Hello there,
I’ve been thinking a lot about the findings of and the importance of Human Connection for female founders.
The fact that ‘community and peer networks’ is THE NUMBER ONE most valuable support for founders is really playing on my mind.
FFR has become so big that the question I’ve been asking is
How do we meaningfully connect founders with shared challenges on a similar journey?
Essentially, how do we turn a massive city into small districts (let’s call these Circles) so that we can come together with shared learnings?
And at some point, also smaller neighbourhoods (might call these Pods)
We’re already doing this with our B2B Circle and our Raise Circle, for those fundraising. We’re seeing lots of support, collaboration and shared insights.
We have virtual networking, a WhatsApp community and subsidised events. We know it’s working, and now it’s time to expand this to other groups.
We want to do this for other sectors too (B2C, Tech, Solopreneurs)
We’re planning on how this will work but if you want to join the B2B Circle with 300 other founders, all the info is here.
2) Massive news: we’re hosting our first AI workshop with an incredible female tech founder (YC-backed), Siddhi Mittal.
From Confused to Building: AI Agents in an Evening
Register your email for waitlist
Beyond excited for this - I really hope that we can make sure female founders are one step ahead when it comes to AI.
See you there
Emmie
PS Two female founders who inspire me. - Arshia and Danika - check out their great drink brand Bhangra Blends (and support them as 30% of their revenue is going towards supporting female founders this month 💜)
IN-PERSON & ONLINE EVENTS
1) [Online] Funding Your Business Without Giving Away Equity > 25th March at 12 pm, Dana Clouston from Barclays Business Banking, Jessica Phillips-Harris from the British Business Bank and Dr. Dupe Burgess, founder of Bloomful, will join Emmie to explore non-equity to fund your business >> Register here
2) [Online] PR for Newbies: How to Squeeze the Most Out of PR > Mar 27, 2026 12 noon, join Riannon Palmer, Founder of Lem-uhn, the B Corp award-winning feel-good PR agency. A beginner’s guide to getting media coverage without a big budget >> Register here
3) [Online] Finding investors and Nailing your Valuation > 16th April at 12pm, join Sam Simpson, Founder of Founder Catalyst >> Register here
IMPORTANCE OF AI
AI Tools we’re exploring right now
Gemini Deep Research
Gamma
Claude CoWork
Lovable
Wisp Flow
And soon to play around with Suno
We’re really focused on not getting left behind when it comes to AI
We want to get to grips with it all so we can share our learnings with the community (and obviously learn from others who are already a long way ahead)
One thing that's super clear is that we can save a lot of time and money if we know how to use it correctly
And those are two resources in short supply as an entrepreneur.
We’re working on a few AI initiatives and launching our first one with female tech founder, Siddhi and have others in planning.
We know that these are going to be extremely popular so we’ll run a waitlist.
Don’t get left behind > Register for waitlist.
RESOURCES & EXTERNAL EVENTS
1/ Female Founder Breakfast (All Things Social Media!) > Join Emmie Faust and Mae Yip for an intimate breakfast, bringing together a small group of female founders to talk all things socials on May 12th, 8:45 am to 10:45 am >> Register here
2/ Sign up for the Friday AM Fundraising newsletter to learn about exclusive fundraising events and resources >> click here to join ( it will add you to the list when you click).
THANK YOU FROM THE GIRLS' NETWORK!
Our IWD event at BloomsYard raised £2,500 for TGN, making a real difference to their work supporting young women.
We want to share a few words on how you can support them:
Would you like to partner with them? Find out more here. They are always looking for new organisations with something to offer to the girls they support.
Make a one-off or regular donation. To support their vital programmes and help more young women to achieve their full potential in life.
Follow them on LinkedIn and help them grow their network of women.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON SOCIALS
Some of the most popular posts this month were those highlighting 100 female founders:
1/ Check out 15 women building standout food and drink businesses here
2/ Less than 16% of tech startup founders are women >> check out some of them here
3/ From fashion to food, these 12 women are building MEGA businesses and need to be on your radar >> Check them out here
4/ 10 fab female founders who help power our FFR community here
Do go and follow these fab founders and let us know in the comments who we should spotlight next.
Have a great week.
Love from us all at FFR 💜
P.S. If you haven’t yet read the Rise Report, download it directly here.