A key component of a successful leadership accelerator is always the participants. We try to integrate as many ambitious and inspiring women as possible. At the same time, we also try to keep the number of participants low enough to make sure the group can build meaningful connections and relationships and that everyone has the opportunity to exchange ideas. After a few batches, we found that the perfect number of participants is between 20-25 women.

We go through all of the applications and see who will fit in the program. On the one hand, we are aiming for women who are ambitious, want to develop their entrepreneurial mindset and match the program goal.

On the other hand, we try to get an even mix of startup founders, startup employees and corporate employees to make sure we have a diverse group of participants from different industries, backgrounds and countries, which allows us to learn from each other. In case we have some additional questions after reviewing your application we will reach out to you via email to schedule a brief call.  If your goals and expectations fit with Lead F we will inform you about your spot. 

With everything, what you put in is what you will get out of it. The minimum time to dedicate per week is 3 hours – 2 hours for the weekly sessions, 30 mins to review prep material for the week, and about 30 mins to meet with your program buddy. We also offer optional networking and mentoring sessions.

Our program is split up into 3 sections. The first part is focused on creating your leadership blueprint. We will have sessions to help you define your vision and how you want to be perceived as a leader. The second part is all about building authority. Here we will have sessions around how to get buy-in from stakeholders to negotiation tactics. The last part is all about people management and becoming a more effective manager. Topics include coaching approach, leading through change, and creating psychological safety within teams.

We meet once a week for 2 hours via Zoom. The first half of the session will be a presentation from one of our subject matter experts and a Q&A session. The second half of the sessions are used for hands-on workshops and discussion tables to learn how to implement what was just talked about into real life work and management situations.

Yes! We will be sending you additional resources and a reading list for each topic every week. You will have an accountability group during the program which will help support you and to share insights and experiences. If you need additional support on a specific goal/topic, our program head, Amelia will be available for 1:1 calls.

Your journey with us won’t be over after those three months! The story will have just begun. We know, those three months are quite intense and you won’t be able to implement everything you learned without any issues into your daily work routine right away. Therefore we will pair you with a mentor from our community, who will help you reach your goals, to make sure you will continue your progress after the accelerator ends. You also get access to the full Female Founders network and alumni events for life. We will keep you updated with our monthly Lead F alumni Newsletter.

When you complete Lead F, you receive lifelong access to the whole Female Founders Community – a group of amazing and ambitious women, you will expand your network, become more confident and resilient in your leadership position and gain new tools in your leadership toolkit. After each batch, our participants speak about the amazing transformational change that has happened throughout the program, and how thankful they are for the great group of inspiring and entrepreneurial women.

We started the Leadership Accelerator Lead F together with our Startup Accelerator Grow F. The idea was to bring together women from the startup world and women from the corporate world, and together with hands-on workshops to ensure that they can learn from each other.

Initially Lead F was in person so the participants were obviously women in leadership positions based in Vienna. At the beginning of 2020, the corona pandemic hit. Batch #3 should have started in person in April 2020, but it was clear that this would not be possible. We then considered whether we should cancel, postpone or change the batch. We figured to make our decision based on Female Founders values – to be pan-European and innovative. So we switched the program fully digital in a very short time and when Batch #4 started half a year later, we already had participants from all over Europe.

We want to be as transparent as we can when it comes to pricing. In order to create a high-quality program, we use the participation fee to cover costs on employee salaries, trainers in the program, and program tools (community platform, etc). That being said, there is an option to pay the participation fee in four equal installments and if the price is a barrier for you to join the program, please reach out to Elisabeth. 

Yes, and we are happy to share examples from other companies who we have done this with. Please get in touch with Amelia directly.