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The Game Changers
In this award-winning podcast Sue Anstiss talks to trailblazers in women sport. These are the individuals who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls everywhere. Along with openly sharing their historic careers, what drives them and how they’ve dealt with tough challenges, each episode explores key issues for equality in sport and beyond.
We’re incredibly grateful to Sport England who support The Game Changers through a National Lottery award.
You can find out about all the guests at https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers
Fearless Women in Sport
The Game Changers
Laura Youngson: Pioneering a new era for women's sports kit
Our guest today is Laura Youngson, the co-founder of Ida Sports, the world’s leading female sports footwear brand that recently received $2M in investment funding.
Laura is a huge advocate for gender equality and in 2017, led a group of women to the top of Kilimanjaro to play a record-breaking football match with Equal Playing Field.
The trip highlighted a common problem facing female players all over the world: their boots were made for men, or children, and left their feet in pain long after the final whistle blew.
Laura went on to co-found Ida Sports which launched its first boot for female players in 2020 and since that time the brand’s continued to innovate and drive change in the sector.
This brilliant episode explores Laura’s diverse career path – before founding Ida Sports Laura worked as a senior policy advisor for the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and in event management for major sports events including the London Olympics and the European Games.
Our conversation highlights the ongoing struggle for gender equality in sport and the innovative steps that are being taken to create a more inclusive environment for women and girls.
Laura openly shares the challenges and opportunities in designing sportswear specifically for women, the response from retailers, and the importance of fundraising for growth.
We discuss the wonderful collaboration taking place amongst female entrepreneurs in this space and the impact of motherhood on Laura’s own entrepreneurial journey.
Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery award.
Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers
Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media
A Fearless Women production
Hello and welcome to The Game Changers. I'm Sue Anstiss, and this is the podcast where you'll hear from trailblazing women in sport who are knocking down barriers and challenging the status quo for women and girls everywhere. What can we learn from their journeys as we explore key issues around equality in sport and beyond? I'd like to start with a very big thank you to our partners, Sport England, who support The Game Changers podcast through a national lottery award. I'm excited to say that in this, the 18th series of T he Game Changers, I'm talking to founders and entrepreneurs the women who have set up organisations that help change the landscape for all women and girls in sport. My guest today is Laura Youngson.
Sue Anstiss:Laura is the co-founder of Ida Sports and a huge advocate for gender equality. Laura previously worked as a senior policy advisor for the UK Department of Business, innovation and Skills and in event management for major sports events like the London Olympics and the European Games. In 2017, Laura led a group of women to the top of Kilimanjaro to play a record-breaking football match with equal playing field. The trip highlighted a common problem facing female players all over the world that their boots were made for men or children and left their feet in pain long after the final whistle blew, Laura went on to co-found Ida Sports, which launched its first football boot for female players in 2020, and since that time, the brands continue to innovate and drive change in the sector, and I'm delighted to say that it's just been announced that Ida has received $2 million of investment funding. So, Laura, you've had such a diverse and fascinating career, but where did it all start for you? Can you tell us about where you grew up and how sport was a part of your young?
Laura Youngson:life. So I grew up in Gloucester, actually in the southwest of England very sort of regular childhood, but spent a lot of it outdoors and we're very lucky to have the Forest of Dean on our doorstep, um, here. So, just you know, get outside, go play in the mud, go cycle, go do these things. And at school I I played a lot of sport. I was really passionate about ballet growing up, so I did a lot of ballet, um, and almost went down that route as a career, but actually decided on physics, which is another story.
Laura Youngson:But, yeah, got to play in all the school teams and was one of those kids that the teachers would be like hey, we need to make up the numbers on whatever team. Here you go, have fun. So I had a couple of memorable experiences, like playing the number two for England at badminton when I was about 13. I hadn't really played badminton, you know. So give it a go, got a couple of points, and that my mum was very proud, uh, that I could do that you mentioned the physics there, but your education was really diverse too.
Sue Anstiss:So you've got a master's in entrepreneurship from the University of Melbourne and a master's in physics from Durham University. So what were your? What were your career plans?
