Atish Udayshankar

World's 15th best Startup Ecosystem, Moving towards being Top 10.

Bangalore

Akhilesh Agarwal

Christopher John

Vijetha Shastry

Sangeetha M

Headstart WE Club

We are excited to invite you to an evening of insightful conversations around Women &amp; Entrepreneurship, and Investing!💥FIRST TIME EVER! LIVE PITCH EVENT💥Do not miss this glossy, golden opportunity, to witness a Pitch Event, with Live Feedback from an esteemed Jury Panel!First time opening doors to registered folks to witness pre-selected, fund-raising Women Founders pitch their awesome startups in front of you!📅 Date: 18-Nov-2023⏰ Time: 3 PM IST onwards🧶 Theme: Indian / Desi💻 Mode: Offline🏢Venue: BHIVE Workspace MG Road, Bengaluru🎁 Lots of Networking over Samosas and Chai are guaranteed!​This event is for you if you are:​✅ Women-owned startup​✅ Achieved PMF, desiring to grow/scale, Fund-raise ready​✅ Women-focused fund​✅ Women entrepreneurs org or community lead /enablers*Walk-ins are not allowed, pre-registration &amp; approval are compulsory*Limited seats, first-come, first-serve

This initiative is exclusively for women entrepreneurs. "WE" want to to build a community of women entrepreneurs and take it to the next level by supporting and helping each other and eradicate a few barriers we face. 

Why an initiative exclusive for women?

Well, there has been a big debate among our team itself on the same question. Some of us supported the fact that entrepreneurship opportunities are rather the same for both genders, thereby questioning the need for an exclusive “Women Only” initiative/community while some opined otherwise. We hope that by the time you finish reading this blog, you will have some answers to it.

The facts

Women entrepreneurs may be defined as ‘Woman or a group of women who initiate, organize and run a business enterprise’. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs based on women participation in equity and employment of a business enterprise. Accordingly, a woman-run enterprise is defined as ‘An enterprise owned and controlled by a woman having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to women’. Women entrepreneurs constitute 10 % of all entrepreneurs in the country.

We might believe that the situation is a little better in the US, but even then, for every nine men raising equity financing to start and scale their businesses, only one woman does, according to a report by the National Women’s Business Council (US).

Women Entrepreneurs also fall into sub groups such as Homepreneurs, Mompreneurs and many more and every sub group has some specific needs. While ‘WE’ initiative will try to cover the larger goals of the community as a whole, we will also try our best to cater to the interests of the sub groups as well.

The problems

Something that has always bothered us is the low participation of women in the events that happen across the city. There are pitch events, co-founder search, founders’ mingle etc. and the sad reality is that typically 90% of the attendees are men. This happens for several reasons. We talked to few women who are running their business or aspiring to start one and here is what we heard:
“Most of the events are highly technology-centric while our businesses may not necessarily involve technology.”
“The comfort factor is missing in such gatherings dominated by men.”
“Many of these events are on weekdays and we can’t leave kids at home without supervision”
“We need peer support, preferably from women like us who have been able to start a venture given the similar circumstances of managing home and work.”
“We cannot attend 2 days hackathon leaving a toddler at home.
It is upsetting. While there is so much happening around us, women entrepreneurs are able to explore only a small fragment.”

We found this well-known but less talked about fact which happens to be an apt descriptionription of reality too:

“Business plan competitions and pitch forums are frequently about bravado and making ridiculous projections. Men excel at this. Women tend to be more conservative. This is the #1 complaint I get from the hundreds of women entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed,” said Vivek Wadhwa, academic, researcher, entrepreneur, and a vocal critic of the under funding of women-led companies by Silicon Valley (and a man). “When they [women] go to angel forums and the like, they feel intimidated and left out.”

What do ‘WE’ intend to do?
‘WE’ at Headstart Network
– want to sincerely put an effort to reduce some of these barriers and help women come out and explore in a community that helps, learns and grows together.
– want to infuse self confidence in first time women entrepreneurs so that they are able to headstart their journey with no constraints felt whatsoever.
– want the ecosystem to hear the needs of women entrepreneurs and support them.
– want not to compete, but complement and collaborate with existing women entrepreneur groups and initiatives.
– want to make the pie bigger for everyone!

How do ‘WE’ see the future?

Picture this.
An ecosystem which understands that if you are willing to start-up and have a family too, that is NOT a problem!
An accelerator that boasts of having your child taken care of in a day care while you work to make that awesome Product in INDIA.
Possibilities are immense. “WE” dream BIG.
“Dream BIG! If it offends someone, so what! Dream Bigger!” – Anonymous


WE Club

BHIVE Workspace MG Road

Great vibes to work with.
Price is kinda high. Now a days, places are empty working alone whole day hurts. Games are not always in playable condition as they give for private events.

Nice and cosy place to work. Best part is availability of billiards, foosball and vending machines at the topmost floor pantry. The view from the pantry is great!

My recent visit to Beehive as a workspace left me thoroughly unimpressed. Despite a friend's suggestion, it pales in comparison to the service I'm accustomed to at WeWork. The receptionist's aloofness was hard to ignore, as my attempts at friendliness were met with indifference, akin to facing a strict principal. All in all, I'd advise against choosing this workspace. The cabins felt uncomfortably small, evoking a sense of claustrophobia, and the strict no-smoking policy was a significant drawback. It's safe to say Beehive doesn't live up to its reputation.

Very comfortable workplace with great ambience and pleasant work culture.

Good facilities like wifi, coffee machine present & canteen.

Highly recommend this place to anyone who is looking for the office space. It’s just 80 meters away from Trinity Metro.

Mr. Sujay is very professional & he take care of everything. Good job Sujay.

We are very happy and satisfied 😊

Good coworking space with all facilities require for startups and small companies. Specialty of this coworking space is cabins are provided for each company  or client with locking facility for privacy and security.

Location is ideal with modern facilities with very cost effective and value for money. Just walk able distance from Trinity metro station and BMTC lido bus stop. It is very convenient location for employees travelling through public transport.

Bhive Staff are very helpful and attentive. Especially Mr Aditya Das  Hospitality Manager  with more than 6 years experience in hospitality  industry with working experience in top five star hotels along with Mr Muzakir Hussain-  Center supervisor with more than 4 years experience in hospitality maintain the center very well with utmost hygiene with his team.Even during pandemic time team helped to maintain highest standards of hygiene without charging any extra amount from clients that is best part of Bhive. I appreciate Bhive management in this regard. Each member body temp is checked and asked to sanitize hands before entering the premises.

Bhive staff always comes forward to help all members working on floor   when we require support with smiling faces and follow up with us until issue is resolved to our satisfaction. Every week Bhive team takes feedback from all clients to improve the services in the center.

We have different games for recreation like billiards , caroms, chess  board games. Interiors are done tastefully.

Cafeteria is very well maintained with basic amenities. After each member / team have lunch HK staff sanitize the table and chair. This practice was being followed even before covid  maintaining highest hygiene standards in cafeteria.

We have coffee / tea  vending machine available on each floor.  It is unlimited for all center members.  Recently new  food vendor started services with very cost effective prices and maintains very good hygiene.

If anybody looking for coworking space with good cost effective and in the center of city near to public transport can consider this space. Only challenge is 4 wheeler parking which Bhive provides in LIDO mall which is walk able distance from here.

Thanks
M Sreekanth

Women Entrepreneurs' MeetUp

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