The Startup Ladies

06/03/2026

HAPPY PRIDE! We love our LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, investors, executives and allies! You are an invaluable part of our community, significant driver of the economy, and just plain totally AWESOME! May love surround you during this celebratory month!

05/12/2026

🤩 Curious about The Startup Ladies? Join the conversation this Friday at 2 PM ET on Zoom for a live Q&A designed specifically for people exploring membership.

If you’ve been following our work and wondering whether this community is the right fit for your entrepreneurial, investor, or executive journey, this is your opportunity to ask questions and learn more in a relaxed, no-pressure conversation.

We’ll cover:
✨ What The Startup Ladies actually does
✨ Who our membership is designed for
✨ Programs, events, and our eLearning platform
✨ Membership levels and benefits
✨ How we support founders, investors, and executives
✨ Live Q&A so you can determine if this community aligns with your goals

This session is for NON-MEMBERS only who are considering joining. (Current members should attend New Member Orientation instead.)

Whether you’re:
✔️ starting or scaling a business
✔️ interested in investing in women founders
✔️ looking to build meaningful relationships with founders, executives, and investors
✔️ searching for a stronger entrepreneurial community

…this session will help you better understand what’s possible inside The Startup Ladies.

📅 Friday
🕑 2:00 PM ET
💻 Zoom

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/discover-the-startup-ladies-learn-if-membership-is-right-for-you-registration-1377362738159?aff=oddtdtcreator

At The Startup Ladies, we’re building practical infrastructure that helps women founders move from idea → market → growth while increasing investment in women-owned companies.

Hope to see you there!

Curious about The Startup Ladies? Join us to find out if becoming a member is the right move for your entrepreneurial or investor journey!

04/22/2026

BIG REVEAL. Tonight.
At 6 PM at zWorks, our Founder & CEO Kristen Cooper will be interviewed live by exited founder and board member Jon Gilman at an AI Meetup filled with tech leaders and investors.

We start sharing what’s next for The Startup Ladies and how we continue to expand access to capital for women-owned businesses.

💥 We’ll be announcing details for the 2026 Invest In Women Founders Summit
💥 You’ll be among the first to hear how to get involved
💥 And who this opportunity is really for

Join us for drinks, snacks, and a room full of people building what’s next.
Free to attend.

Registration required.
https://luma.com/2dcsokgb?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Ii-HRbJ7Bm9ajfgnbSHEIk6d-HRPXPJ-eQmDjF_zpx-v8U8asBC6IcgM1d9Y0Z-3etFqp9BZnSHX6Qy3lYS59rV4UoOTX-CN87hMCBrBkBMvtp6k&_hsmi=414603049&utm_content=414603049&utm_medium=email&utm_source=hs_email

04/15/2026

Most founders don’t fail because they lack a good idea. They fail because they never truly understand the problem.

💡 Customer interviews are where that changes.

This is the step where you:
• validate or invalidate your assumptions
• understand how people actually behave
• identify what they are already doing to solve the problem
• and begin building relationships with your first customers

It’s also the step most founders skip or rush through.

Today at noon, I’m hosting a Startup Study Hall on how to conduct customer interviews the right way.

We’ll walk through:
• who to interview
• what to ask
• how to structure your interviews so the data is actually useful
• how to turn what you learn into a clear next step

If you’ve ever thought:
“I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s right”

This session will give you clarity.

✔️ You can read the full companion article here:
Customer Interviews: How to Validate Your Idea and Find Your First Customers
https://hubs.li/Q04c7XG90

✔️---> REGISTER HERE
https://hubs.li/Q04c7R520

Join us today at noon on Zoom!

04/01/2026

Join us TODAY at noon ET on Zoom for part 1 of our Customer Discovery series. We're talking about how to create surveys that help you understand the business problem from the prospective of market.

This is the first step in identifying your first customers. Whether you have an idea for a business, are launching a new product or service, or may need to pause to understand your customers, this Startup Study Hall is for you!

REGISTER HERE:
https://hubs.li/Q049fYWW0

03/09/2026

Today is International Women’s Day.

Many of the women we celebrate today were not widely admired in their own time. In fact, many were criticized for being too loud, too disruptive, or too unwilling to accept the status quo.

