On May 21, founders, investors, operators, and ecosystem builders gathered in Palo Alto for an evening of candid conversations, honest insights, and meaningful connections at the Female Founder Roundtable: Fundraising in Times of AI.
Hosted by Moon Creative Lab in collaboration with Sisters – Female Founders Initiative, WomenTech Network and Chief in Tech Capital, the event created an intimate and high-signal space for women founders to openly discuss the realities of building and fundraising in today’s rapidly evolving startup landscape. From investor expectations and credibility challenges to AI-powered fundraising strategies and navigating uncertainty, the evening focused on the parts of entrepreneurship that are often left out of polished startup narratives.
While women-led startups receive only 2–3% of venture capital funding despite generating more than 2x the revenue per dollar invested, the conversations throughout the evening felt especially timely and important. The roundtable focused on the early-stage barriers many founders face, including limited access to networks, investor trust, and visibility.
Opening the Evening: Community, Access & Opportunity
The evening began with the opening remarks from WomenTech Network Founder & CEO Anna Radulovski.
During her presentation, Anna shared the vision and global impact of WomenTech Network and the importance of building strong communities that create access, visibility, and opportunities for women in technology and entrepreneurship. She spoke about the power of trusted relationships, meaningful networking, and ecosystems that help founders move from idea to investment
Her remarks set the tone for the evening by emphasizing why conversations like these matter now more than ever: because behind every successful startup is not only innovation, but community, resilience, and people willing to support one another along the journey.
The audience was also welcomed by Mary Ann Gallo, Chief Growth Officer at Moon Creative Lab, whose opening speech highlighted the importance of creating intentional spaces where founders can have transparent, honest, and practical conversations about entrepreneurship and fundraising. Her warm welcome and reflections on collaboration, innovation, and community helped establish the open and supportive atmosphere that carried throughout the evening.
Honest Conversations About Building and Fundraising
The evening continued with the featured roundtable discussion, bringing together accomplished founders who shared honest reflections on their fundraising journeys, lessons learned, and strategies for navigating today’s AI-driven environment:
Lesya Hendrix, Founder & CEO of Spacer Robotics
Akylai Kasymkulova, Founder of Human Delta
Jessica Liew, CEO & Founder of Intriq
Together with Anna Radulovski, the conversation explored what investors are truly looking for at the earliest stages, how founders can identify the right investor fit, and why building trust and credibility remains essential even as AI transforms the startup ecosystem.
Rather than offering polished startup success stories, the discussion focused on the real and often messy realities of entrepreneurship — balancing fundraising with company-building, navigating bias and uncertainty, making high-stakes decisions, and learning how to move forward despite limited resources and constant pressure.
The candid nature of the conversation created a refreshing level of openness rarely found in traditional startup events, allowing attendees to hear not only what worked, but also the challenges, mistakes, and lessons learned along the way.
AI Is Changing Fundraising — But Relationships Still Matter
One of the evening’s strongest themes centered around the role of AI in modern fundraising.
Panelists discussed how founders are increasingly leveraging AI tools to identify aligned investors, personalize outreach, refine messaging, and streamline parts of the fundraising process. At the same time, the discussion reinforced that while AI can improve efficiency, authentic relationships, trust, and strong storytelling remain irreplaceable in building investor confidence.
Attendees also explored how founders can avoid wasting time pursuing the wrong investors and instead focus on building intentional relationships with people who genuinely align with their mission, vision, and stage of growth.
The audience engagement throughout the Q&A reflected how deeply these conversations resonated with founders actively navigating today’s fundraising environment.
Reflections from the Community
"Spent the evening at Moon Creative Lab in Palo Alto for a female founder roundtable on fundraising in times of AI. Anna Radulovski led such a thoughtful conversation, with Akylai Kasymkulova, Jessica Liew, and Lesya Hendrix sharing generous and deeply practical perspectives. Thank you WomenTech Network, Chief in Tech Capital, Sisters - Female founders Initiative, and Moon Creative Lab for creating the space. A beautiful evening, and a very useful reminder." - Salome M., Co-Founder at Movadex
"Attended a founders roundtable filled with real transformation stories of rough rides, resilience, success, women's power, and strong networking with great minds. I also had personalized conversations with WomenTech CEO Anna Radulovski, Lesya Hendrix from Spacer Robotics, Aparna M. from Moon Creative Lab, and many more inspiring people. Grateful to be part of communities like this." - Surekha Chikoti, VP, Product Management & GTM Strategy at LuMay AI
"I attended the Female Founder Roundtable: Fundraising in Times of AI last night in Palo Alto! The panel discussion was so real and honest, talking about the actual challenges of building and fundraising as a founder today. So grateful to have met so many incredible female founders from different backgrounds" - Jihyeon K., Founder & CEO of Own B
A Room Full of Meaningful Connections
What made the Female Founder Roundtable especially impactful was the atmosphere in the room.
A special thank you to the incredible team at Moon Creative Lab for hosting such a thoughtful and welcoming event, and to Mary Ann Gallo and Aparna M. for their collaboration, partnership, and support in bringing the event to life.
Thank you as well to Sisters – Female Founders Initiative and Assel Seitova for being fantastic community partners and co-hosts, helping bring together such a strong and inspiring network of founders and ecosystem leaders.
A heartfelt thank you to Lesya Hendrix, Akylai Kasymkulova, and Jessica Liew, for contributing their honesty, vulnerability, expertise, and perspectives to such an important conversation.
And to all the founders, investors, operators, ecosystem builders, and community members who joined us in Palo Alto — thank you for making the evening so meaningful, collaborative, and inspiring.
Follow Chief in Tech Capital and WomenTech Network on LinkedIn and stay tuned for future founder roundtables, leadership events, and the 8th Annual Women in Tech Global Conference (May 18-21, 2027) experiences worldwide.