Camp FFF Recasts Startup Playbook as Female-Only Teams Still Get 2.3% of US VC

1 articles · Updated · Vogue · Aug 6

Camp FFF, the Female Founders Fund’s two-day retreat in Montauk, centered this year on how women founders should build in a tougher market, shifting discussion from rapid scaling to profitability, durability and clearer exit paths.
Just 2.3% of US venture funding goes to female-only teams, and Anu Duggal said capital has effectively split between AI and non-AI companies, forcing founders outside AI to plan for growth without heavy fundraising.
AI was a major theme because Duggal and other speakers argued it can let founders build faster with fewer resources, even as critics warn the technology could turn structural barriers into another productivity burden for women.
Consumer founders also described a new model in which smaller brands can own customer relationships and build efficient businesses—often in the £50 million to £100 million range—rather than chasing the old billion-dollar startup script.
The retreat’s broader message was that women’s entrepreneurship remains large—about 40% of US businesses—but success now depends less on growth-at-all-costs and more on networks, fundamentals and realistic acquisition-minded planning.