When Heather Wentler transitioned from being a teacher to a startup founder, she came across an uncomfortable reality in Wisconsin’s tech community—women were few and far between.
“I was getting more involved in the entrepreneurial space in Madison and was seeing a lack of female representation and them being highlighted as successful entrepreneurs within our community,” said Wentler, the founder of Fractal, a Madison STEAM enrichment program for kids.
Shortly after, she teamed up with Amy Gannon and launched the Doyenne Group, a Madison-based organization that supports women-led and women-owned startups.
The nonprofit debuted at Madison's Forward Festival in 2012, where the Doyenne Group hosted a women in business breakfast that sold out with more than 50 attendees.
Now, the Doyenne Group hosts about three events a month, ranging from startup showcases to business coaching seminars. Most of their events are reserved for their more than 220 members, but the organization also hosts public events, where they invite all members of the local tech community to engage with Doyenne.
Since launching, Doyenne’s focus has been hosting events in Madison, but this year, they’ve been experimenting with launching in Milwaukee. In 2019, the plan is to put together a team to mobilize efforts there and to begin thinking about expansion strategies beyond Wisconsin.
“We want to make sure that women entrepreneurs have access to professional development to help them grow and succeed,” Wentler said. “If we don’t see women being raised up as successful entrepreneurs and women aren’t being recognized for what they are doing, how do we really have an inclusive ecosystem?”
The Doyenne Group's members hail from Wisconsin startups like WodBottom, an e-commerce platform for weightlifting gear and apparel, and Wolf Flow, an ad-tech startup making software to improve workflow. Doyenne, which has offices in StartingBlock Madison, also welcomes men of color to join, Wentler said.
In addition to coaching entrepreneurs, Doyenne also invests in their companies through its Doyenne Evergreen Fund. The money in the fund has been raised by Doyenne from state and city government, community organizations, foundations and private donors.
The Fund requires startups to be based in Wisconsin and be 51 percent women and/or minority owned. Startups also have to have fewer than 100 employees and have raised less than $10 million in funding. Companies in its portfolio include NovoMoto, Exit 7C and Prof2Prof.
