A Founder's Diary: Shelley Kuipers, Co-Founder and CEO of The51 Takeover

Introduction

Hi, I’m Shelley Kuipers, Co-Founder and CEO of The51.

Years back, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be an extraordinary opportunity to have a fund just for women?” So, my two co-founders— Judy Fairburn and Alice Reimer — and I made it happen with The51: a Financial Feminist™ platform where investors come together to democratize access to women-led capital, foster wealth creation, and drive impactful change. 

Our team first connected with Nadia several years ago when she participated in our HerStory Pitch Competition and we recently had the opportunity to partner on the exclusive Show Her the Money screening and networking event in Toronto. Now, we’re thrilled to be doing a takeover of A Founder’s Diary.

What We’ve Been Working On

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and most notably, we’ve officially closed our Fund II!

Aside from all the work that was focused there, here’s a peek behind the curtain of what The51 team is often up to day-to-day:

Panel Conversations, Ecosystem Events, and Community Connections

There’s rarely a week where myself or someone on our team isn’t involved on a panel or soaking up insights at an event. If the subject matter has anything to do with trailblazing women, Canada’s economy, or shaking up the investment scene (or all three together)—count me in.

In this same breath of community and connection, nurturing relationships with our investor members and portfolio founders sits at the top of our priorities. When our Co-Founder, Judy Fairburn, and I were recently in Toronto for a summit, we hosted a Founders Breakfast with some of the brilliant minds of our portfolio companies—it’s always so great to check in and catch up.

Founder Discovery and Getting to Know Founding Teams

Our Fund team has developed and continues to refine tools that move companies along our pipeline in an efficient and timely manner. Our deals typically originate from:

• Community referrals by our investor community or the wider VC community of angels, accelerators, and funds 

• As a trusted brand for women-led, co-led companies, founders will reach out via our website intake form, often having held a place on the cap table for us as it resonates to have an investor that is value-aligned

• The digital investment opportunity/funnel platform we use, which also allows our team to collaborate virtually and interact with founders

The founding teams we look for have women at the helm, are well-represented on the cap table, have innovation at their core with a strong business model and IP, are leaders in their sector, industry, and community, and have high growth potential and are highly scalable. Above all, they are creating the world we want to see with the ability to sell it to investors and their customers.

With that criteria guiding us, we dedicate a lot of time to learning about businesses, getting to know founders and their stories, and learning if and how we want to be partners for the next 10+ years. We watch for early signals of inconsistencies, warnings, and positive signals, aiming to de-risk opportunities by learning as much as possible about them, comparing them to market trends, pattern matching with other successful founders and companies, and researching to grow our understanding of their business and market.

Digging Deep into Due Diligence

When we find a potential founder and team we’re excited about, we dive deep into due diligence. Above and beyond the risk screening and a detailed due diligence checklist we follow, there are many considerations that guide our investment decisions, such as: 

• Identifying our value add: It’s essential for us to understand how we can help the company grow and reduce risks through introductions, industry expertise, and governance.

• Evaluating financial and operational metrics: We’ll assess their key KPIs, milestones, and whether the requested funds will help the company reach the next stage. We’ll dive into their financial oversight to ensure they have a strong grasp of the levers of their business.

• Gathering external insights: What impression have they left with the broader community? We’ll have conversations with other investors and firms to gain diverse perspectives on the deal and the founder.

• Ensuring valuation and protection: We’ll explore if the investment is correctly priced to have an uplift and drive returns for our investors, and look into what kind of investor protection is in place.

• Assessing founder qualities: Truly knowing the founder is key. We’ll evaluate their adaptability, grit, ability to measure impact, openness to information rights/pro-rata rights, and how well they articulate the vision, problem, solution, and target audience.

Reflecting on asking the right questions to understand a business, our Principal shared a sweet sentiment about how her daughter is often interested in who she’s met that day at work. They’ll have The51 bedtime stories about the incredible women creating companies, and she’ll ask herself, "Can I simply explain the business to her?" This tells her she’s covered the right ground.

