Ashley Wong

A series of talks and panels at the Female Founders Conference shares practical lessons from building companies, finding product-market fit, fundraising, and scaling. Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins describes founding Promise to address pretrial incarceration and explains how her labor and operations experience shaped its mission. Founders from Vanta, Remix, and Gemnote discuss validating demand, doing manual work early, measuring customer value, and setting boundaries with customers. Alexandra Zatarain, Jess Lee, and Holly Liu reflect on building Eight Sleep, Polyvore, and Kabam, emphasizing persistence, learning from setbacks, and creating inclusive company cultures; founders of PadPiper and Nifty also receive live feedback.