Julia Elliott Brown
Entrepreneurial Advisor I Female Founder Ambassador

Julia Elliott Brown
Serial Entrepreneur
Female Founder Ambassador
 Fundraising and Growth Advisor

Julia's entrepreneurial journey

With 25 years entrepreneurial experience developing, building, funding, scaling, and advising high-growth start-ups across multiple sectors, Julia's mission and passion is to bring her wealth of expertise to support female founders on their own journeys to raise investment and scale their businesses.

Operating at board level for over 16 years in an executive and non-executive capacity, Julia has navigated pretty much every business challenge in the book, made a tonne of mistakes along the way, and come through the other side still smiling! As she says, if it’s not fun, why do it?

As a serial entrepreneur, Julia has trail-blazed and ridden the start-up rollercoaster with the award-winning online shoe design brand Upper Street, internet pioneer UpMyStreet.com, and coaching and advisory firm Enter The Arena. She's a commensurate action taker that shakes things up, and gets things done to make real impact. She's visionary, inventive, direct, practical, organised and incredibly driven.


Now, as an experienced board member, advisor, chair and executive business coach, she's supported over 1,500 high-growth female founders in building long-term value for their businesses, providing straight talking strategic guidance, objectivity and perspective as a sounding board, and her heartfelt and unwavering support. She's eternally curious, challenges constructively, and operates with complete integrity. She connect the dots and open opportunities with her powerful and extensive network. She's a fierce champion for the founders and businesses she work with, inspiring, encouraging and motivating them to achieve great things.

With 25 years entrepreneurial experience developing, building, funding, scaling, and advising high-growth start-ups across multiple sectors, Julia's mission and passion is to bring her wealth of expertise to support female founders on their own journeys to raise investment and scale their businesses.

Operating at board level for over 16 years in an executive and non-executive capacity, Julia has navigated pretty much every business challenge in the book, made a tonne of mistakes along the way, and come through the other side still smiling! As she says, if it’s not fun, why do it?

As a serial entrepreneur, Julia has trail-blazed and ridden the start-up rollercoaster with the award-winning online shoe design brand Upper Street, internet pioneer UpMyStreet.com, and coaching and advisory firm Enter The Arena. She's a commensurate action taker that shakes things up, and gets things done to make real impact. She's visionary, inventive, direct, practical, organised and incredibly driven.


Now, as an experienced board member, advisor, chair and executive business coach, she's supported over 1,500 high-growth female founders in building long-term value for their businesses, providing straight talking strategic guidance, objectivity and perspective as a sounding board, and her heartfelt and unwavering support. She's eternally curious, challenges constructively, and operates with complete integrity. She connect the dots and open opportunities with her powerful and extensive network. She's a fierce champion for the founders and businesses she work with, inspiring, encouraging and motivating them to achieve great things.

“The highly valued support that Julia Elliott Brown provides to women entrepreneurs is critical to helping British business women and redressing the gender funding gap"

- Victoria Harper, Telegraph

Speaking

Julia is a highly experienced keynote speaker, panel chair and event host, with significant media experience including press, television and podcast interviews.


Julia regularly hosts talks, discussions, webinars and masterclasses on raising investment and business growth on behalf of high profile organisations in the start-up industry. These organisations include Natwest, Barclays, HSBC, UBS, Virgin Start-up, Crowdcube, Seedrs, Seed Legals, The Rose Review, GBEA, The Entrepreneurs Network, The Great British Businesswoman Forum, The Womens Chapter, Investec, IdeasFest, The AllBright and The Womens Chapter.

Keynote topics

FIVE STEPS TO FUNDRAISING FOR FEMALE FOUNDERS

The male dominated world of investment can be a minefield for female founders to navigate, with women feeling 81 per cent less likely than men that they can access the finance they need for their start-up.


Get behind the scenes of the fundraising ecosystem and discover how to overcome these challenges by building a Fundraising Mindset, and following the 5 key steps to successfully secure investment: Company, Commercials, Communication, Connection and Commitment.


DEALING WITH GENDER BIAS AND ‘VENTURESPLAINING’

Less than 2% of venture funding goes to female founders, with more than half of women entrepreneurs experiencing gender bias in the fundraising process. We must not let these shocking statistics hold us back and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.


Step into your power as a female founder as you learn how to overcome perceived and real gender bias, speak the language of investors, handle ‘prevention’ questions, deal with being ‘Venturesplained’ to, and negotiate a fundraising deal as good as a man’s.

THE VALUE OF INVESTING IN FEMALE FOUNDERS

Underestimating the value that female founders can bring to to the world means investors are missing out on a significant opportunity. Companies with female founders delivering double the return on investment and are significantly less likely to fail. The business case is beyond compelling.


Discover strategies on how to level the playing field for women-led start-ups, including how to reimagine your organisational approach and deal generation process, check your biases, and uncover the true potential of female founders, and you’ll generate serious returns in the process.

City skyline

Photo By: John Doe

Birthday Sparks

Photo By: John Doe

Writing & broadcasting

Julia regularly champions female founders and raises awareness of the gender funding gap in the media, and has been featured in The Telegraph, The Times, Evening Standard, City AM and on London Live, as well as on numerous podcasts.


She's the host of leading podcast, Fundraising Stories with Female Founders, and author of best-selling book RAISE: The Female Founders Guide To Securing Investment, shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2023.


She has an excellent network and reputation in the investment ecosystem with entrepreneurs, investors and partners, with a following of several thousand on social media and email newsletters.


Outside of work

Julia lives in Folkestone in Kent, where she sings in a show tunes choir, loves cooking and good wine, keeping fit and sane with yoga, online fitness classes and long walks on the beach with her cocker spaniel, Kenny, plus hanging out with her teenage kids (when they let her).

“The credit belongs to the (wo)man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...” 

- Theodore Roosevelt (& Julia Elliott Brown!)