The stumbling blocks that turn the path to starting your own business into a rocky path often bring many young entrepreneurs back to the hard ground of facts in the early stages of starting a business. These stumbling blocks are often particularly big, especially when women start a business. They still have to defy prejudice and disadvantage. The start-up scene is still dominated by men and internalized role models and injustices pose major challenges for female founders.
First-hand
Anastasia Barner is one of those who made it. At 23, she is one of the youngest founders in Germany. She is the founder and CEO of FeMentor, the first reverse mentoring platform by women for women.
Anastasia was the international TikTok face of Deutsche Welle and is now a sought-after speaker and presenter. Her non-fiction book “(Ge)Gründet!” will be published in October. at Haufe, in which she takes a look behind the scenes of the German start-up scene and talks about her experiences as a young woman setting up a business. The “start-up bubble” is elitist and a look behind the scenes is rare. That’s exactly what makes Anastasia Barner’s first-hand report so exciting. She explains what it means to found a start-up young, what you give up and what influence the scene has on you.
Imposter syndrome overcome
The author doesn’t mince her words and also talks about difficult topics such as bankruptcies, burnout and consumption, the loneliness of the start-up scene, what it really means to start a business as a woman, what prejudices she had to struggle with and how she became her imposter syndrome was able to overcome. “(Founded!” encourages without creating an idealized image and shows that founding is not a question of age, gender or origin.
Strong network and a role reversal
With FeMentor, Anastasia Barner has founded a network in which mentors and mentees benefit equally from an exchange at eye level. Because personal match making connects women whose interests and skills complement and match each other.
Usually the mentor is the one who gives advice. In the case of FeMentor, mentees are given the opportunity to share their knowledge in return. They provide their individual knowledge – for example about Generation X, Y, Z – and provide valuable insights into YouTube, Instagram and much more. The result is an exchange at eye level that is useful and valuable for both sides. More information can be found at www.fementor.de.
To the book
(Founded!
Start-up scene uncovered
Author: Anastasia Barner
Publication date:
October 2023
Publisher: Haufe
ISBN: 978-3-648-16887-5
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