The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship: How Female Founders can Flourish in a System not Built for Them

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Photo by amanda clarke. used with permission by the author.

Entrepreneurship has often been described as an extreme sport, a psychologically demanding pursuit requiring endurance, courage, and recovery much like that of elite athletes (Chamorro-Premuzic & Wade, 2020). Yet for women, the climb is often steeper. Beneath the familiar headlines about funding gaps lies a quieter story—one about the psychological and emotional cost of building a business in an ecosystem that wasn’t designed with women in mind.

 Earlier this year, Nonie White, co-founder of Positive Entrepreneurship, and I set out to explore that story through The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship, a mixed-methods study of nearly 250 female founders across Europe. The data we gathered was revealing: 83% reported high stress, 78% reported anxiety, 54% had experienced burnout, 66% reported extreme loneliness, and 75% were managing significant caring responsibilities alongside their ventures. And yet, even in the face of those pressures, 97% told us they loved the entrepreneurial journey, and 66% reported high life satisfaction (Biggins & White, 2025).

 That paradox, where exhaustion and fulfillment coexist, invites deeper inquiry. What keeps female founders so engaged in their work, even when the odds are stacked against them? And what can we learn from those who have managed not only to survive, but to thrive?

The stress burden: Critical challenges facing female entrepreneurs

When we looked closely at the data, the reasons for such widespread strain came sharply into focus. The stress of running a business is rarely about long hours alone, and despite recent rhetoric glorifying the 996 work ethic—working from nine to nine, six days a week—for most women, it is not sustainable or realistic. The strain arises from a collision of structural inequity, social expectation, and biology. In reality, the entrepreneurial playing field is not level, and female founders are expected to perform at Olympic intensity with far fewer resources than their male counterparts. Although female-led ventures are highly innovative, investable, and socially impactful (Kelly et al., 2017; Abouzahr et al., 2018; Department of Business, Innovation and Skills [DBIS], 2011; Hart et al., 2017), women still receive a fraction of the support and funding available to men.

The money–stress loop

 Financial pressure emerged as the single strongest driver of stress. Founders who struggled with cash flow or fundraising reported the highest stress levels. This is hardly surprising when women receive less than 2% of all venture capital funding in the UK and globally (British Business Bank, 2024; World Economic Forum, 2024). Every pound not invested in a female founder is a pound that could have bought time, support, or space to recover. Without adequate funding, everything tightens— schedules, margins, and mental bandwidth.

The invisible load of care

 Sixty-one percent of female founders told us their greatest challenge was having “too much to do and too little time” (Biggins & White, 2025, p. 14) Most of the women we surveyed were between 35 and 54 years old, an age bracket often referred to as the sandwich generation, caring for both children and aging parents. Rather than exiting entrepreneurship at this stage, many are persisting, but doing so under immense personal strain. Across the UK, women still undertake around 75% of unpaid domestic and caring work (Office for National Statistics, 2023), and globally, women perform more than three times as much unpaid care work as men (UN Women, 2020). For many founders, that means managing two demanding jobs. Add to this the chronic underfunding of female-led businesses, and depletion becomes probable.

When biology and neurodiversity intersect

 Biology adds another layer. Twenty-one percent of the female founders in our study said they were navigating perimenopause or menopause, describing disrupted sleep, foggy thinking, and fluctuating confidence. Another 18% reported living with ADHD or another form of neurodivergence. Among that group, more than 80%reported persistent anxiety, suggesting that neurodiversity and hormonal change can intensify already high stress levels (Biggins & White, 2025). Burnout, then, is not a reflection of individual weakness, but a predictable outcome of a system that overlooks women’s lived realities.

