intersectional lens on policy that accounts for everyone, the most marginalized, the most vulnerable, the most unspoken population of women and girls. I often found that in policy there was no representation of me and my story. There was no representation of little black girls and what it meant for them and their health and their mental, emotional and physical health. And so I focus on women and girls and health equity.”
• Eva Goicochea: “We know there’s not gender parity. But I look at us in this room. We are in a place where we all have power. Have some context for the position that you’re in and then go in that room, realizing like nobody knows everything and you should be there. So keep going. Ask why. And ask ‘Why not?’ That’s my key takeaway.”

Power moves to sustain you

Let’s face it: Entrepreneurship isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon of resilience and calculated risks. Entrepreneurship can seem individualistic, but it isn’t a lone quest. It’s a collective journey that goes better with your community. Nor is policy merely ink on parchment; it’s how we include the voices of every woman, not just the privileged few.

Watch that video again when you’re feeling weak in the knees about whether your idea will fly or whether you have the ability to build the business you aspire to bring into the world because there is a problem you passionately want to solve.

Keep repeating: no one knows everything, #dontsuckitup, go claim your titles, because the world runs on women.

GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.