Discipline, long term thinking and realism. The superpowers of women who build in the startup ecosystem
Being a woman is hard. Being a woman founder or investor is even harder. You have to deal with a lot of biases. Among them, that women are less ambitious. Or that they are risk-averse. And we have the latest data from Invest Europe and EIF to confirm this gender bias: startups with predominantly female founding teams receive, on average, about 700,000 euros less per investment round than those led mainly by male founders, despite similar or stronger educational credentials. The same happens also when it comes to women in decision-making positions: only a small share of senior investment roles are held by women (only 14% of top roles in VC firms are held by women).
We’re here today to break those biases. And for that we’ve talked with two of the most prominent women in venture capital in Romania: Cristina Irimie, the founder of Inspire Capital, and Simona Gemeneanu, the co-founder of Morphosis Capital.
Not just another VC in Romania
At this point, Cristina is the only female managing partner of a venture capital fund in Romania, which she started in 2025.
“I didn’t wake up one day wanting to “build a VC”. I woke up realizing I wanted to build a different kind of investor”, Cristina told us right off the bat.
She is an experienced finance executive turned venture capital investor, with a career spanning over 20 years across banking, automotive (CFO/COO), and early-stage investing.
“I was constantly close to founders and entrepreneurs: financing them, analyzing them, sitting across the table from them, and often rooting for them. I have always had a genuine passion for supporting and confidently advocating for the entrepreneurs I truly believe in. I saw brilliance, I saw courage, I saw relentless hard work and personal sacrifice. And I also saw how lonely the journey can become, especially in the harder seasons, when numbers fluctuate, when doubts appear, when pressure increases”, says Cristina.
That’s why, alongside Péter Pál, a partner in the fund, she decided to bring to life Inspire Capital as a family office venture fund. “We wanted to invest in people we truly believe in, early, when things are still fragile, and growth is not yet guaranteed”, explains Cristina.
Simona Gemeneanu is the co-founder of Morphosis Capital, a venture capital fund she launched in 2018 alongside Andrei Gemeneanu. Before Morphosis Capital, Simona spent 15 years in Bucharest, Paris and London in finance, strategy and corporate development roles in leading companies in their field (PwC, Thomson Reuters), accumulating significant experience in strategy, origination, deal execution and valuation within information services, healthcare and technology business models, completing over 20 transactions and demonstrating a solid track record in building effective partnerships with the sellers.
A room full of extraordinary founders
As Simona remembers, early in her career she was often in rooms where she was one of the very few women present – “or, sometimes, the only one”.
We were talking about biases early on, when it comes to funding opportunities for women led startups, compared with male led startups. Women often face questioning about their competence, ambition, appetite for risk, lower valuations, and reduced access to networks compared to male counterparts. And, of course, assumptions around women’s work–life responsibilities continue to influence funding decisions.
“I have seen extraordinary ambition in many female founders, but it is often paired with realism and discipline. They are not driven by visibility, but by building something meaningful and sustainable”, notes Simona as she remarks that ambition does not always need to be loud to be powerful.
Debunked myths about female founders
Cristina wants to debunk the myth that women are risk-averse and draws from her experience: “women are not risk-averse, they are risk-aware and that is different”.
“Calculated risk, disciplined capital allocation, long-term thinking are not signs of caution, they are signs of responsibility”, comments Cristina Irimie.
She also adds a very important thing to consider: in venture capital especially, understanding risk deeply is a competitive advantage.
Simona Gemeneanu adds to the preconceived notion that investors often hold about women’s leadership capabilities and technical knowledge, and what they expect more from them rather than their male counterparts.
”Women were expected to be more prepared, more precise, more certain before their ideas were fully embraced”, says Simona, mentioning the fact that she had the privilege of working closely with several female founders and leaders who built exceptional companies.
What stood out from their work? ”Their clarity, their resilience, and their ability to navigate uncertainty without losing focus. They were not trying to fit a mold, they were building their own”, Simona Gemeneanu adds.
These are some traits that also Cristina Irimie points out as being important when it comes to her investment decisions. ”We invest where we see clarity of thinking, resilience, and the willingness to build something meaningful over time”.
”Those experiences shaped my belief that women don’t need to lead like anyone else to succeed. They succeed by leading authentically, with competence and conviction”, points out Simona.
Female founders and their superpowers
So, how do two top investors in startups and businesses from the Romanian ecosystem address some of these gender biases? What is, in their opinion, one feminine leadership quality that’s a true superpower when scaling a business?
Simona talks about perspective, which she sees as the ability to see both the immediate decision and its long-term consequences on the business, on the team, and on the culture. In her view, scaling is not just about speed, it’s about direction.
“Leaders who combine ambition with awareness build organizations that last. I’ve seen many women leaders create very strong, loyal teams. And that becomes a powerful multiplier over time”, noted Simona Gemeneanu.
For Cristina Irimie, deep listening is a superpower of women business leaders. “It may sound soft, but it isn’t. Listening, and I mean truly listening, allows you to read rooms, anticipate friction, align stakeholders, and sense risk before it becomes visible in numbers. Scaling a company is rarely about louder voices; it’s about sharper awareness. And empathy, when combined with rigor, becomes strategic intelligence”, Cristina emphasises.
So, let’s imagine that you are a woman pitching your startup to an investor. You are confident, well-prepared, numbers in hand, you have a solid plan for business development. But you hear an answer, although polite, still disguised as a “No”.
“The most common “No” is often subtle. It comes in the form of hesitation —“It’s interesting, but maybe it’s too early.””, mentions Simona Gemeneanu.
How do you come back from that “No”?
“The most powerful response is progress. Coming back later with stronger traction, clearer positioning, and visible momentum changes the conversation entirely. Confidence grows from evidence. And over time, consistent execution speaks louder than any argument”, adds the cofounder of Morphosis Capital.
In her turn, Cristina Irimie mentions the fact that in business, unfortunately, women tend to put their own set of barriers.
“Sometimes the loudest “No” isn’t external, it’s internal: “Maybe I’m not ready yet.”, “Maybe I need one more milestone”, and so on”, is her view.
But as the founder of Inspire Capital points out, the real breakthrough comes when women realize that readiness is rarely a feeling, but rather a decision. “And the best comeback is not verbal, it’s action and execution”, concludes Cristina Irimie.
So, ladies, don’t fold under the scrutiny of biased investors, or even male founders. Because you are not short on ambition, capability or performance.
Instead, continue to be curious, to build your competence step by step, and never underestimate how far consistency and courage can take you.