Taking a Seat at the Table: Demystifying Investment Decisions

Investment can often feel like a world of closed-door conversations, complex terminology and unwritten rules. Yet understanding how investors think and make decisions can be transformative for founders, aspiring investors and anyone looking to navigate the innovation ecosystem more confidently.

That was the focus of our latest Women at Level39 Network event, Taking a Seat at the Table: Demystifying Investment Decisions, which brought together founders, investors, operators and ecosystem partners for an open discussion on fundraising, investing and breaking down barriers to participation.

Moderated by Lalitha Aiyer, Membership Associate at Level39, the panel featured:

• Mital Patel, Director, Strategic Investments EMEA at Citi
• Sarah Glanville, Senior Account Manager at etoro
• Dr Jacqui Taylor, Founder of FlyingBinary
• Natalie Paton, Founder of Luminus Ventures.

Why Women at Level39 Network?

Opening the event, Lalitha reflected on why the Women at Level39 Network was created. The network aims to create opportunities for women to connect meaningfully, share experiences, access knowledge and support one another’s growth, while also welcoming allies into the conversation.

Against a backdrop of continued underrepresentation across leadership, fundraising and investing, the discussion highlighted the importance of creating spaces where women can ask questions openly, learn from shared experiences and grow their professional networks.

What Creates Investment Conviction?

The conversation began by exploring how investors assess opportunities and build confidence in a founder and their business.

Drawing on her experience leading strategic investments across EMEA at Citi, Mital explained that investment conviction is evidence-led. While a strong idea matters, investors are ultimately assessing whether a founder understands their market, can execute on their vision and is the right person to deliver it. She also encouraged founders to spend time understanding the investors they are approaching, highlighting due diligence as a crucial but often overlooked part of fundraising.

Key takeaways:

• Conviction is built on evidence, not instinct.
• Investors assess teams and execution as much as products.
• Founders should understand an investor’s thesis and objectives.
• Strategic investors can offer value beyond capital, including partnerships and market access.

The Founder Experience

Offering a founder’s perspective, Natalie shared how different fundraising feels when you’re sitting on the other side of the table.

Having transitioned from a successful banking career into entrepreneurship, she spoke about the challenge of building credibility from scratch and securing attention in a crowded market. Unlike the corporate world, founders must continually communicate their vision, demonstrate value and convince others to believe in what they are building. Throughout the discussion, Natalie emphasised the importance of staying close to customer needs and maintaining clarity of purpose.

She also shared her ABC framework for founders navigating growth and fundraising:

• Accessibility: understanding available opportunities, networks and funding routes.
• Brevity: clearly communicating your proposition and value.
• Creating resilience: building a business that can adapt as markets and customer needs evolve.

Building Resilient Businesses

Drawing on her experience as a founder, investor and mentor, Dr Jacqui encouraged attendees to think strategically about growth rather than focusing solely on the next funding round.

She spoke about the importance of understanding capital markets, creating sustainable value and building businesses that can adapt to changing conditions. Rather than viewing fundraising as the end goal, founders should focus on creating resilient organisations with a clear long-term vision.

One of the most memorable moments of the evening came when Dr Taylor challenged attendees to stop waiting for permission to pursue their ambitions.

Her message was simple:

• Understand how capital markets work.
• Focus on long-term value creation.
• Build resilience into your business model.
• Don’t wait for permission to take the next step.

Challenging Perceptions Around Women and Investing

From a retail investing perspective, Sarah explored some of the misconceptions that continue to influence participation in investing.

Sarah discussed the UK’s gender investment gap and challenged the perception that women are naturally less confident investors. Instead, she argued that education, representation and visibility are often much bigger factors. Drawing on research from eToro, she highlighted that women frequently perform as well as, and sometimes better than, men as investors, often benefitting from patience, discipline and a long-term approach.

Key insights:

• Women are often better described as “risk aware” than “risk averse”.
• Representation helps encourage participation.
• Financial education can improve engagement and confidence.
• Investing should feel accessible to everyone.

Beyond Confidence: What Needs to Change?

As the discussion evolved, a broader question emerged: what needs to change if we want to improve participation in investing and entrepreneurship?

While each panellist brought a different perspective, there was strong agreement that confidence alone is not the answer. Education, access to networks, greater transparency and stronger communities all have a significant role to play. The discussion reinforced the idea that ecosystems such as Level39 can help bridge knowledge gaps, create opportunities and connect people with the support they need to grow.

Common themes from the panel included:

• Greater access to investment education.
• More transparent fundraising conversations.
• Stronger communities and support networks.
• Increased visibility of diverse role models.

Audience Q&A Highlights

The audience questions brought a practical dimension to the discussion, covering topics such as fundraising strategy, business growth, digital assets and regulation.

Discussions explored how founders can build more resilient businesses, balance focus with adaptability, and better understand what different investors are looking for. The conversation also touched on the future of digital assets and the role of regulation in supporting innovation while protecting consumers.

Key Q&A themes:

• Building resilient and adaptable businesses.
• Understanding investor expectations.
• Navigating emerging technologies and regulation.
• Matching fundraising strategies to the right investors

The Bigger Takeaway

More than a discussion about investment, the event reinforced the value of creating spaces where knowledge, networks and opportunities are shared openly.

Through the Women at Level39 Network, founders, investors, operators and allies can learn from one another, build meaningful connections and gain practical insights from those who have navigated similar journeys. Whether seeking investment, exploring investing or growing their understanding of the ecosystem, the goal remains the same: helping more people take their seat at the table.

As the discussion concluded, one message stood out: access changes everything. The more openly we talk about investing and fundraising, the more inclusive and informed our ecosystem becomes.