Empathy Is The Best Route to Innovation: Entrepreneurship Director Offers Advice
Abigail Ingram, director of the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute, offers startup advice.
If you suggest something to Abigail Ingram, she will follow up and do it.
As the director of The Women in Entrepreneurship Institute at DePaul University in Chicago, since its launch in July 2018, Ingram heads the first comprehensive institute for women founders that integrates academic learning, research, incubation, funding and public policy.
“Abigail Ingram, director of @WEI_DePaul, at @DePaulU heads the first comprehensive institute for women founders. #WomenInBusiness #WomenLeaders”
She is a natural for this work.
After graduating Eastern Illinois University in 2007, as “your classic English major in every sense of the word,” she went on to study for her masters, traveled to South Africa, and then launched her own music studio in 2009.
It was there a colleague suggested she go to law school. So she did. After finishing her masters thesis she started law school in 2015, finishing at DePaul University in 2018 when she began working at the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center housed within the DePaul Driehaus College of Business to launch the separate Institute.
The reasons for spearheading the institute for women seemed obvious to Ingram.
“Seventy percent attrition rate is normal for women’s businesses,“ Ingram says, “so we need to do something to support women’s business development.”
““Seventy percent attrition rate is normal for women’s businesses,“ Ingram says, “so we need to do something to support women’s business development.” #FemaleBusiness ”
Pulling together 40 women founders and funders, Ingram launched the institute with five pillars of the mission. First is academic research “to figure out the scope of the problem,” she says. Another component is an incubator of women founders, added to courses for undergrad and graduate students on women’s entrepreneurship. Research to inform policy is also a crucial piece, as she says:,“If the environment is still hostile, there is only so much we can do.” The fifth crucial piece is access to funding.
“Pulling together 40 women founders and funders, Ingram launched the institute with five pillars of the mission. First is academic research “to figure out the scope of the problem,” she says.”
“We have a new fund called The Demon Angels Fund,” she says, named after the university’s mascot, the Blue Demons.
This is essential as research shows women-led startups have a lower success rate and are less likely to thrive. But if they do, the return on investment is enormous.
“Research shows women-led #startups have a lower #success rate and are less likely to thrive. But if they do, the return on investment is enormous. #FemaleStartups”
According to the Harvard Business Review, “Currently, women-led businesses are less likely to survive, despite evidence that their startups are often highly successful. New analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could ultimately rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.”
At WEI, in its first incubator cohort, nine businesses were selected from 198 applicants, she says. All are founded and run by women.
“We are open to all Chicago women,” Ingram says, not just alums or those connected to the university.
The initial cohort just completed the accelerator program and the data shows there was a 64 percent increase in revenues, an addition of six jobs and an increase of 31 percent in confidence reported.
What Ingram has found with women’s business owners is that the biggest deterrent is lack of access to capital.
“What Ingram has found with women’s business owners is that the biggest deterrent is lack of access to #capital. #WomenInBusiness #Equity”
“That is something concrete,” Ingram says. “Less obvious is ‘the awareness that the call is coming from inside the house,’” Ingram explains, or that women “are socialized to be more risk averse and to take fewer chances.”
She adds, “We’re not trying to go back and re-socialize anyone, but it’s up to women to be confident and to understand their own agency.”
The positive flip side is that women are socialized to develop empathy, Ingram says. “Empathy is the best route to innovation.”
“Women are socialized to develop empathy. Ingram says, “Empathy is the best route to #innovation.” #WomenInBusiness”
According to Forbes, “Women-owned businesses are diverse, creative, and flourishing: According to the 2019 State of Women Owned Businesses Report from American Express, there are nearly 13 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. — which marks a 21 percent jump in the past five years. (To put this number in perspective, overall business growth rose 9 percent during the same period.) They employ 9.4 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in revenue. Women-owned businesses account for just 39 percent of privately owned firms and only one in five firms with revenue of more than $1 million is owned by a woman, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners.”
Looking back on her own startup launch out of graduate school, Ingram says, “I was young and didn’t know it was going to be difficult.” She adds that at the institute she wondered, “Should we tell people how hard it is? Otherwise we just say, go ahead and try it.”
Ingram says it is best to be the most informed. “You have to learn that you are the marketing team, the accountant, the web developer and delivering programming, inventory and product. The biggest lesson is how to put together the systems.”
“Ingram says it is best to be the most informed. “You have to learn that you are the marketing team, accountant, web developer, inventory and product.” #Startup #Advice”
Oh, yes, and while she was launching the institute, Ingram was practicing what she expounds, and started a small boutique law firm.
In her work as director, Ingram says the biggest mistake she sees women founders make is “undervaluing their work and reflecting that in their prices.”
“In her work as director, Ingram says the biggest mistake she sees women founders make is “undervaluing their work and reflecting that in their prices.” #Confidence”
Because it is harder for women to get access to capital, the first job “is to get cash flowing.” And by lowballing on prices, women can sometimes never catch up.
“You are always bootstrapping—the money you have is the money you are able to make. So if you don’t know what you are worth, your business will stall,” Ingram says.
“Because it is harder for women to get access to capital, the first job “is to get cash flowing.” And by #lowballing on prices, women can sometimes never catch up. #WomeninBusiness”
That is why many women’s businesses stall between $50,000 and $100,000 in earnings, perhaps because at that level they relax because they have replaced an income.
To maximize success as a founder, Ingram advises agility and to know that “everything you build needs to be a guaranteed sale. If you start something with just an idea, you will be launching something untested. But if you are someone who needs to make it work, you have to have a guaranteed sale created for a consumer who needs it,” Ingram says.
Looking ahead, Ingram says, “In a perfect world, we would shut the systems down. In the real world, we will keep protections in place so gender is not an issue in starting a business.”
“Looking ahead, Ingram says, “In a perfect world, we would shut the systems down. In the real world, we will ensure #gender is not an issue in starting a #business.” ”