Laura Youngson:I didn't really think much further than university, to be honest, but I've always loved politics with a small p, and so after I graduated, I got a job with the fast stream, the civil service fast stream, so which you go and work for the government departments, and that was a really cool experience because you get to meet lots of interesting people and you get rotated around the department, so you get to learn all about how the machinery of government works, and it was a really fascinating time because we were about to have a change of government from Labour to Conservative. I started when it was the financial crisis, so again, there's all these pressures that you're living through, and so, to be kind of at the start of my career, learning about government and those experiences was amazing and I got some great opportunities. So there was an opportunity I went and worked in the embassy in Sao Paulo or the consulate in Sao Paulo, and one of the cool projects I worked on was bringing genetically modified mosquitoes to clinical trials in Brazil. So that was pretty cool. And then then had this opportunity when I got back that they said, hey, we're looking for secondes to go work on London 2012 the Olympics and so I was like, oh yeah, pick me, pick me, and so ended up spending a year in that organization, which was amazing, getting to work with all the diplomats and just oversee the preparations for this incredible event that took over London.
Sue Anstiss:And how did your career progress from there then, in terms of onwards from London 2012?
Laura Youngson:Well, I have a habit of shaking things up if it gets too ordinary. So actually my now husband and I we went to work and run a hotel in Mozambique for a year. So actually my now husband and I we went to work and run a hotel in Mozambique for a year which was like faulty towers in the sunshine Just an amazingly beautiful place, just incredibly difficult to run because you're three hours from the nearest city, five star guests, but with kind of I don't know very rustic, like a sand road to get to the hotel and that kind of thing. So I think I learned about seven years of life in that one year from doing that, so these kind of really fun, challenging experiences and got offered the opportunity to go and work for a year in Azerbaijan on the European Games and that was amazing as well.
Laura Youngson:Just for any of the sport people that worked there. It was just a fascinating insight into a country that was rapidly changing and very young population that were getting trained with all the skills that now you see them as a power that runs multiple sporting events. So spending time in lots of these different cultures I think has been for me like a super fascinating part of my career being able to learn new languages, generally have a little bit of knowledge I call myself a Jill of all trades a little bit of knowledge about everything, not too deep on anything other than shoes, but everything else. So I guess I'm pretty sure I've come across that at some point in my career in the introduction.
Sue Anstiss:there In 2017, you led a group of women to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to play a record-breaking game of football, which went on to become the highest altitude game of football ever played, and set a Guinness World Record in the process too. So what led you to that? How do you come about setting something like that up?
Laura Youngson:Yeah, it's one of those. I have these ideas and they just pop into my head sometimes and this one had been sort of I was so fed up with just seeing, I think I saw a stat that there's more stories about horses than women in the sports pages and I was like, oh, are you kidding me? Like is this going to change in my lifetime? Because where are my heroes that I get to to read about? I really love women's sport. What can we do? And so I called up a friend and we sort of I had this idea like, oh, we should go do something. Great you know what? We'll go and play football at the top of Kilimanjaro. That will show them.
Laura Youngson:And we like we don't really know who they were and who we were at that point, but as soon as it kind of started snowballing, we were put in touch with women across the world. So we ended up taking people from sort of 30 nationalities, all different levels of the game, absolutely like a wonderful mix of people from across the spectrum of of global football, and to try and do something that had never been done before. And and I think I had this moment when the goals hadn't arrived and we were two days out from playing the match and they were getting sort of careered up the hill because you had to take everything up and then take everything down because it's a national park. And I was just sort of sitting there looking out and I was like what the hell have I done? Like, what am I doing? I've convinced like 60 people to come climb a mountain to play a football game.
Laura Youngson:It just like are we crazy? But it was such a testament to the strength of the group that it was never in doubt. Everyone was just like nope, we're going to do it. It's really hard, we're going to make it happen and made such a wonderful impact as a result of it. So, yeah, I kind of describe world records as my side hobby. Now. It's a thing we do to have fun and relax.
Sue Anstiss:I love hearing from the women that have been on those record-breaking events with you. I think the connections you've built, the women I've come across just across the sector in the years that have been involved in them as well too.
Laura Youngson:I think it's been life-changing for a lot of people. We sort of keep in touch with whoever came through to the records and I found it really hilarious because I was in on a zoom call with someone even just sort of recently and and they had their medal from one of one of the world records and I was like wait, did you, have you done a world record?
Sue Anstiss:yeah, that's brilliant and uh so it's just amazing kind of seeing where those connections have led and I know we often talk about origin stories and I kind of see that linked to the development of Ida, but was it from that event that you were inspired to create a female football boot?
Laura Youngson:It was one of those spaces and times when there was no signal on the mountain, and so you get there very few times, when you completely disconnect from the modern world, and so we had to talk to each other and it was this. We had these wonderful conversations and one of the things that sort of kept coming up for me was this niggle of like I would always be. I was so annoyed that I was having to wear kid shoes to play on a world record match and I was chatting to all these players and just everyone kind of came up with was saying the same things and I was starting to think well, it's not just me, it's someone else as well that's having this experience, and then, kind of off the back of going, oh, we've just organized a record game, now we can do anything. I think that's what led me to be like oh well, I'll just start a shoe company, you know, then we'll solve that easy.
