Interview with Alejandra de Brunner
Founder of ETHOS
Alejandra de Brunner is the 22-year-old founder and CEO of ETHOS, a ‘positive social network for people to engage with what they truly care about’, which was conceptualised while Alejandra was a student at Oxford University. As part of our Women in Emerging Growth interview series, we spoke to Alejandra about what she has learnt in the process of launching a tech business, her ambitions for ETHOS, and what advice she would pass on to the next generation of female founders.
Looking back, what do you wish you had known before founding your own business?
Having a mentor, someone who has done it before, is easily what I’d say is the most important thing. It’s a hard thing to get. Unless you already have one, you have to earn it or actively go and seek someone out. This was the first thing I learned; when people seem to know it all, it’s only because they have someone very close advising and supporting them. That’s one of the hardest things to break through, because then you actually end up doing everything a little bit differently to how other people do it.
The second thing I wish I’d known earlier was how important pitching and getting yourself to be heard is. It took me so long to be listened to on calls. For a long time, I was stuck in a rut where, in theory, it was my pitch – but then within 2 minutes or even 90 seconds, I’d be cut off and the rest of the call was advice being given to me. There’s a lot to pitching anyway, but even more so when you take into account what assumptions they might have about you.
Having a mentor, someone who has done it before, is easily what I’d say is the most important thing.
Were there any resources that you looked to to hone your pitching skills? Or is that something you developed through experience?
It was practice, and then meeting people who are good pitchers. Listening to and watching people do a good pitch and understanding the psychology of it.
How to get of any biases before pitching?
Yes. It shouldn’t be like that, but founders work on the psychology of pitching to VCs and VCs work on the psychology of pitching to LPs. It’s how it all works, and I just don’t think it’s the right way to go – especially when you’re trying to break a stat like 1% of all venture funding going to businesses founded by all-female teams. This way of working makes it very difficult for female founders to get access to funding.
It’s how it all works, and I just don’t think it’s the right way to go – especially when you’re trying to break a stat like 1% of all venture funding going to businesses founded by all-female teams. This way of working makes it very difficult for female founders to get access to funding.
What advice would you pass on to the next generation of female founders?
Find a mentor. You’d be surprised when you ask on LinkedIn. They don’t have to necessarily be a direct match on paper – the most valuable thing is that person believes in what you’re doing. Find that person, because it’s very difficult to work on a pitch with a one-person or two-person band.
A lot of people seem to think that women just don’t have start-ups, but the thing is, I know loads of women with start-ups. A start-up does not have to be venture capital backable, but a man who has a start-up that’s not VC backable is more likely to go for a VC anyway. It works the opposite way with women. I often say, “First, figure out if a VC-backable company is something you want and if it’s the type of world you want to go into. If it is, there’s really no reason to not give it a go.”
The third piece of advice is coding. There’s a huge amount of non-technical founders that are just blocked by an idea. Don’t let it be too much of a blocker, especially not at the start, because there are achievable ways around it. There are low code tools that – in two weeks – can have something that works on your phone. They’re incredibly user-friendly and at the start, all you really need to build is a prototype. And down the line, if you do find the right technical person, knowing what’s going on makes a huge difference in how you work as a team, prioritise and get estimates right.
How important is it for businesses to have an ethical foundation or social purpose?
A business only exists if it’s solving something for someone, so in that sense, every business already has some kind of purpose. But I think every business should be giving a net positive impact, otherwise I’m not sure how you justify its existence. Even just to the female vs male founder point, female founded businesses, at least in my experience, tend to have more of a lean on a social goal.
I think every business should be giving a net positive impact, otherwise I’m not sure how you justify its existence.
Do you think there’s more pressure on female founders to be able to justify that their business has a positive social impact?
I think it’s something that people expect to see, so in some ways, yes. Equally, what comes with doing something with a social impact is people think, “Oh, you’ve got that social impact so you can’t be that fussed about money.” They’ll tell you it’s amazing, but won’t give you money because it doesn’t fall into the type of thing they want to be investing in. It’s difficult to navigate that.
What are your ambitions for ETHOS and how have they changed over time.
I don’t think they’ve changed an awful lot. It has always been ‘make it work’. We’re never going to compete with the addiction cycle of some of the other platforms, so there’s safety there. If we can make this work and people extract value out of it, it’s going to be a net positive value. I’ve always focused on building something that people actually use and think “Wow, this did what it was meant to. I want to keep using this and I would be disappointed if it was gone."
If you’re a female CEO or founder of a UK-based technology company, your business may be eligible for the Technology Fast 50 Women in Leadership award. The Technology Fast 50 is a ranking of the country's 50 fastest-growing technology companies, based on percentage revenue growth over the last four years. The Women in Leadership category recognises those companies within the Technology Fast 50 that are either led by a female* CEO or have a founding team comprised of at least 50% women. You can apply for the Fast 50 on our website.
* The terms ‘women’ and ‘female’ are taken to include all those who self-identify as women or female and engage with their current employers as such.
