Shows / Women Disrupting Tech
Women Disrupting Tech
Women Disrupting Tech features female founders, tech leaders, and women in tech building the next generation of technology companies. Each week, host Dirkjan Hupkes talks with a founder about how she's scaling a startup, navigating funding, building resilient teams, and tackling challenges from AI ethics to healthcare innovation to climate tech. Whether you're a female tech entrepreneur, aspiring founder, startup leader, or advocate for more women in technology, this show gives you actionable…
Episodes
Women Disrupting TechHow Customer Conversations Beat the Tech Hype with Cristina Flaschen
New tech trends keep coming. Pandium's Cristina Flaschen explains why customer conversations beat the hype. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding Emotion AI for Better Conferences with Vanessa Williams Saleh
Only 20 to 30% of event surveys get filled out. So how do organizers find out what landed with the audience? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk…
Women Disrupting TechTackling Caregiver Burnout with Dovetail Founder Dr. Ashley Blackington
Caregiver burnout starts building when the care a hospital team shares falls to one family member at home. In this episode, Dr. Ashley Blackington, an…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding Psychological Safety for Better Women’s Health at Work with Veroniek Vermeulen
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Veroniek Vermeulen, founder of Silatha, about why women's health is still expected to be left at the…
Women Disrupting TechClosing the Safety Gap by Turning Feelings of Unsafety into Data with Anniek van Veldhuizen
Every day, women make safety calculations - which route to take, where to sit - that never show up in the data. What happens once that invisible data gets…
Women Disrupting TechHow FLTRD's PureScore Makes Healthy Food Choices Easy with Anke Kuik
More than half of Dutch citizens live with a chronic disease, and over 70% of supermarket products are ultra-processed. In this episode of Women Disrupting…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding the AI Flower Framework as the Roadmap for AI Transformation with Juliette van der Laarse
Juliette is the creator of the AI Flower Framework and founder of the AI Flower Foundation. She spent a year mapping how AI could impact her job as an…
Women Disrupting TechHow Female Endurance Athletes Keep Performing During the Hormonal Transition with Karianne Kraaijestein
Karianne Kraaijestein spent years building resilience through sport, from gymnastics to indoor climbing to yoga, before starting triathlons at 47. Now she's…
Women Disrupting TechTurning Early Fans Into a Marketing Engine with Elise Mol
Only 3% of people who show up to an event went looking for it. The other 97% came because someone they trust was already going. In this episode of Women…
Women Disrupting TechUsing Technology To Bring the Human Side Back To Medicine with Dr. Hannah Allen | Ep. 166
A third of a GP’s working week goes to admin, and 42% of UK GPs say they want to leave the profession within five years. Dr. Hannah Allen left clinical…
Women Disrupting TechTackling Menstrual Cup Hygiene and Period Poverty with Sophie Haccou | Ep. 165
One in eight women in the Netherlands must choose between food and tampons. Sophie Haccou bootstrapped CupHub to close that gap, and is about to launch the…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding an Adaptable Pessary To Restore Women's Autonomy with Mirjam Weemhoff & Bart van Diepenbeek | Ep 164
50% of women over 40 will experience some degree of pelvic organ prolapse. Most still manage it with a device that has barely changed in decades. In this…
Women Disrupting TechHealth 4.0: Transforming Healthcare For Real Health Equity with Robin Blackstone, MD | Ep. 163
Our healthcare system wasn't designed for the 21st century. It is a century-old model built in an era without AI, designed to rescue sick people instead of…
Women Disrupting TechRethinking Incontinence: Building the Certain Valve with Leonie van de Kamer | Ep. 162
One in three women will experience incontinence in her life, yet the options have stayed stuck at pads or surgery. Leonie van de Kamer is building the option…
Women Disrupting TechWhy FemTech Needs to Move Beyond Wellness Apps with Karen Berg | Ep. 161
Meditation and sleep apps are not fixing women’s health. Karen Berg explains why femtech needs real clinical answers instead. In this episode of Women…
Women Disrupting TechWhy the Funding Gap Starts Before Female Founders Ever Pitch with Nithya Ruff | Ep. 160
Only 2% of VC funding reaches female founders. Nithya Ruff argues the problem doesn’t start at the pitch table. It starts with how girls are raised and who…
Women Disrupting TechFrom Fragmentation to Collaboration in FemTech with Maaike Steinebach and Sophie van Dijk | Ep. 159
More than 90 FemTech companies in the Netherlands are working to close the gender health gap. Most didn’t know the others existed. In this episode of Women…
Women Disrupting TechHow She Turned Fitness App Frustration into an AI Fitness Coach with Zoe Pineau | Ep. 158
Most fitness apps are built to track everything. That's exactly why people stop using them. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Zoe Pineau…
Women Disrupting TechHow Female Founders Build Financial Independence Before the Exit With Ana Herrero-Wallace | Ep. 157
Most founders build their financial position in the wrong order. By the time the exit arrives, the decisions that mattered most have already been made under…