Sue Anstiss:But hindsight's obviously slightly different and how did we get to 2020 before somebody had done that? I was thinking more about this before talking to you. There's clearly a huge market in female running shoes, and if I went into a sport shop now, if I went into a shoe shop, I wouldn't shop in the men's aisles, I would shop for women's shoes. So why had no one thought to create a football boot for women?
Laura Youngson:It's really been a mixture of sort of the men's game was so dominant. Women were just always this afterthought, like, oh, did women play? I don't know, I don't know, you know, that was that sort of attitude towards it, whereas the people that were playing were really enjoying the game. You could see it bubbling up, like it. To me it's no surprise that we ended up with sold out crowds at the euros. It was like years in the making this popularity of the game, but I think it was.
Laura Youngson:I spoke to some people afterwards and and they tried to do a boot at nike in the sort of late 90s, and I spoke to the sort of researchers who were a bit traumatized by the experience because they they made a shoe but they made it pink.
Laura Youngson:Then the athlete didn't want to wear it and you're like, well, yeah, duh, um, there's sort of like I wouldn't draw the conclusion that the the shoe isn't needed. I'd perhaps draw it that it doesn't need to be pink, but I think there's a mixture of the timing being right that the game was growing. There was also definitely a movement of people starting to not put up with it, like, oh, I'm having to wear rolled up boy shorts, although arguably this still happens, and then just this timing of like, I think it caught a lot the bigger brands on a bit unawares, but for me it seemed like such a logical thing. Like we have women's running shoes, so scientifically we need different shoes, why aren't there football and and it's I'm picking into that kind of societal reasons that really, even more so than the science, led me down this path of like, well, we, we need to have this and it does seem very obvious from a young girl's perspective.
Sue Anstiss:If you went into a shoe shop right now, what would their experience be like to find their, their boots?
Laura Youngson:well, it's still you see, you've got men's, you've got kids, and often if they ask, oh, have you got women's or girls? No, or maybe. Or there's sort of this unisex shoe that's pink and it is starting to change, but I just think it must be so disheartening if you're a 10 year old and you're going in and you want it to be this incredibly special experience in the sport that you're playing, that you love, in this sport that you're playing that you love, um, and instead you're faced with kind of like indifference or something that oh well, try this, it's the least worst option. Um, I don't see how that's inspiring for someone to stay in the sport and and especially knowing what we know about kind of teenage girls dropping out at a higher rate um, and you want to build that lifelong passion for sport. I mean, this is why I started the business to try and change just even that expectation of what it is to be a female footballer.
Sue Anstiss:And what are the key differences in terms of the design differences, from an Ida boot to a traditional men's football boot?
Laura Youngson:So some of the stuff that I researched at the very beginning was very much available in the public domain. So women in general tend to have narrower heels, um, so we slip around in the men's shoes. We tend to have wider toe box, or the shape of our foot is different, and so that manifests itself as like pain in your little toe, tend to have higher arches, so the insoles don't necessarily provide you the support. And then the biggest one that really kind of was like oh yeah, duh moment for me was our hips are different. They're set further apart than men's in general, and so how you're interacting with the ground, especially when you're wearing studs, has to be different, because you're you're landing differently, how women jump and land is different, and so there's a lot of kind of I would call it like basic science that made me think well, look, we need something different for female physiology and we obviously are hearing more and more now about acl injuries.
Sue Anstiss:It feels like it's becoming more widely discussed, but obviously an issue for a long, long time anyway. But how much do you think that is around that boot to surface connection or other causes too?
Laura Youngson:So it's really like a mix of factors and that's what everyone's trying to understand at the moment and I think, where I come at it, there's stuff that you can do to like fifa 11 plus is shown as one of the best training like preventative methods to reduce the risk of acl and that's sort of your neuromuscular strength and conditioning.
Laura Youngson:I think, where we come at it, we want to know the most about surfaces and boots, and I've seen so much innovation that can be made in shoes to reduce the risk of non-contact ACLs and that's what we're putting that tech into our shoes. It might not be the biggest factor, but there's definitely. If you're looking at increasing performance and reducing your risks, then you should be looking at everything and that's one of the elements of it. So I think that we could. If everyone's wearing stuff that's made of the the elements of it, so I think that we could. If everyone's wearing stuff that's made for them, I think we are going to start to see a reduction in risk. I don't think you're ever going to eliminate it, but it's. I think if you're able to get bring some of those numbers down.
