A Leicester founder has launched a new initiative aiming to shine a light on the bias and inappropriate behaviour many women face in entrepreneurship.
Kerry Linley founder of Rubitek is building Diary of a Funded Women, a private, curated community of women founders who have faced moments of being underestimated, patronised, or reduced to a diversity checkbox.
Kerry, who started her business in her mid‑forties while raising five children and navigating a cancer diagnosis, says the fundraising journey brought with it a steady stream of comments that revealed how differently women are treated in investor conversations.
“You’ve only been invited to pitch because you’re female…. It’s great you have a hidden disability – that ticks a diversity box for us…. We only fund LGBTQ businesses (An assumption, because I have short hair.)…Women just don’t pitch as confidently as men.”
“I even had one man put his hand on my knee and squeeze it as he offered me an ‘interest-free’ business loan.”
Kerry is looking for 20 women initially who have encountered bias to share their experiences and help shape the initiative as it grows. The goal, she says, is to turn individual stories into collective evidence, and evidence into meaningful change.
“One woman’s diary is a story. All of ours is a movement”
You can get in touch with Kerry on Linkedin.