Impulses & Innovations
We touched base recently with Delia Goos, Lead Events Open Innovation & Incubation at Henkel dx to get the scoop on this year’s Xathon.
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The third edition of Xathon is just around the corner. Can you tell us the story behind it?
Sure. When we were starting to collaborate with startups we figured out quite quickly that we are mainly talking to men. Male founder, male teams. This was really strange for us and we asked ourselves where are all the female founders?! We identified that only 15.7 %* of all founders in Germany are female. This is partly due to insufficient role models, a lack of confidence and an unfavorable ecosystem. That’s what we want to change. Therefore, we created a platform for female talents to unlock their potential and free their entrepreneurial spirit.
What value does Xathon provide female startup founders?
Xathon provides 100 early stage female founders with unparalleled access to leading entrepreneurs, inspirational role models and sector experts. With high-octane panel discussions, single-speaker addresses, stimulating workshops and mind-flexing masterclasses, mentoring and coaching this groundbreaking event celebrates entrepreneurial endeavors while empowering female entrepreneurs and driving diversity.
The speaker line-up for the event is impressive. Which speakers are you most looking forward to hosting?
First of all I am very thankful for all the great support we received from our ecosystem, partners and speakers for this event. This confirms us in what we are doing and how important initiatives like Xathon are. All speakers and partners contributing a lot to the events success. I am personally looking forward a lot to specific mind-flexing masterclasses like MVP building, Product & Marketing Strategy and how to pitch.
Furthermore I am looking forward to inspirational key notes by Role-Models like Doreen Huber, Founder and CEO, LEMONCAT and Board member, German Start-ups Association; Tijen Onaran – Founder & CEO, GDW GLOBAL DIGITAL WOMEN GmbH; Alexa Gorman – SVP, Head of SAP.iOEMEA Foundries and Fridtjof Detzner – Co-Founder Jimdo and Planet A Ventures.
What makes Xathon an unmissable event for female entrepreneurs?
Xathon is an unmissable event for female entrepreneurs because it is fun and inspirational! Furthermore female founder will receive support from mentors and field experts. They have the chance to enlarge their ecosystem and exchange with other female founders. Last but not least the winner of Xathon 2021 will receive prize money of EUR 25,000 to realize and scale her business model.
Applications for female founders are open until EOD on October 10th.