Sue Anstiss:That's really what everyone's trying to do and, as you say, we are seeing more research now. So from FIFA and UEFA there is. It does feel like people talking about there's more investment going in there. Is it enough, and what more would you like to see in that space?
Laura Youngson:It's almost like we're just scratching the surface. So I don't know if you saw or your listeners have heard of the European Club Association did an amazing study where they they went and looked at all the professional female players across Europe and established that 82% have pain or discomfort with their boots when they play. So then, okay, well, this is a widespread problem, it's not just a small amount of people. And then you sort of go well, what's the answer? And then what about this and what about this element? And I think it's all of those kind of questions that we've only just started scratching the surface and we've got the headline, which is quite shocking. But then you need the funding to then get the answers and go to your point.
Laura Youngson:Is it your menstrual cycle, or is it your shoes, or is it a combination of these things?
Laura Youngson:And what does that actually mean for you personally? Because your physiological response might be quite different to someone else's. In that sense, the fact that there is still this ambiguity around the problem means that there should be more investment, because then I think I mean, at the end of the day, everyone just kind of wants to get on and play right, but if you're having all these barriers and all these kind of areas that are without your control, then it's really hard to get to that point where you're just playing and enjoying the game when you're having to think, oh well, wait, do I need to wear this and what do I need to think about here? And you know, am I wearing the right kit and all of these things? So I'm sure that if we did invest further, like you're going to see massive strikes in the in, in what we know is a as a kind of set of humans and what was the process like from when you had your idea and you kind of created and designed the shoe to actually having your first prototype?
Laura Youngson:yeah, it's really funny. It are the first shoe I cooked in the kitchen. This is proper shoe dog story, and you know like made a mold and then worked out what was the outsole and did this and we now call it the franken shoe because it looks so horrendous. Um, and this, this wonderful franken shoe, has been on tour to like the design museum and the fifa museum and things like this. I always look at it. I'm like, oh, it looks so horrendous.
Laura Youngson:But basically, when you're, when you're building a product, first thing kind of get a prototype, but then you really need to quite quickly find some manufacturing partners and there's a lot of elements of shoe making that I've learned along the way that really make it so crucial.
Laura Youngson:So, step one you need a last, which is the mold around which you build the shoe, and you need to what your outside is going to look like, what the pattern is for the upper, what different materials making all those choices. So I actually I went to Canton Fair in China when I began, which is this huge, huge fair, and and just literally walked the halls and learned about shoes and I spent all my time asking questions and learning about materials and learning about the different properties and why someone was doing a particular thing and simultaneously just reading lots of scientific papers and doing a bunch of measurements in order to kind of go, hey, all right, this isn't the answer. This is my answer that I think is better than whatever is out there at the moment, and we've come a long way since that first prototype. But it's really that research and discovery phase, that learning from first principles, like, okay, let's try something that hasn't been done before. How do we build it together and put together an idea?
Sue Anstiss:And how much did your background in physics and your kind of researching help in that process? Do you feel? I think super valuable.
Laura Youngson:So studying physics means you're not really scared of problems, because you just have to keep breaking them down to their constituent parts and everything is ultimately solvable, you hope, and so I am not scared of a science paper. I know enough to be dangerous, right. So I can keep asking why I've got other people around me who have much more expertise. But I can keep being annoying and asking why, until the point when either there is an answer or there isn't an answer and we actually need to go and find out what the answer is. And similarly, when you're talking about materials or what properties that you're trying to create in the shoes, that's where it becomes invaluable, because then you can sort of design the protocols that you're trying to create in the shoes. That's where it becomes invaluable, because then you can sort of design the protocols that you need to test and to make sure you're producing something that's really high performance.
Sue Anstiss:And where did the name and the logo come from?
Laura Youngson:So we chose the name as a nod to Ida B Wells, who's a civil rights activist in the US. And I was actually in Washington at the Smithsonian, and I saw the exhibit for Ida B Wells, who's a civil rights activist in the US, and I was actually in Washington at the Smithsonian. I saw the exhibit for Ida B Wells and said, oh, this is so exciting, the kind of it's not to like being an activist and you know changing things and standing up for what you believe in. And then we created the wave symbol that is our logo as a nod to the Kilimanjaro.