Learning

This March, The51 celebrated our 5th birthday! After five years of being in the market, some of the standout lessons include:

1. Any action is better than inaction: If you are committed to a vision and feel that you can make a difference, get started with what you have, with where you are, and leverage the community and brilliant minds around you. You don’t have to have all the skills or knowledge on your own, and timing will never be perfect.

2. Stay curious and protect your values: To stay inspired and keep on top of the ever-evolving capital landscape, actively listen to other points of views and don't just stay in your bubble of a narrative that may not represent the bigger picture. Be prepared to unlearn and relearn, but also be sure you're debating your perspective and protecting what’s important to you.

3. Know who you’re working with: Always ask: “Who am I investing in? Who is the individual behind or in front of that investment?" Investing is truly a business of relationships, so do your homework to go, "Do I know this person? If we're in a spiralling situation, what will the experience be like with this entrepreneur?" Peeling back the layers of a founder, their value set, and how aligned those are with yours is crucial when thinking about who you will partner with.

4. Invite yourself to participate: In most instances, it’s not that women don’t want to be involved in conversations as founders or investors, but rather, we aren’t being explicitly invited to participate and contribute our capital and decision-making. To that, everyone should know that the feminist wealth transfer is coming: by 2028, Canadian women will control over $4 trillion in assets (almost doubling the $2.2 trillion they control today), and by 2035, women’s share of global wealth is expected to be 35%.

We have the power to make investment decisions based on what we want to see in the world and ask ourselves how our capital can shape that. Now is the time for women to embrace this enormous opportunity, take our seat at the table, and activate our capital.

Surround yourself with people who can help bring your vision to life: When you’re challenging the status quo, you’re going to draw attention. Don’t always worry about what people think of you and what you are doing. Try to find your direction, stick with it, and surround yourself with people who want to go that way with you. We know we’ve tapped into something significant at The51 because our movement, community, and impact continue to grow, and the passion burns brighter and brighter to advance Financial Feminism. We couldn’t do it without them!

Mental Health/Wellness

Though it can be challenging advice for anyone to follow at the best of times, trying to find some balance in your life is so, so important. Three main themes I live by for my mental health are:

• Nature: I am a nature person to my core: give me a forest, a mountain, a river, and I am in my element. I’m big on hugging trees, dipping into water, climbing mountains, simply breathing in fresh air, jumping on my e-bike, and ending my day with podcast walks. Just get outside in all weather.

• Family: I relish in all things family to fill me up: spending time with my sons and grandsons, my husband, and my puppy—she is good for my soul, a best friend.

Sleep: Easier said than done, but sleep is a weapon for focus, feeling refreshed, and avoiding burnout. Sleep is such a big part of taking good care of yourself, which is absolutely essential before you can give anything to your family, friends, or business.

Personal Life

After conferences, panels, coaching, dinners, or other meetings where I'm fundraising or connecting with a founder or potential partner that typically fill my week, one of my favourite things to do is get away to my home away from home on Salt Spring Island to soak up nature, good food, and move at a slower pace.

As I mentioned, I love to refresh and recharge with family. Many people may not know that I am a mom and grandmother, but spending adventures and relaxing with them is how I choose to spend much of my personal time.

What We’ve Been Reading/Listening To

• The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk by Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber

• A Herstory of Economics by Edith Kuiper

• When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them by Julia Boorstin

• All-In Podcast with Chamath, Jason, Sacks, & Friedberg

• The Purse Podcast - Jana Hlistova

Resources

It can’t be said enough: with women set to control 65% of the wealth in Canada by 2030, there’s an extraordinary opportunity for women to create products for women and, quite frankly, everyone.

But if you don’t know where to start, our sister organization, Movement51, was born from our vision to democratize access to capital and unite women’s untapped wealth. They are building the next generation of women founders and investors through their flagship educational programs, the Founder Lab and Financial Feminism Investing Lab (the fall cohort is open for registration!).

Conclusion

Keep up with The51 on LinkedIn and Instagram—we’ll be in dreaming and strategy mode over the summer with exciting initiatives coming soon. We also just recently refreshed and relaunched our community newsletter, so head to our website to subscribe to our mailing list.

And a final thank you to Nadia for creating a welcome and vibrant space for founders!

Yours in Financial Feminism,

Shelley