Fear of failure
Personal barriers
The issue
The fear of failure is a common barrier that many female entrepreneurs face. 16% of survey respondents cited fear of failure as a barrier to growing female-led businesses. This fear is often tied to societal expectations and the pressure to succeed as a woman in a male-dominated business world.
The 2023/24 GEM report highlights that the "fear of failure" remains a significant challenge for women in business. In the United Kingdom, 63% of women would not start a business for fear it might fail despite seeing a good opportunity. This figure dropped to 44% for men15. This fear is closely tied to confidence, financial backing and self-belief, influencing women's leadership aspirations and their perception of their abilities.
of women would not start a business for fear it might fail despite seeing a good opportunity. This figure, for men, dropped to
Despite self-confidence and imposter syndrome featuring heavily as barriers during our discussions, figures from the 2023 Female Founders Index showed that female founders remained ambitious. 9 in 10 female founded scaleups expected to grow their turnover and/or employee headcount in 2023, 5 in 10 said they were outperforming their peers and 1 in 4 expected growth over 50%16.
What our panel said
“Self-belief and imposter syndrome are big contenders holding women back. That fear of failure is so much more present for women, in my opinion."
– Jenny Kitchen
“It needs to begin in childhood and education. Girls are often told to ‘stay safe’ and ‘play nicely,’ while boys are encouraged to be adventurous and competitive. This has fostered a culture where risk-taking and ambition are celebrated in men but criticised and not valued in women."
– Melanie Stancliffe
“I think sometimes we're our own worst enemies. If you're good at your job - you have the right skills, you have the right levels of competence and you have the right attitude - then there is no reason why you can't get there."
– Heidi Carslaw
Action needed
To overcome this barrier, we can encourage mentorship and networking programmes that provide female entrepreneurs with support and guidance to take calculated risks and embrace failure as a learning opportunity. Success stories and role models within the female entrepreneurial community can also inspire, model and empower women to pursue their business ventures despite their fears.
The Cripps EmpowHer leadership programme, in association with WHN Group, is designed to unlock the potential in female leaders and help them surmount gender inequality. The programme gives female leaders insight into what investors are looking for, provides access to pitching workshops and a chance to hear from successful female entrepreneurs and investors.
15 GEM 2023/2024 Global Report, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, p.42
16 The 2023 Scaleup Institute Female Founders Index, Scaleup Institute, p.1