Laura Youngson:So the world records, so mountains and our second world record, the lowest altitude match at the Dead Sea. But then also this wave of change, a thread running between it. So can we bring everyone together and and have a wave of change that it doesn't always come at once. You know it's. It's pushing there at the tides, and, and you're getting these ripple effects. And so it's pushing there at the tides and and you're getting these ripple effects, and so it might take time, but you're bringing more and more people with you.
Sue Anstiss:I love that. That's lovely. And um, how did the rest of the sportswear footwear industry respond to Ida coming into the market?
Laura Youngson:uh, well, we hear from our frenemies in the brands, so some of them love us. And especially, we've heard from a lot of frenemies who are like we're so glad you exist, because we've been asking about this for years. And that's been really wonderful because we've had a lot of unsolicited help along the way from people that just want the idea to exist and to come to life. And then we know that the bigger brands in some cases like, obviously they try and discredit you or, you know, do that. I think at some point you just want to be really annoying, you know, get in the way and be super, super annoying so that things do actually change. And we are starting to see that. We heard that some of the the most recent, uh, big brand developments were directly as a result of IDA existing. So that for me is a really wonderful thing that, as a tiny company, we can sway the biggest corporations on this planet to invest in female athletes and produce gear that's really, you know, fit for purpose.
Sue Anstiss:I did see something about Nike designing a football shoe with females in mind. A process took up to three years, but it's really hard to get that answer out into the public domain.
Laura Youngson:But it's definitely been frustrating to watch and obviously we call it out whenever we see it. But if you're producing something that's made for women, then you really need to make it different to the thing that you're producing that's made for men, because all of our research is kind of pointing in that direction. You can't, on the one hand, say women and men are different and in your running department, but then say that they're exactly the same when they run on a football pitch that's so true, isn't it?
Sue Anstiss:I do remember when harlequins played the big game at twickenham a couple of years ago, the women's rugby team were in this really ill-fitting, oversized kit and when the manufacturer was called out on social media, they said it's because they were unisex. And then somebody responded like oh, I'd like to see Jo Marlow in a women's size, 14, fit top, whatever. How would he feel about that?
Laura Youngson:not him particularly, but just like put the men in women's kit then, if it's truly unisex right, exactly, I think there's there's just been such a disparity and actually it doesn't need to be like that. I think what we're proving is that there's a commercial proposition here, like we're not a charity. I didn't start this business to be like, oh yay, we're a charity, we made wonderful shoes. No, like, commercially, we want to be taking market share and proving that there is a market for women's products and gear that's made for women.
Sue Anstiss:And what's the response been like from the retailers in terms of getting listings in those major retailers? What's that process been like?
Laura Youngson:So in the US it's been fantastic, and so we have a number of amazing retailers over there that we work with. So Dick's Sporting Goods is one of the biggest ones. They're, they're brilliant soccercom, um, and we just started branching out into a bunch of others in the us and it's been fantastic to grow with them. Their, their buyers are very much like yeah, we get this, we see it and and we see our sell-throughs in the, in those stores and online increasing.
Laura Youngson:Elsewhere in the world it's been slower to change and especially, I think the uk, for me, has been really like particularly disappointing up till now. You just think you've been, I don't know the, the, the appetite should be there because we've had the euros and we've. We get people asking us and and going into these sports stores and that, like dad of nine-year-old daughter goes into sports store and can't find what he needs. You know that happens on a weekly basis and yet they don't really want to enter into the conversations. So we're hoping that just keep growing, keep being annoying, and then you can actually start to to reach into the retail listing and get elsewhere. But part of the, the challenge, is just kicking open the doors, and so it's been interesting comparing and contrasting the maturity of the market in the US with the UK and Europe as well.
Sue Anstiss:It's a bit weird, though, isn't it, when you think that you're the only. For a long time, you're the only brand that was in this space. You almost feel like your door kicking down your door to get you in, to diversify, as a new opportunity to sell more shoes.
Laura Youngson:A hundred percent. I mean, you couldn't have said it better than yourself, and that is the argument we do make. But we find that more and more people are coming to the table as we grow and as the bigger brands start to produce or attempt to produce. Women's gear actually has a benefit, positive benefit for us, because we find our searches increase and so pushing by every means possible to change the industry and change the market and what is the hardest part for you right now in terms of pinch points?
Sue Anstiss:is it around product development and listings and growth and marketing? You know, you know, I realize it's all involved, isn't it? But are there specific areas? I mean up, and if you'd asked me a month ago, it's all involved, isn't?