The paradox of purpose

 And yet, within this complex picture, something powerful persists: purpose. Even when depleted, many female founders said that they wouldn't want to do anything but entrepreneurship, largely because it affords them space to be creative and to do work that feels meaningful. The qualitative interviews showed that, despite the pressures they face, women reported high levels of meaning—understood as one’s actions mattering and aligning with personally held values—and autonomy—the experience of acting by choice and self-endorsement rather than under external pressure or control. Both meaning and autonomy are two key components of well-being identified within self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Many of the entrepreneurs told us that entrepreneurship allows them to live more authentically, to use their strengths, and to shape work around what matters most. It gives them agency, sometimes after years in environments that restricted it. This paradox—of high stress but high subjective well-being—captures something fundamental about the entrepreneurial experience. It mirrors wider research showing that entrepreneurship can simultaneously enhance and erode well-being, offering freedom and fulfillment while demanding relentless effort and resilience (Stephan et al., 2023). In essence, it is not the work itself that drains female founders, but the ecosystem surrounding it.

The positive deviants: Thriving against the odds

Among our findings, one group stood out: the female founders who were not merely coping but flourishing. They faced the same systemic barriers as everyone else but found ways to sustain their well-being over time. We refer to them as positive deviants, borrowing from a term used by Pascale, Sternin, and Sternin (2010) to describe those whose uncommon but effective behaviors help them succeed in difficult contexts. Their stories became the foundation for what we call the Best Practice Blueprint—six evidence-based well-being practices that enable founders to perform sustainably without sacrificing themselves in the process.

The best practice blueprint

  1. They seek support. Isolation is one of the biggest predictors of founder burnout (Cacciotti et al., 2016). Thriving founders build support ecosystems through coaches, mentors, and peers who understand the journey, offering both accountability and empathy. They recognize that vulnerability is not weakness but a bridge to connection and growth. Belonging satisfies the psychological need for relatedness defined in self determination theory as the fundamental need to experience meaningful connection and a sense of belongingness with others (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Supportive relationships are a core driver of psychological well-being (Seligman, 2011) and one of the strongest sources of emotional replenishment (Loehr & Schwartz, 2003). Humans are wired for belonging: We need to feel recognized, accepted, and held in connection with others, and that need intensifies under conditions of uncertainty or threat (Kaufman, 2021). In entrepreneurship, a context defined by volatility, ambiguity, and high personal risk, this need is amplified. Those who actively engineer connection are better able to withstand the psychological load of being an entrepreneur.

  2. They prioritize health and fitness. Physical vitality is essential to flourishing. The expanded PERMA-V model, proposed by Emiliya Zhivotovskaya (2017), builds on Martin Seligman’s (2011) PERMA framework by adding vitality, acknowledging that physical health, rest, and energy are foundations for sustainable well-being. PERMA is one established model of well-being in positive psychology, describing flourishing as comprising positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment; the PERMA-V extension recognizes that these dimensions are difficult to sustain in the absence of adequate physical vitality.

  3. They recharge in nature. Spending time outdoors was one of the most consistent well-being strategies among thriving founders. Nature restores attention, sparks creativity, and improves mood (Kaplan, 1995). Many built regular green-space rituals—walking meetings, park lunches, or morning runs—into their routines to counter the cognitive load of constant screen time and high-pressure decision-making.

  4. They intentionally build joy into their lives. The flourishing founders consciously scheduled moments of play, laughter, and rest, reframing these not as indulgences but as performance practices. Positive emotions broaden perspective, build resilience, and foster creativity (Fredrickson, 2001), all vital resources for entrepreneurship.

  5. They practice mindfulness and spirituality. Through mindfulness and spiritual practices, thriving founders make time to pause and process their experiences. This habit enhances psychological flexibility, the ability to respond rather than react to stress (Kashdan & Rottenberg, 2010).

  6. They reframe negative thinking. Perhaps most importantly, the founders who flourished practiced cognitive reappraisal, challenging unhelpful beliefs about productivity and success. Instead of glorifying exhaustion, they redefine success around sustainability and purpose. They recognize that well-being is not a distraction from performance; it is the foundation of it. For entrepreneurs, the ability to positively reframe and reappraise challenges builds resilience—it reduces the impact of stress, languishing, and self-blame, while enabling recovery, learning, and progress (Williamson et al, 2021).

“Well-being is not a distraction from performance; it is the foundation of it.”
— Yvonne Biggins

Beyond the individual: systemic change

Although these six practices make a tangible difference, they cannot erase the broader inequities of the entrepreneurial landscape. No amount of mindfulness can fix a biased funding system or an inadequate childcare system and care that relies disproportionately on women. Still, these practices help female founders navigate challenges with greater awareness and agency while advocating for collective change. Our report recommends that other players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem share the responsibility of supporting female entrepreneurs to flourish in the following ways:

  • Investors and accelerators need to embed well-being into the heart of their programs.

