Starting a company is tough, doing it as a woman is even tougher, guest post by Appointedd founder and CEO Leah Hutcheon

Starting a company is tough. Doing it as a woman is even tougher, according to a new Scottish Government report. A staggering 50 times tougher if we use investment as a benchmark (and money is pretty important when building a high growth, ambitious business that wants to change the lives of its customers).

It turns out, as we approach International Women’s Day 2023, where the IWD theme is Equity, that the equity is really not all that equitable.

The stats don’t lie; only 2p in every £1 invested into Scottish companies goes to female founded businesses. 

It’s been enlightening, and saddening, to read the hard stats and the softer, qualitative data, laid bare by the Pathways report published by the Scottish Government last week. Led by tech entrepreneur and investor, Ana Stewart, and co-authored by Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, Mark Logan, the report pulls no punches and even drops the S bomb. Sexism. 

In a time where headlines are rightfully debating the role of gender in our society, it was shocking to read the assertion that our society is inherently sexist.

As the founder and CEO of Appointedd, an award-winning software company that powers bookings in 167 countries, it’s sometimes easy for me to forget the imbalance in the Scottish tech ecosystem - the male founders almost never conform to the ‘tech bro’ stereotype, and the female founders are fiercely supportive of each other. But it’s also easy for me to forget the battles I’ve fought to get there. The Pathways report has been a stark reminder of them. 

A quote of mine was featured in the report: “I was once advised in an investment meeting to take a male colleague to future meetings to make my tech business more ‘credible’. I spent the next few days thinking of where I might pick up a man to do this. It was both funny and depressing in equal measure.” Mind boggling when I look back, as is the fact that I had normalised this in my mind to be grateful for the advice as its aim was to give me, a solo female founder, the best chance of success. With 20/20 hindsight, it’s clear that these kinds of interactions aren't without impact. “Women frequently have a sense of not belonging in entrepreneurship, which affects their confidence and self-belief” states the report - a pretty impactful barrier to equity I’d say. 

So, this International Women’s Day, I have some requests. If you can, invest in a female-founded company. Or actively search out companies owned by women and buy from them. 

And if you’re in a corporate role where you can do this at a large-scale level, then please do! There’s some fantastic work coming from the procurement community aiming to actively procure a percentage of their supply chain from minority-led companies. And the Community Wealth Building recommendations in Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation feel like they could really impact. But there’s unfortunately a long way to go. 

So let’s make a difference. Not just on International Women's Day, but every day. Engage, invest, speak up, and support. And maybe read Ana Stewart and Mark Logan’s great Pathways review while you’re doing it.