Laura Youngson:it. But are there specific areas? I mean, if you'd asked me a month ago, it's fundraising and access to capital. Well, fortunately we've raised a round, which is amazing because that enables us to actually invest in marketing and invest in key areas for sell-through and the retailers. But some of the biggest kind of things is just that access to capital, trade financing, all the things as a product company, you need to think about logistics operations, that kind of things is just that access to capital, trade financing, all the things as a product company, you need to think about logistics operations, that kind of stuff.
Laura Youngson:And so now we're just ensuring that we get the word out. So we've made great gear, people that buy it, love it, wear it, give us great reviews, and so then it's about finding more of those people who perhaps even haven't heard of us. Us and if you're living in the sport bubble, you can sometimes say, oh yeah, everyone's heard about us, but actually there's loads of people that are coming across us as new customers and going, oh wow, I didn't even know you were here. This is amazing. So that that's probably the biggest thing that we're focused on at the moment is just reaching more people, and then they tell more people and you get this, this wonderful virtuous circle where you can then get into more retailers and and at some point we will crack some of the retailers here- and massive congratulations on getting that investment round.
Sue Anstiss:I mean that is absolutely huge. It was lovely, as you say, I'm in the bubble of sport, but the congratulations and the excitement from people across the sector for that investment was huge.
Laura Youngson:It was really lovely to kind of be able to share it and then see the impact it had. I mean for me, for our business. It's fantastic, right, so it is literally game changing. But I think what I wanted to show as well is that women's businesses are investable and, because the stats are really woeful, it's somewhere between like two and four percent of funding goes to women and, yeah, I look around and I see all these women with lived experiences, often great networks and great business experience setting up these businesses, but unable to get the funding they need to scale. And so, even if, by having that sort of proof point of like, no, it's a great space to be in and, yes, you can find these investable businesses, if we can have a wider impact on the investment landscape, for me that's fantastic as well and encouraging other women to get into the space and grow and solve these problems that aren't necessarily going to be solved by the existing businesses.
Sue Anstiss:I was going to mention that because I've spoken to so many fantastic female entrepreneurs in sport for this latest series, but so many of them have mentioned you as a supporter or as a mentor, just as a huge inspiration that's given them encouragement. So that clearly is an important part for you in terms of not doing enough already, but also to be encouraging other women too.
Laura Youngson:Oh, yeah, totally. I think it partly comes from selfishness, like when I started it was quite a lonely journey and I was like, oh, there's no one to talk to. Well, we better make sure that other people have a, have a business, so we have some, have some friends in the industry. But I also think it's just indicative of the wider change that I personally want to see. Like okay, so I really hope it succeeds and we continue to grow. But if it all goes, you know, tits up and doesn't work, what else is the legacy? And like what have you done to change things and what can we do along the way to change things and to help people out?
Laura Youngson:I think a lot of people think that you should compete, and I've had this from investors a lot of times like, oh, you'll never get all these female founders in a room together. And I'm like, well, why not? We all work together. We're not the enemies here. We're not trying to compete against each other. We're trying to improve the ecosystem, to make it easier for everyone to to build the businesses and access capital and and like get, reach athletes and have better solutions, and who best to do it than the people who it's directly impacting and affecting. So I think for me it's definitely something that's a motivator and a driver to not only focus on what I'm doing but make sure that the whole system is improving as it goes, because you want it to make it easier for whoever's coming behind you.
Sue Anstiss:And I really do feel that I've repeated that across this series of the collaboration that I've seen from the women that are in this space. And what advice would you give? Because we're celebrating the investment that you've got, but clearly it hasn't been an easy process to get from where you were to there. You've seen these gray hairs soon.
Laura Youngson:Look at them. I've got 100% more wrinkles than I had earlier this year.
Sue Anstiss:So what was the process like, the reality of that process, to uh, to be celebrating a couple of weeks ago, but what's it been like?
Laura Youngson:um, a problem like, I don't know, soul destroying, crushing, you hear. I've heard no about 70 times. I've had my business mansplained to me quite a few times. I've had people tell me I'm not an expert in shoes but so many sort of unnecessary like trials and tribulations that you get put through as a woman because you're a woman yeah, totally, you have to do more due diligence, hilariously, uh, hammer. So my husband works a bit on the business, um, and we're both very numerate.
Laura Youngson:I can say something about the finances. Uh, doesn't get picked up. As soon as he says something everyone's like, oh yes, he'll say the exact same thing. So it's really sad, but we play the game and so now I'll defer to him in order to talk about the finances, because we know that it will get through. I mean, that's some of the stuff I'd love to change in the future, because you know that it's you're just like.
