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I wish I had that post in front of me. The first thing that came to mind & I think all those qualities are important. But the thick skin is key, combined with the ability to move beyond setbacks. Women tend to really analyse things & see things from numerous different perspectives & I think that’s one of the real values they bring to business & growing a business & building a team being sensitive to the dynamics that are happening around a team or a board. However it can also result in paralysis so I think the ability to just take criticism, not take it personally, move on especially when you’re doing something innovative. You’re going to have a lot more nos than yeses out there & just being prepared & not taking it personally. And going out & finding the people who are going to be supportive & perservering in that process. I think that’s true of entrepreneurs & I think that’s true in the vc world in terms of if you really want to be innovative, you’re going to have partners & other people around you who may not see it, that you are going to have to convince a little bit more. And I think its a good quality to have that resilience.
I actually did invest in the UK & the Netherlands so I do understand the lack of especially early stage funding in Europe. Luckily I think that is starting to change. You have Danny Rimer with Index Ventures who started a seed fund along the lines of some of the funds that we’ve seen in the US. But I think the bootstrapping becomes even more important when there are less funds that will invest at that early stage. So its about becoming more resourceful as an entrepreneur. And this is happening here too, you just need to figure out a way to get your business some customers & traction without getting some external funding. There are startups here, I don’t know what the government funding scenario is like in Europe, but there are some that have technical products that can access grants etc & use that to bootstrap. Then its really going out & networking & finding out who the funders are. I think you have money coming from all around the world now interested in finding good startups. While its still a very local business, I know there are funds in the Middle East & there are funds in Asia that are very interested in accessing some of the European markets. So I’d say think a little bit creatively on where you are finding some of those sources beyond just the traditional funds.