ET Women's Forum: Valuation doesn't know gender

At the fourth edition of The Economic Times Women's Forum, the spotlight was on women who are not just breaking glass ceilings but redesigning the roof. From healthy snacking brands and spreads to flexible workspaces and fintech, a dynamic panel of women founders shared insights from their journeys. They found in startups, gender may shape the story, but it doesn't define the value.

"Valuation doesn't know gender, What matters is performance, clarity of vision, and execution. Capital doesn't discriminate when it sees potential and returns,” said Meghna Agarwal of Indiqube. "In public markets too, I'm just a number-my gender isn't a factor. What counts is how I deliver."

Take Ahana Gautam, founder of Open Secret. Her healthy snack brand, she claimed, has carved out a space in a cluttered FMCG market.

"In the early days, I was told healthy snacks were a niche category, and that I was being too idealistic," she said. "But I knew mothers like me wanted better options for their kids. When you understand your consumer deeply, that's your edge. Investors saw the traction and the story shifted from 'Who's behind this?' to 'How fast can this scale?'"

The sentiment was echoed by Anju Srivastava, MD of Wingreens Farms, a brand that started with dips and spreads and is now a household name. Srivastava built her brand with a strong social mission-empowering rural women through employment.

"There's no shortcut to trust. Whether it's your team, your customer, or your investor, you build value by doing the right thing again and again," she said. "We weren't just building a brand; we were building belief. That's what sustained us during tough times like the pandemic." Tough times, as it turns out, are an inescapable part of entrepreneurship. Meghna Agarwal, co-founder of IndiQube, a co-working space brand, recalled navigating the chaos of Covid.

"Overnight, offices shut down. We had to pivot, renegotiate, re-imagine everything," she said. "What kept us going was the belief that the future of work is flexible-and that India needs homegrown solutions. We're proof that if you hold your nerve, the tide can turn."

On the stage, there was no posturing-only raw honesty and ambition. For Naiyya Saggi, founder of Edition, the personal and professional are intertwined. "Founding a startup as a woman, especially in the parenting and health space, often invites assumptions that it's a 'soft' business. But let me be clear-there's nothing soft about solving hard problems at scale," she said. "Our ability to combine empathy with scale is what gives us an economic moat."

"I've had deals fall through because I was 'too passionate', or because I didn't fit the archetype," Gautam said. "The rejection made me more focused." "We need to normalise failure-talk about it in boardrooms and town halls. That's how you build companies with soul," IndiQube's Agarwal said. What united the panellists was that while the path may be different for women founders, the destination-scale, sustainability, and success-remains the same. "Forget stereotypes," said Srivastava. "We're not female entrepreneurs. We're just entrepreneurs. Period."