  • Policy makers must recognize that caregiving and health are infrastructure issues. Funders must move beyond the myth of the “resilient founder,” stop rewarding overwork as proof of commitment, and begin rewarding sustainable leadership over self-sacrifice.

If female founders are achieving so much with so little, imagine what they could do within systems designed for them to thrive.

From surviving to flourishing

At its core, The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship is a call to redefine success. Thriving female founders remind us that well-being is not a luxury or a soft skill; it is a strategic imperative. Positive psychology offers a valuable lens for understanding this truth. Flourishing is not the absence of struggle, but the presence of purpose, connection, and vitality. Female founders embody this daily. They are innovating not just in products and services but in how we lead, work, and live.

 Thriving is not about avoiding challenges, but transforming our relationship to them. When well-being becomes a core measure of success, entrepreneurship can evolve from an endurance test into a platform for growth, creativity, and collective flourishing.

 For female entrepreneurs and those who support them, the message is clear: Sustainable business growth and human flourishing are not opposing goals. They rise together.

 

References

Abouzahr, K., Taplett, F. B., Krentz, M., & Harthorne, J. (2018). Why women-owned start-ups are a better bet. Boston Consulting Group.

Biggins, Y., & White, N. (2025). The true cost of female entrepreneurship. Positive Entrepreneurship. https://positiveentrepreneurship.co/report/

British Business Bank. (2024). UK VC female founders report. British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/sites/g/files/sovrnj166/files/2022-11/UK_VC_and_Female_Founders_Report_British_Business_Bank.pdf

Cacciotti, G., Hayton, J., Mitchell, J., & Giazitzoglu, A. (2016). A reconceptualization of fear of failure in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 31(3), 302–325.

Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Wade, M. (2020, January 17). Entrepreneurship as an extreme sport: What founders can learn from athletes. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/01/entrepreneurship-as-an-extreme-sport

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The 'what' and 'why' of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.

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Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. (2011). BIS Small Business Survey 2010: Women-led businesses boost. UK Government. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32221/11-1078-bis-small-business-survey-2010-women-led-businesses-boost.pdf

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Hart, M., Bonner, K., Levie, J., & Heery, L. (2017). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: United Kingdom 2016 report. Aston Business School.

Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15(3), 169–182.

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Kaufman, S. B. (2021). Transcend: The new science of self-actualization. TarcherPerigee.

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Stephan, U., Rauch, A., & Hatak, I. (2023). Entrepreneurial wellbeing: Past research, current debates, and future directions. Journal of Business Venturing, 38(1), 106–120.

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About the author | Yvonne Biggins (C’18) is a serial entrepreneur who has founded three successful start-ups, one of which raised over £1 million in investment. Her diverse 20-year career spans senior roles at multinational companies, including Apple. The first decade of Yvonne's professional journey focused on marketing for technology companies following a brief teaching career, while the last decade has been dedicated to the well-being sector, where she co-founded two well-being-focused ventures. She developed an innovative well-being product that was later acquired by Babylon Health and has published several research papers in the field.

Yvonne’s most recent venture, Positive Entrepreneurship, is a movement reshaping the entrepreneurial ecosystem by placing well-being at its core, enabling founders to achieve peak performance and create lasting, positive impact. Born as a reaction to the pervasive “hustle harder” mentality, where self-sacrifice is often glorified, it champions a new model of success grounded in evidence-based well-being practices. Through research and real-world application of positive psychology, Positive Entrepreneurship promotes sustainable growth and flourishing. Yvonne co-authored The True Cost of Female Entrepreneurship report with Nonie White, which has been featured in Forbes, Startups Magazine, and Entrepreneur UK.

Yvonne holds a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, and is a graduate of the THNK School for Creative Leadership. An ICF certified coach and MBSR Mindfulness teacher, she also actively mentors emerging entrepreneurs through the GoLondon Young Entrepreneurs Start Up Programme.