Laura Youngson:It's laughable. To be honest, I've got a blimmin physics degree and yet they don't believe me on numbers. But it is how. This is the nature of the ecosystem at the moment, and I was in a particularly sort of contentious listening to a contentious panel which will make some people laugh, but they were sort of saying, oh well, yes, the best women just rise to the top like cream, and I was like, no, this is not how it works.
Laura Youngson:Like you're not investing in, like this whole ecosystem, so then you can be as good as you like, but it's the system that's holding you back. You're not getting the, not the kind of numbers around, um, female investments that we need to make it profitable anyway, don't get me started. It's a tough game out there, and this is also why it's really nice to have the, the support of the other female entrepreneurs, because you can turn around and go oh, this is awful, and this is what happened to me and this is what you know. This is what I've had to put up with, and I think where I've landed is with some absolutely fantastic investors that really understand women's sport landscape and really understand where we're going um with it, and so it's it's incredible to be backed by those people, and we sort of sifted out, we have a bit of a list of people that you shouldn't get invested in by.
Sue Anstiss:It's interesting though, isn't it? Because actually, it's fabulous when you think of Michelle Kang and Olivia Hall the women, those women back, but we don't just want women to be backing this amazing area that's growing in the future too. So how do we shift that makeup of those investors and open their eyes to the potential? Yeah, exactly.
Laura Youngson:I think I hope deals like this at least enable some of those people that are perhaps sitting on the fence to go. Oh no, I, I should. The next time a company passes through that has this, this potential, I should jump in as opposed to passing on it. But I think it comes from the whole cycle of sport in that the more eyeballs there are on the tv, the more money that goes in the brands backing it. All of that increases the viability of the game and the bit that we're playing is off well on pitch. But the ecosystem around it, all these women building businesses that are supporting the systems that help facilitate the sport.
Sue Anstiss:That's good. I like that. It makes me feel more hopeful of the positivity in that space for the future too.
Laura Youngson:I'm hopeful and, to be honest, if they don't, then we'll just earn revenue, and revenue is the best form of investment. So just you know, look at the P&L we're cool with that.
Sue Anstiss:I'm a little loathe to ask you this because I don't think I would ask it of a male entrepreneur, but you've become a mother as the business has grown and in fact, you've just recently had your third baby. So I just wonder whether that has impacted your approach to the business and the way that you work.
Laura Youngson:Oh, yes, totally, I drink more wine. No, it's really been fascinating birthing lots of babies, one of which is a business, and it's very similar stages. At one point I had my toddler and it was very similar to having a business, though it was always answering back and it was very stubborn. It's like, oh, there's some real parallels here. But I think I mean, other than trying to get lots of sleep, which is the complete opposite of all those people that do 5am, and I can't do that just to have lots of sleep.
Laura Youngson:The key thing that keeps me sane is just, it's like super ruthless prioritization. So you know, if you get one thing done today, what's it going to be? That's going to turn the dial on the business, and so I um, I wouldn't say I've got the best balance. I'm always thinking, oh, I need to spend more time with my kids, I need to spend more time on the business. But I think they see me running the business and they get inspired, as my eldest is five and he was like I caught him at the laptop one day. And what are you doing? Oh, I'm, I'm making shoes, like that's obviously gone in there. You know, like you've absorbed my work. So whatever I'm doing. I'm obviously having an impact on their lives as well, but hopefully they get to see that you don't just sort of sit down and accept things, that you can go and go and change things if you want to.
Sue Anstiss:And do you feel it's impacted other people's views of you as an entrepreneur, being a mother and also, I mean I've been in events where you've been very pregnant, standing up in a dressing in the House of Commons I think that was. You were very pregnant there, wasn't it?
Laura Youngson:Yeah, I did have a couple of people saying like, when are you not pregnant? And I was like you're all right, calm down. Baby factory is closed, um, but the I think it. For me it's just part and parcel of it. Right, like you trying to be visible, what else are you going to do? Like we all had covid where we were at home and stuck in this and I think sort of I, I genuinely feel like the working from home movement has enfranchised loads more women to be part of the workplace.
Laura Youngson:We would never have got our sales contracts and I wouldn't have been able to have kids at the same time if we had to fly everywhere all the time. It's just, it's not possible. Whereas I can take a Zoom call and then go and feed a baby, or do a podcast and go and feed a baby, and then you're still the same human, you're still the same person, but you're just also balancing looking after a kid as well, but there's so many people doing the juggle. It's quite amazing and I have to say I wouldn't be able to do it without my husband, who has changed his job in order to allow Ida to grow and enable it to grow. So we made a decision as a family that we would pursue this, because it it has such far-reaching consequences and you need need this village around you to help if you're going to a do the stupid thing of being an entrepreneur and then b have children at the same time as being an entrepreneur I think it's so true, isn't it?
