Julia Elliott Brown: Secrets to securing investment

Our guest is the founder of Enter the Arena, a business coaching company that aims to empower female business owners in investment. She is a serial entrepreneur and an expert in raising investment and scaling businesses, she is also the recent author of the book RAISE: The Female Founder’s Guide To Securing Investment.

Here's what we discussed:


  • Can you tell us a bit about your journey up until this point? (00:56)
  • Did you have any role models in your early business life? (03:30)
  • Was there anything in particular that drew you into helping other businesses grow? (05:11)
  • Why do you feel investment into female funded businesses in an area that needs particular attention? (07:00)
  • Only 15% of venture funding goes to female founders and only 6% of scale-up companies are led by women. Why are there so few female business owners? What are the barriers women face in getting into business? (09:40)
  • Because the business world is male-dominated, the space may understandably seem intimidating for women, how can women who are at the start of their journey or thinking about going into business approach going into business if they do feel intimidated? (13:31)
  • Which sectors do female business owners receive the most amount of funding? (17:04)
  • Can there be opportunities during this period of time? And what can a business owner do to scale their business even in a global recession? (19:22)
  • Is there a common doubt or issue that you see across all of the female founders you work with? (22:22)
  • Businesses are part of the fabric of society, so when there aren’t many female business owners what implications does this have on society? (27:23)
  • How can our listeners tackle raising investment in the wake of a global economic crisis when investors are likely holding onto cash during this period? (30:56)
  • Answer the Internet: What are investors in a start-up allowed to do? (33:42)
  • What makes a great business leader? (35:32)
  • If a female founder reads your book and realises that they don't want to raise funding, what would be your advice to them? (37:23)


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