Can't get the “entrepreneur” label to fit? Try being an intrapreneur instead

Think about what "entrepreneur" tends to signify, and it's easy to see why many women might either be put off by the label or consider it beyond them. However, if you scratch the surface of how many people who claim to be entirely "self-made" made it, you usually find a whole support system backing them up.

There's no shame in being supported and needing support; it's how most of us succeed. In fact, 85% of female CEOs across the FTSE 100, FTSE 250, and the UK's largest private companies have informal mentors who provided crucial guidance, and 70% have informal sponsors who made a tangible difference to their careers.

However, the myth of the entrepreneurial man who pulls himself up by the bootstraps to become a millionaire looms over all of us. It can make us women, who are often more likely to be open about the support we have, feel as if we are less capable because we do not live up to this myth. In reality, hardly anyone does.

Regardless of whether they would ever adopt the label of entrepreneur, I meet women all the time who have the "entrepreneurial spirit". I'm one of them. But I'm simply too risk-averse to go out and start my own business. Just recently, I was speaking to a really inspiring woman who started up and sold an organisation. As she was sharing all the challenges she faced, I realised everything she was talking about made me want to go and hide under a cushion.

So, what can I do with this entrepreneurial spirit if I don't go and launch another tech startup? That's where being an "intrapreneur" comes in. Instead of "risking it all" on my own venture, I've carved out a role for myself that gives me the autonomy and agency I crave, while knowing I still have the reliability of being an employee. Thankfully, this is something PubMatic has wholeheartedly encouraged.

Tech companies in particular should incubate as many intrapreneurs as they can, tapping into the latent drive and creativity that people who do not fit the usual STEM mould might suppress. Who knows what innovations are locked in the mind of someone relegated to a role that doesn't fit them, or someone who doesn't speak up because they don't feel seen? For people to feel comfortable unleashing their inner intrapreneur, they need to be able to bring as much of themselves to the workplace as they feel comfortable doing.

I'm a working mum, and I'm proud to be, and I've brought qualities I've learned as a parent into my professional life. Everyone should be able to do that, whether they walk dogs, are in a football team, or do amateur theatre. My son works in the industry now, and it feels like such a milestone: my personal and professional lives overlap in a way that doesn't compromise either and, in fact, is entirely additive.

The more I am myself, the more I am able to stake my worth and my reputation on my work. That's entrepreneurism, I'm just making a personal investment instead of a financial one. I've worked in telecommunications, the internet, and now ad tech; all very male-dominated environments. If I had tried to get ahead by acting like a man, I wouldn't have been able to be myself or become the intrapreneur I am today.