Ending Soon! Save 33% on All Access

How One Former Google Exec Is Driving More Funding to Female Entrepreneurs Karen Cahn is on a mission to close the funding gap for women-led startups and small businesses. She sat down with Jessica Abo to talk about her crowdfunding platform, iFundWomen.

By Jessica Abo

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Fed up with the systemic biases that women face when trying to get funding for their businesses, Karen Cahn launched a crowdfunding platform called iFundWomen to drive much-needed capital to women-led startups and small businesses. Since November 2016, funders have backed nearly 100 startups and helped raise close to $600,000. Cahn sat down with Jessica Abo at the Caravan Stylist Studio in New York City to talk about crowdfunding and shared her advice on how to launch a successful campaign.
How is iFundWomen helping close the funding gap for female entrepreneurs?
Our platform helps women raise the money they need to start and grow their businesses, and our coaching staff provides strategy, video production, mentorship and a community for female entrepreneurs to thrive. In addition, we have an Accelerator Pool that benefits entrepreneurs with lower-income personal networks and we also provide expert crowdfunding coaching and video production services at a fraction of the cost as you would get anywhere else. Why? Because we can, and we want women to win. Period.
What kind of support does your platform provide?
Well first, iFundWomen is the only crowdfunding platform built exclusively by women for women, and we have a pay-it-forward model where we reinvest 20 percent of our profits from standard fees into live campaigns on the site. Second, with our local strategy, we are a one-stop shop for people who wish to support female-led startups and small businesses in their local community, like Nashville and now Raleigh, North Carolina! In fact, we are now taking applications for iFundWomen Raleigh, launching in June, so women reading this in the Triangle and Triad region, please apply!
Who can apply?
Any woman-led startup or small business can apply for free. They literally have nothing to lose and everything to gain. For more information, people can visit www.iFundwomen.com.

Watch more videos from Jessica Abo on her YouTube channel here.

Related: How One Mompreneur Is Helping Women Who Think Motherhood Is a B@*#$

Entrepreneur Network is a premium video network providing entertainment, education and inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and thought leaders. We provide expertise and opportunities to accelerate brand growth and effectively monetize video and audio content distributed across all digital platforms for the business genre.

EN is partnered with hundreds of top YouTube channels in the business vertical and provides partners with distribution on Entrepreneur.com as well as our apps on Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV.

Click here to become a part of this growing video network.
Jessica Abo

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Media Trainer, Keynote Speaker, and Author

Jessica Abo is a sought-after media trainer, award-winning journalist and best-selling author. Her client roster includes medical and legal experts, entrepreneurs, small business owners, startup founders, C-Suite executives, coaches, celebrities and philanthropists. Visit www.jessicaabo.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

More from Jessica Abo

These Dads Are Trying to Make Brain Nutrition Accessible to All

How to Find Balance When You're a Startup Founder

How This Company is Trying to Help Mainstream Users Navigate the Web3 Economy

How to Maintain Your Integrity While Keeping Up With a Rapidly Changing Environment

Editor's Pick

Most Popular

See all
Leadership

How a $10,000 Investment in AI Transformed My Career and Business Strategy

A bold $10,000 investment in AI and machine learning education fundamentally transformed my career and business strategy. Here's how adaption in the ever-evolving realm of AI — with the right investment in education, personal growth and business innovation — can transform your business.

By Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra, CPA, CFE, MBA
Side Hustle

These Brothers Had 'No Income' When They Started a 'Low-Risk, High-Reward' Side Hustle to Chase a Big Dream — Now They've Surpassed $50 Million in Revenue

Sam Lewkowict, co-founder and CEO of men's grooming brand Black Wolf Nation, knows what it takes to harness the power of side gig for success.

By Amanda Breen
Starting a Business

How to Find the Right Programmers: A Brief Guideline for Startup Founders

For startup founders under a plethora of challenges like timing, investors and changing market demand, it is extremely hard to hire programmers who can deliver.

By Vasily Voropaev
Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

By Eve Gumpel
Leadership

How to Break Free From the Cycle of Overthinking and Master Your Mind

Discover the true cost of negative thought loops — and practical strategies for nipping rumination in the bud.

By Aytekin Tank
Science & Technology

3 Major Mistakes Companies Are Making With AI That Is Limiting Their ROI

With so many competing narratives around the future of AI, it's no wonder companies are misaligned on the best approach for integrating it into their organizations.

By Chris Stegner