Jen Atkinson: The self-belief gap holding female founders back

Jen Atkinson is a legend in the travel industry and has grown her business, Travel Seen, to nearly £60m turnover.

She told The Naked Founder podcast that female founders need more self-belief if they want to scale their business.

“One of the reasons that women particularly struggle in the world of scaling a business is investment and that self-belief that they can ask for £10m and get £15m, as opposed to asking for £5m and getting £1m,” she said. “Women tend to struggle with asking in a way that men don’t.”

Atkinson made her name at ITC Travel Group, where she grew turnover from £40m to £90m.

2020 marked Atkinson’s professional and personal ‘annus horribilis’, which saw her split from her husband and take a huge financial hit from Covid.

In this episode of The Naked Founder podcast, she also discusses:

• Going from marketing manager to CEO at ITC Travel

• Having to make 40 redundancies to turn around ITC’s fortunes

• Why so many female founders get divorced

• Becoming a first-time founder at 48

• Why founders should always ask for more investment than they need

• Dealing with imposter syndrome, ADHD and the menopause

This episode is a product of BusinessCloud. It was sponsored by ‘Financielle – The Home of Money for Women’ and produced by Dan Brown of Renowned.

To sponsor the show, email news@businesscloud.co.uk

 

 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Jen Atkinson & Travel Scene
00:36 What They Don't Tell You About Founding a Business
01:03 Would You Do It All Over Again?
01:33 Founding a Business vs. Running Someone Else's
01:56 Having a Dog Is Like Starting a Business
03:40 Are You Impulsive? The Entrepreneurial Trait
04:15 A Million Reasons Not to Launch — Why She Did It Anyway
05:07 The Idea: A Social-Led Community in Travel
06:42 The USP: Building Travel Scene on Instagram
08:43 From Zero to £20M Turnover: The Buy & Build Model
09:11 Growing Up in Leeds: Mum, Dad & Where It All Came From
10:18 The Mentor Who Changed Everything: Drew Foster at ITC
11:30 Women, Self-Belief & Asking for More Money
12:02 Starting at ITC as Marketing Manager, Becoming CEO
12:24 Making 40 People Redundant as a First-Time CEO
12:42 Making Tough Decisions: It's in Her DNA
13:26 Always Choosing the Hard Option
14:08 Living Without Regrets: Lessons from Dad
15:44 Growing ITC from £40M to £90M — Then COVID Hit
16:24 Losing Millions in COVID & a Marriage Falling Apart
17:51 Why So Many Successful Female Entrepreneurs Are Divorced
19:02 Hiding Under a Stone or Launching a Business?
19:46 Why She Was Unemployable & Had to Go Again
21:16 ADHD as a Superpower
22:48 Imposter Syndrome, the Menopause & Being Open About It
23:35 Are Female Founders More Emotionally Open Than Men?
24:55 Being a Role Model to Her Son and Daughter
26:12 How Do You Deal With Failure?
27:20 Failure Is Just a Signpost on the Way to Success
28:41 Targeting £100M in Two Years: Weight or Ambition?
30:16 Key Lessons for Founders: Funding, Your Why & Your Team
32:09 Pick People You'd Go Over the Top With
33:06 Letter to a Founder: Back Yourself Above All Else