Women Disrupting TechHow Female Founders Build a Brand AI Will Recommend with Rachel Gilley | Ep. 156
Most brands are optimizing for search engines that fewer people are using. Rachel Gilley, CEO of Clarity Global, is tracking what happens when your customers…
Women Disrupting TechHow Female Founders Can Pitch FemTech to Male Investors with Beata Wandachowicz-Krason | Ep. 155
FemTech represents a trillion-dollar opportunity. So why do all-female teams receive just 2% of early-stage venture capital? Beata Wandachowicz-Krason has…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Is Fixing Solar Energy's Hidden Waste Problem with Andjela Bozinac | Ep. 154
The solar panels going up on rooftops everywhere are solving one problem, and quietly creating another. This episode is for female founders, women in tech, and…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Helps Women Take Charge of Their Fertility with Sabrina Nowicki | Ep. 153
Most fertility apps look at your past cycles and make a prediction. Sabrina Nowicki built something different. Sabrina is co-founder of Cyclisity, the digital…
Women Disrupting TechWhy Female Founders Don’t Need to Know Everything to Scale with Izzy Sayers | Ep. 152
“I don’t need to be an expert on any of these topics… that’s what I have my colleagues for.” — Izzy Sayers What if the real obstacle for female founders isn’t…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding The Next Seven Gold Standards in Women’s Health with Carmen van Vilsteren | Ep. 151
How do you build the next generation of global gold standards in women’s health, and why is it one of the biggest economic opportunities of our time? In this…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Builds Privacy-First Tech for an Aging Population with Femke Delissen | Ep. 150
What if three wall plugs could transform how night nurses care for an entire nursing home floor? Femke Delissen is the co-founder of PAVA, a Dutch startup…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Builds Real Human Connection Beyond the Swipe with Marsha Goei | Ep. 149
How do you build a tech company that prioritizes real human connection over the endless swipe? In this episode, female founder Marsha Goei, Head of Brand at…
Women Disrupting TechThe Startup Operator’s Playbook: Turning Founder Vision into Reality with Eliza Moore | Ep 148
Every visionary founder needs a disciplined operator to translate "big ideas" into functional reality. In this episode, host Dirkjan Hupkes sits down with…
Women Disrupting TechThe Anatomy of a Female Founder Story That Drives Action with Jennifer Cloer | Ep 147
Whoever controls the narrative holds the power to influence others. But for female founders, storytelling isn't just about marketing — it's a leadership tool…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Restores Dignity for Brain Injury Patients with Faviola Dadis | Ep. 146
What people lose first after a brain injury isn't intelligence. It's confidence, autonomy, and dignity. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with…
Women Disrupting TechScaling Your Startup Without Losing Its Soul with Relinde Boerman | Ep. 145
Most startups hire fast. But is that the right hiring strategy? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Relinde Boerman, lead recruiter at…
Women Disrupting TechHow Power and Design Shape the Technology We Use With Dr. Christine Miller | Ep. 144
Most people think technology is neutral. It’s not. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Dr. Christine Miller, Professor of Design Management…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Tackles Invisible Labor and Startup Burnout with Jamie Albaum | Ep. 143
Burnout doesn't happen because people work too hard. It happens because half their work is invisible. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Founder Builds a Tech Startup During War in Ukraine with Oryna Starkina | Ep. 142
Starting a tech company is hard. Starting one during a war requires a different kind of resilience. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Oryna…
Women Disrupting TechHow Heart-Centered Leadership Helps Female Founders Prevent Burnout with Alice Pavin | Ep. 141
Burnout isn't about working too hard. It's about working against yourself. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Alice Pavin, a Business and…
Women Disrupting TechHow a FemTech Pioneer Is Fixing Women's Health Infrastructure with Ida Tin | Ep. 140
What if women's health is not a niche, but infrastructure? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Ida Tin, the woman who coined the term FemTech…
Women Disrupting TechHow a Female Tech Entrepreneur Builds a Sustainable AI Company, with Melissa Solis | Ep. 139
Most AI companies are built to scale fast. Melissa Solis built hers to last. In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Melissa Solis, founder and…
Women Disrupting TechWhat Most Founders Learn Too Late About Startup Funding with Philipp Omenitsch | Ep. 138
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Philipp Omenitsch, co-founder of Sequel, creator of PitchLeague.ai and The Founder Files, and former…
Women Disrupting TechThe ROI of Relocation: Scaling Global Teams Without Attrition with Judith Roetgering | Ep. 137
Why do so many international hires look great on paper, only to leave within a year? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, we look at why international…
