A new Bootstrappers' Breakfast series will bring free advice to women entrepreneurs in Scotland who are building businesses without outside investment. The events will take place in Edinburgh and Glasgow on Wednesday, 4 November, offering 60 places each for women working towards their first £1 million in annual turnover.

The initiative connects women pursuing bootstrapping with peers who have reached higher turnover milestones. Geeta Sidhu-Robb, a coach, growth adviser and entrepreneur who founded Seven Rungs, created the Bootstrappers' Breakfast series to facilitate these connections.

What Is Bootstrapping?

Bootstrapping means growing a company using its own cashflow. The founder keeps the shares in the business, rather than giving part ownership to outside investors.

Geeta Sidhu-Robb said: "Women get told that if they're serious about growth they need to raise money. I've spent years working with founders who've built profitable seven-plus-figure companies on nothing but their own cashflow. The bargain you make when you bootstrap is real. You may grow more slowly and you carry more of the risk yourself. What you get back is the company, all of it, and the freedom to run it the way you want. I want the women in these rooms to understand that trade and make it with their eyes open."

What Sidhu-Robb calls the Bootstrap Bargain sits at the heart of the event series. Founders may grow more slowly and carry more risk, but retain control of their business and its profits.

Event Details: Edinburgh and Glasgow

The Edinburgh event will take place at the Royal Bank of Scotland Accelerator Hub, 142–144 Princes Street, from 8.30am to 10.30am. The Glasgow event will be held at Atera Bathhouse and Spa on Oswald Street from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.

Darina Garland, co-founder of Scottish pizza oven company Ooni, will give the keynote speech at both events and will also join panel discussions.

In Edinburgh, Nathalie Agnew, who founded PR agency Muckle Media in 2012, will host the event and join the panel alongside Garland, Emma Macdonald, founder and chief executive of apparel company TBCo., and Kirsty MacCormick, chief executive of bbspa UK.

Agnew said: "Every business story you read seems to start with a funding round. That's not how most of the women I know have built their companies. I started Muckle Media in 2012 and grew it on cashflow, one client and one hire at a time, and plenty of founders across Scotland are doing the same with great results. There's a lot to be said for that route, and this is a chance to hear from women who've got well past the million mark and are happy to talk about how."

In Glasgow, MacCormick will host the event and join Garland and Agnew on the panel, with Sidhu-Robb chairing the discussion.

Why Women Entrepreneurs Matter in This Conversation

The Bootstrappers' Breakfast series cites figures showing only 1.3% of UK venture capital goes to all-female founding teams. The series says this leaves an untapped value of £310 billion in female-founded businesses.

MacCormick, who set up her own consultancy in 2021 after nearly 40 years in spas, said: "Beauty and wellness is an industry run largely by women, yet when I set up my own consultancy in 2021, after nearly 40 years in spas, I found very little out there for people like me who wanted to grow a sustainable business. Atera has only just opened and I can't think of a better first group to show round than 60 women trying to build something of their own in Scotland."

The events are designed to connect women who are building companies with founders who have already passed £1 million, £5 million and £150 million in turnover.