Women like Shirley Chisholm, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, bell hooks, Dolores Huerta, and Tarana Burke.

They didn’t simply disagree agreeably. They spoke clearly about injustice, challenged powerful systems, and helped reshape the opportunities many of us carry into our work and lives today.

Some of them changed laws and institutions. Others built companies and moved economic power. All of them forced society to confront difficult truths.

I wrote a longer reflection about the tension between “civil discourse” and the courage required to speak clearly about injustice, and what their legacy asks of leaders today.

One line that stayed with me while writing it:

Neutrality in the face of injustice is rarely neutral. It is often a quiet form of permission.

If you’re interested, you can read the full reflection here:

Link to article:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/civil-discourse-courage-women-who-spoke-up-built-power-kristen-cooper-3gobc/?trackingId=pF6WTr8EsLjHKuRB2m4y0A%3D%3D

Happy International Women’s Day.

02/18/2026

TONIGHT! | FEB 18 | 6-8 PM | CoHatch Broad Ripple | Pizza
Work ON your business with us tonight.

What We’ll Cover

- How to tell the difference between real customer demand and noise
- When saying “no” is the most strategic move a founder can make
- Early revenue vs healthy revenue and why not all money helps you grow
- How customer conversations should shape your product roadmap
- Why most founders talk too much and what changes when you listen more
- The long game of building a company without burning out or losing focus

What to Expect
This is an interactive working session, not a lecture. Founders will:

- Audit current opportunities they may need to walk away from
- Practice customer listening techniques that improve discovery calls
- Identify patterns in customer feedback versus one-off requests
- Leave with at least one concrete conversation or decision to act on next

Come ready to think, reflect, and participate. You’ll leave with clearer priorities, better questions, and a stronger sense of what actually deserves your time and attention as a founder.

You can register up until 5pm today.

🟢 REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/3MQIGPo

P.S. - This program is ideal for founders in the startup or scaleup stages.

Learn how to listen more effectively, recognize real customer demand, and make disciplined decisions that drive sustainable growth

02/14/2026

Happy Valentine's Day to the Builders, Believers, and Brave Ones

Today is for hearts, 💕
but yours work year round.

Not just loving people,
but loving ideas
before they make sense,
before they make money,
before anyone claps.

You show up with questions
when answers would be easier.
You invest time
when certainty would be safer.
You choose growth
when comfort is available.

Founders who dare to begin again
after a long day of holding it together.
Investors who say yes to potential
instead of only proof.
Executives who lend wisdom
without needing credit.

You write business plans
between school pickups and late night worries.
You send intros that change lives
and call it “just helping.”
You celebrate each other
like success is shared, because it is.

This community was never just networking.
It is courage practiced together.
It is capital with conscience.
It is ambition with room for humanity.

So today, know this:

You are seen.
You are respected.
You are part of something rare.

Not because of what you’ve built yet
but because of how you build it.

Thank you for trusting each other.
Thank you for staying when it gets hard.
Thank you for making room at the table
and then building bigger tables.

We love building this with you.

Happy Valentine’s Day
The Startup Ladies 💛

02/04/2026

Our February newsletter is out!
- February events (including one today at noon on Zoom)
- List of key leaders in Indiana to follow
- 2 articles to help you understand power and manage people
- Link to a member podcast to help you be successful

CLICK the link below to read:

https://thestartupladies-3394545.hs-sites.com/contact.firstname-do-we-need-a-fund-for-women-founders?ecid=&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8RGIzZJA0ekTbWZk7NLWK0MHm22aH-ctfViq2Nz7nTfeE0iLgw9fq6Rf_fiXrxoCKswTlk

01/29/2026

Today’s the day! ✨

Founders, we’re live at noon for our next Startup Capital Series session with Kristine Camron of Camron Molin LLC. She’ll walk through the legal steps, documents, and strategy you need to move from pitch to investment with confidence.

🕛 12–1:30pm CT
💻 Zoom

There’s still time to join us- grab your spot and log in at noon to level up your fundraising readiness.
🔗 https://hubs.li/Q040v2Vg0