Hatching a Plan for Female Founders – Anna Richey & Alla Ouvarova

Struggling to separate your egg whites? Well, Anna Richey and Alla Ouvarova had the same problem. But instead of bearing the yolk, they hatched a brilliant idea: Two Chicks, a free-range egg white product, that’s now sold in cartons stocked by retailers nationwide.

“We simply saw a gap in the market and had faith in our idea.” It all sounds so simple, but from this purest of starts, came a battle to get a new business out the gate.

In this episode of Speaking of Startups, we’re joined by the cofounders of ⁠Two Chicks⁠, a business that Anna and Alla have successfully grown from obscure beginnings into a successful product that was a first of its kind for the UK. The business was also proudly featured in the Startups 100, back in 2008.

We hear how Anna and Alla had to scale and revise their business plans as the challenge of securing funding bit them early on. After having to bootstrap their way at the outset, the pair then had to contend with stockists (and would-be customers) not initially understanding the product at all.

Keenly feeling the burden of securing funding for a female-led startup, Anna and Alla are now at the forefront of the fight to redress the imbalance in the VC scene. This has, of course, recently come to a head following the fiasco of Innovate UK pulling half of its promised funding for female-founded businesses, before hurriedly backtracking on the decision following a backlash.

Through their work with the ⁠Future Female Entrepreneur⁠ programme, they now platform the next generation of female founders, and lend their expertise and inspiration to support emerging businesses.

We were getting a lot of knock backs, and being together really helped. Because, if one of us was having a bad day, the other one would help cover for them, and vice versa. So that worked really well. I think it would be very, very hard to have done this alone.

By sharing their own experiences and offering guidance, Anna and Alla hope to break down barriers that often hinder women’s entrepreneurial pursuits. They believe that by empowering more women to start their own businesses, they can contribute to a more diverse and innovative economy. Through their networking events and mentorship programs, they create a space where women can connect, collaborate, and learn from each other’s experiences.

You've got to keep going. Keep pushing. Because people will say no a thousand times.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Speaking of Startups, and be sure to subscribe to ensure you always get the next available episode first.

This episode is hosted by Eloise Skinner, founder of two businesses herself, as well as a published author and contributor to multiple sites, including our own Startups.co.uk, as well as Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and Management Today. You can learn more about Eloise and her own journey at ⁠eloiseskinner.com