Women Disrupting TechWhy Your AI Implementation Fails and How to Fix It with Sophia Zitman | Ep. 136
AI implementations rarely fail because of the technology. They fail because of people, incentives, fear, and organizational blind spots. In this episode of…
Women Disrupting TechMoving Beyond the Hustle as a Female Founder with Valerie Hirschhauser | Ep. 135
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Valerie Hirschhauser explains why following the startup playbook often leads to founder burnout, hustle culture as a…
Women Disrupting TechUnlocking Worlds by Making Language Learning Fun with Carolina Bongers | Ep. 134
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Carolina Bongers, founder of Jungle the Bungle. Carolina is building a language learning app for children…
Women Disrupting TechBuilding a Tech Career on Agency, Agility, and Bouncebackability with Simone Mink | Ep. 133
What does it take to build a sustainable career in tech? Simone Mink shares how learning, leadership, and boundaries shaped her journey at Mendix. In this…
Women Disrupting TechDesigning The Workplace Women in Tech Actually Want with Tiffany Aude and Yoana Leusin | Ep. 132
What if promoting people on merit is the easiest way to get more women into boardrooms? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I’m joined by Tiffany Aude…
Women Disrupting TechWhy Your Strategy Should Fit on a Post-It with Dorit Roest | Ep. 131
If your strategy feels heavy, outdated, or too complicated to actually use, this episode will change the way you think about building and growing your company…
Women Disrupting TechThe Founder Guide to Turning Stress into a Superpower with Andrea Christancho | Ep. 130
In this episode, Andrea Cristancho shows how founders can turn stress into a source of clarity instead of chaos. We talk about pattern interrupts, wellbeing as…
Women Disrupting TechThe Power of Workations and Generous Leadership with Gina Schinkel | Ep 129
Gina Schinkel's founder career didn’t follow the straight line to being a founder. She built Driftawave and Leaderwave by choosing the world over the ladder…
Women Disrupting TechHow To Be A Compassionate Ally for Women in Tech with Salmaan Sana | Ep 128
What if feeling good about yourself was a precondition for being a good ally? In this episode, Salmaan Sana shares how allyship connects leadership, emotional…
Women Disrupting TechHow to Use Relocation to Build Inclusive Teams with Settly CEO Marieke van Iperen | Ep. 127
In this episode, Settly CEO Marieke van Iperen shares how her upbringing in a hippie community shaped her view on leadership, and how she built a fast-growing…
Women Disrupting TechPermissionless Inclusion, One Meal at a Time with Yasmina Khababi | Ep. 126
Yasmina Khababi runs Freshtable, a social impact catering company that creates meaningful jobs for highly skilled former refugees by matching their original…
Women Disrupting TechHow Mews Builds Inclusive Cultures in Hospitality with Magali Elhage and Matthijs Welle | Ep. 125
What happens when inclusion stops being a policy and becomes the foundation of a company? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Magali Elhage and Matthijs…
Women Disrupting TechHow Anieke Lamers Closes the Inequality Gap by Backing Female Founders with Borski Fund | Ep. 124
What happens when a former founder becomes an investor and decides to change the system from within? In this episode, Anieke Lamers, Venture Partner at Borski…
Women Disrupting TechHow Showing Her the Money Changes Venture Capital with Azin Radsan van Alebeek | Ep. 123
Capital fuels ideas. But whose ideas are we fueling? In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Azin Radsan van Alebeek shares how she uses venture capital as a…
Women Disrupting TechArosha Brouwer on Scaling Workplace Wellbeing with Impact and Integrity | Ep 122
Arosha Brouwer, co-founder of Quan and now Chief Impact Officer at TrueTribe, explains how she scaled workplace wellbeing with impact and integrity. In this…
Women Disrupting TechHow Dayana Marin Valencia Bootstrapped Adasight to Global Growth | Ep. 121
Dayana Marin Valencia, co-founder of Adasight, shares how she built a global company without VC funding. We talk about: Why data should be your co-pilot for…
Women Disrupting TechHow Curious Minds Build Better Companies in Tech with Henny Hoekstra | Ep. 120
What if curiosity was the key to building better companies? In Episode 120 of Women Disrupting Tech, Henny Hoekstra, director and co-owner of Pluvo, shares how…
Women Disrupting TechHow Women In VC NL Close the Gender Funding Gap with Erica van Eeghen & Maud Vermeulen | Ep. 119
Only 2 percent of venture capital goes to all-female founding teams. It is one of the most persistent inequalities in tech, and in a decade the gender funding…
Women Disrupting TechHow AI Can Make Us More Human | ep. 118 with Anouk Vlietman
Are soft skills the one thing machines will never master? In Episode 118 of Women Disrupting Tech, I sit down with Anouk Vlietman, founder of UMAIN, to explore…
Women Disrupting TechHow Burnout Fueled Kuhu Singh to Build a Bridge Between AI and Therapy with Amber | Ep. 117
How do you get from burnout to building an AI startup for mental health? That’s the journey of Kuhu Singh, founder of Amber. Remote work and imbalance left her…
Women Disrupting TechNavigating AI and Leadership as Trengo CEO with Marili 't Hooft-Bolle | Ep. 116
How do you scale a company in the age of AI without losing what makes it work? In this engaging episode of Women Disrupting Tech, Marili ’t Hooft-Bolle (CEO of…