Sue Anstiss:and I'm so pleased you mentioned that, because actually that's something I often my husband stopped work and was at home raising the kids when we I had the third, my third baby, and actually I wouldn't have done what I'd done without having him there to support me. I think sometimes that whole we can do it all and we, yeah, we can, but at what?
Laura Youngson:cost of lives and relationships and so on too, yeah, and and you need time for world records, so yeah and in terms of Ida, is there anything you can share?
Sue Anstiss:not breaking any secrets here on the podcast, but is there anything you can share in terms of future developments and expanding beyond football? What any plans at?
Laura Youngson:all, yeah, oh, so many exciting things. So one of the coolest things for me is that we put in place about a year ago so a lot of product changes that are coming to fruition next year. So we have learned loads from all our consumers over the last four or five years and we're putting those into new shoes. So one of the cool things that's happening this spring is we're getting youth shoes, and that's directly as a result of all the dads and mums messaging us and saying, hey, love your shoes for my older kid, can we get them for our younger kids? So they're coming out and they look so cool and I'm so excited for those.
Laura Youngson:And then the other exciting thing we've completely kind of redone our products and so one of the additions we're making so, other than having a truly pro boot so incredibly lightweight, very fast, that kind of thing we're actually branching out into rugby as well, which I'm very excited about. So, as you you saw, having grown up in gloucester, big rugby fan and we've been doing a really awesome project, actually funded, a research project funded by the UK government, to go and scan the feet of all the premiership rugby players and the women's teams, and that's been amazing because we've been able to talk to all the players and actually ask them what they want and what pain and discomfort they've got at the moment and and what they actually need as players. So all of those insights are getting placed into a shoe as we speak how exciting have there been female rugby boots in the past?
Sue Anstiss:no, no, I'm thinking there's just some pink ones again, there's some with flowers, and yeah, it's nothing.
Laura Youngson:That's been really what we'd say is a true female boot that really takes into account kind of the shape, the fit, the outsoles, the, the movements that players need on the pitch. So I'm really excited to see what's going to be happening there that's huge, isn't it?
Sue Anstiss:so when might that be? When might people see those come true?
Laura Youngson:no pressure I've got some well, we've got some really exciting news for the six nations, so watch this space, okay, oh, it's fantastic.
Sue Anstiss:And and just finally, in terms of advice and I know you've given a lot of advice, no, but advice to other women and people from underrepresented groups who might be interested in product innovation in the sports industry. What would you like to leave people with?
Laura Youngson:oh um, get on with it. Start now, now, start yesterday, because what you're probably inventing or coming up with is definitely needed, because there's so much space to create around here. You think the problems are solved, and they really aren't. The more you dig into it, the more you see that there's you know, people are still wearing baggy, kits and shorts rolled up and there's space for innovation. But I think the other thing that I always talk to people about is that you don't have to quit your job straight away. I do that if it makes you happy, but actually start tinkering on the side, and I liken running your own business to kind of this is the physics right, like in running your own business to to being sucked into a black hole. You know you're sort of just gliding towards it and then at some point you just tip over the edge and you can't get back, and so don't quit your job until you've kind of fallen through the event horizon.
Sue Anstiss:If you'd like to hear from more trailblazers like Laura. There are over 200 episodes of the Game Changers that are all free to listen to on podcast platforms or from our website at fearlesswomencouk. Along with entrepreneurs like Laura, my other guests have included elite athletes, coaches, broadcasters, scientists, journalists and CEOs all women who are changing the game in sport. As well as listening to all the podcasts on the website, you also find out more about the women's sport collective, a free, inclusive community for all women working in sport. We now have over eight and a half thousand members across the world, so please do come and join us. The whole of my book game on the unstoppable rise of women's sport is also free to listen to on the podcast.
Sue Anstiss:Every episode of Series 13 is me reading a chapter of the book. Thank you once again to Sport England for backing the Game Changers and the Women's Sport Collective with a National Lottery Award, and Sam Walker at what Goes On Media, who does such a brilliant job as our executive producer. Thank you also to my lovely colleague at Fearless Women, kate Hannan. You can find the Game Changers on all podcast platforms, so do follow us now to ensure you don't miss out on future episodes. Come and say hello on social media, where you'll find me at Sue Anstis. The Game Changers Fearless women in sport.
