It’s been a while since film festivals first screened it, but if you've ever tried to raise venture capital while being a woman, the she started it documentary probably feels like a personal attack. Or a therapy session. Honestly, maybe both. The film, directed by Nora Poggi and Insiyah Saeed, followed five aspiring female entrepreneurs over two years as they tried to build their startups in a world that wasn't exactly rolling out the red carpet for them.
Silicon Valley loves a good "garage to billionaire" story. But those stories usually feature guys in hoodies.
Watching Stacey Ferreira, Thuy Truong, Brienne Ghafourifar, Agathe Molinar, and Sheena Allen navigate the tech landscape is a masterclass in grit. It’s also a sobering reminder of how lopsided the playing field actually is. Even now, years after the documentary's release, the statistics for female-led startups getting VC funding are—to put it bluntly—pretty depressing. We're talking low single digits.
The Reality Check Behind the She Started It Documentary
The film doesn't sugarcoat anything. That’s probably why it stays relevant. You see the late nights. You see the "no's." You see the sheer exhaustion of pitching to rooms full of men who might not "get" the product because they aren't the target demographic.
Take Thuy Truong, for instance. She’s a powerhouse. She moved from Vietnam to the U.S. to scale her business, Tappy. Watching her navigate the cultural and professional hurdles is intense. It’s not just about coding or product-market fit; it’s about the mental tax of being "the only one" in the room. The she started it documentary captures that specific isolation perfectly. It shows that entrepreneurship isn't just about a great idea. It's about surviving the friction.
Most business documentaries feel like glossy PR stunts. This one doesn't.
It shows Agathe Molinar struggling with the French tech ecosystem and the pressures of scaling a gift-giving platform. It shows Sheena Allen, a young founder from Mississippi, building her app Sheena Allen Apps (now better known for her fintech work with CapWay) without the "old boys' club" connections that her peers might have.
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Why the "Girlboss" Era Failed Where This Film Succeeded
We’ve all seen the rise and fall of the "Girlboss" aesthetic. It was all pink power suits and "hustle harder" Instagram quotes. But the she started it documentary isn't about the aesthetic. It’s about the plumbing.
It’s about how hard it is to get a check signed.
The film highlights a fundamental disconnect in the tech world: the meritocracy myth. We like to think that the best ideas always win. But as the documentary shows, the "best" idea often needs a specific pedigree, a specific look, or a specific network to even get an audience. When Brienne Ghafourifar became one of the youngest people to raise $1 million in funding at age 19 for her company TeraWatt, she was an outlier. An anomaly.
She Started It asks: why should she be an anomaly?
The documentary doesn't just focus on the wins. It focuses on the pivots. In the tech world, "pivot" is a fancy word for "this didn't work, so we’re trying to survive by changing everything." Seeing these women pivot in real-time is more educational than any MBA course. It shows the emotional resilience required to realize your baby is ugly and needs a total makeover.
The Funding Gap That Just Won't Quit
If you look at the data today, the numbers haven't moved as much as we'd like to think since the she started it documentary came out. PitchBook and other analysts still point out that companies founded solely by women receive roughly 2% of total venture capital.
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That is wild.
Think about the amount of innovation being left on the table. The documentary touches on this by showing the sheer volume of work these women put in compared to the capital they receive. It’s not a lack of talent. It’s a lack of trust from the gatekeepers. The film features experts like Vivek Wadhwa and Joanne Wilson (the "Gotham Gal"), who provide context on why this gap exists. Hint: it’s not because women are "risk-averse."
It's because the system was built for a different demographic.
Joanne Wilson, in particular, has been a vocal advocate for investing in women because, frankly, it’s good business. Women-led companies often deliver higher revenue-per-dollar invested. They’re capital efficient. They have to be. They don't have the luxury of burning through billions of dollars of "dumb money" while trying to find a business model.
Practical Lessons from the Founders
What can you actually take away from the she started it documentary if you're starting a business today?
First, the network is everything. But if you don't have the network, you have to build a "side door." Sheena Allen is a great example of this. She didn't wait for permission to be a tech founder. She just started building apps.
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Second, the importance of the "ugly" phase. Most people quit when they hit the middle part of the journey—the part where the hype has died down, the seed money is running low, and you're still not sure if the product works. The film dwells in that middle part. It’s uncomfortable to watch, but it’s the most important part to see.
Third, the need for mentorship that isn't just "encouragement." These women didn't need people to tell them "you can do it." They needed people to tell them "here is how you structure your cap table" and "here is how you handle a predatory term sheet."
Is It Still Worth a Watch?
Absolutely. Even though some of the specific apps or companies featured might have evolved or shuttered, the human element is timeless. The she started it documentary serves as a historical marker for a specific era of tech, but its core message about the barriers to entry is unfortunately still relevant.
It’s a reality check. It’s a call to action.
If you're an investor, it might make you look at your portfolio and wonder why everyone in it looks the same. If you're a founder, it might make you feel a little less alone when you're staring at a "thank you for the pitch, but we’re passing" email at 2:00 AM.
How to Support and Scale Women-Led Ventures
The documentary shouldn't just be something you watch and forget. If you want to change the narrative that the she started it documentary highlights, there are concrete steps to take.
- Diversify your cap table: If you are an angel investor, specifically look for female-founded startups that are solving problems in underserved markets.
- Operational support over "inspiration": If you’re mentoring a female founder, offer to review her financial models or introduce her to three potential lead investors rather than just giving a pep talk.
- Audit your "intuition": Many investors pass on female founders because they don't "feel" like a typical founder. Use data-driven benchmarks to evaluate startups rather than relying on a gut feeling that might be biased.
- Watch the film with your team: Use it as a conversation starter for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives that actually have teeth, focusing on structural barriers rather than just culture.
The documentary proved that women are starting it. Now, the industry needs to make sure they have the resources to finish it.