The female factor is a community dedicated to all the ambitious women out there, ready to change the game and make an impact on a bigger scale. But why this community? And why us? Here is our "little" introduction.
Let's get personal
Hi, I'm Tanja.
I was leading the business operations as Managing Partner of Startup Live, the leading European acceleration program for the past four years, running the program batches in over 30 countries. Startup Live is one of the largest startup communities worldwide, with alumni such as Runtastic, Shpock, Codeship and mySugr.
To raise more awareness among women to the topic of entrepreneurship and to connect female entrepreneurs, I co-founded the initiative "Female Founders". The global network offers regular meetups and its own acceleration program for (prospective) founders and female-led ventures. In 2018, Female Founders was honored for its contribution to the Austrian startup ecosystem.
My female factor is speed.
Before my work for the Austrian and European startup ecosystem, I started and sold my own startup HeyBeauty, a scheduling tool for beauty appointments at the age of 25 after gaining significant startup experience in Berlin, Singapore and Vienna.
My journey showed me my endless passion to support and enable other change-makers, bringing together people and the power of communities. I also learned, that the right mindset and personal growth is the foundation of success. The female factor allows me to combine all that in one amazing opportunity.
I currently live between Tel Aviv, Israel and Vienna, Austria, appreciating the digital nomad lifestyle more and more. So if you're around, feel free to drop me a line ;)
This is Mahdis.
I have also the honor to introduce you to my business partner in crime.
If I need to name one woman, that inspires me, that is truly kickass, knows her business sh*t AND is t r u l y kind and supportive and down-to-earth, then it's her.
Mahdis is leading the business operations of Iran Air in Vienna, Austria, a very male-dominated industry, that she is definitely owning, despite her (small) size :))
For the past couple of years she has been responsible for the Austrian and the German market, leading a team of over 20+ people, managing becoming the most profitable branch of the airline.
Her female factor is empathy.
Mahdis joined our Female Founders network two years ago, with the vision to expand the network internationally (which she managed!) and open it to small business owners. We worked together on different projects within the network and I always was impressed by her ability to see opportunities in collaboration, which makes her a true business development and partnership hero (also her Persian genes help a lot here^^).
Mahdis is based in Vienna, Austria but travels frequently for pleasure and work.
Why we believe in communities
As female entrepreneurs, we both had the privilege to discover the power of community and mentorship early on. Creating business opportunities through a network of female founders made us realize that we want to empower more women on a global scale. Because we truly believe, that we rise by lifting others.
You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Said that, being connected (and even better: being friends) with driven women all over the world with the same go-getter mentality that inspire and empower each other, has always been on our vision boards. And let's be honest, it can be kinda hard to spot those people. So our big aim was to create a community that attracts exactly those kind of women, those incredible individuals we wanna be friends with. Those kind of women, that rise by lifting others.
Sounds like we are talking about you? Great! Join our community and get ready to advance your career and create business opportunities!