CEO Secrets: Talking to male investors about bras can be 'awkward'

Tanya Robertson founded Womanhood as an online catalogue to sell lingerie to women of all shapes and sizes and ages.

Her challenge has been that the investment firms she approaches for funding are largely made up of men, and they can get uncomfortable hearing her talk about bras.

"There are definitely situations where I'm talking about size or body shape changing or different breast sizes, style - and it can get a little bit uncomfortable, let's say, for the opposite side," says Tanya.

"There's a bit of rustling in seats, or coughing, or avoiding it and asking other questions instead."

This is frustrating, says Tanya, because she believes that the principal selling point of Womanhood is offering lingerie that women find comfortable and want to wear.

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"My mum hated buying bras," she says. "In fact, most women in my life did. Girlfriends, sisters, family members - you name it, the feeling seemed universal.

"The challenges appeared to range from struggling to find the right fit, to not liking what was out there or looking like the women who modelled the pieces.

"Above all, many of my peers spoke of the pressure they felt to buy underwear to please someone else."

Tanya says she wants any investors to understand why she created the business in the first place

Founded in 2019, the firm now has a range of lingerie from 11 different designers in her portfolio.

"We make sure each brand we stock aligns with our values of diversity, inclusion and body positivity. We're actually giving customers what they want, rather than trying to tell them how they needed to wear a set or look in a bra, or anything like that."

Sales grew strongly in the first year of business and Tanya went to investors for funds to expand the business. Here, she encountered the challenge of pitching her ideas to a mainly male investment community.

"Women are much more forthcoming in sharing their own stories of how underwear has impacted them in their lives. They can really relate much easier. It can get awkward with men."

At those points her strategy is to switch the conversation to subjects that male investors are more comfortable with.

Investors "want to see you and the business for who you fully are", says Tanya

"Once we start talking numbers and looking at growth and those sorts of figures, it's a language that both parties understand," she says.

" That definitely helps shift the narrative and build that relationship a bit more.

"My first port of call in talking to investors is talking about what we've done so far, what we've managed to achieve, what our successes have been."

But that does not hold her back from talking about the core vision of her company, she says.

"We then roll on from there to talk more about the emotional side of the business and why I created it. I want to have that connection as well.

"For anyone who is going to invest, they really want to see you and the business for who you fully are. I want them to understand our full potential and what we can really do.

"It's not just making it about the stats but also the why and how we do it. Being really honest and forthright and explaining the obvious - that we are about bras and boobs, is part of that."

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