A Seven Rungs Series · The First Breakfast
The Bootstrappers’ Breakfasts™ Comes to Cambridge.
A free morning for female founders building their first £1M — in front of women who have bootstrapped past it. By registration only.
Date14 September 2026Time8:30–10:30amVenueThe Glasshouse, CambridgeInvestmentFree to attend
Places are limited. You’ll receive an email with all the details to add to your diary.
The Room
Who You’ll Be in Front Of.
Three women. Different stages, different paths — all past the point you’re building toward.
Host
Geeta Sidhu-Robb
Founder, Seven Rungs · Growth Advisor
Geeta Sidhu-Robb is a CEO Growth Advisor and founder of Seven Rungs, the structured growth programme for women building companies without venture capital. She created and hosts The Bootstrappers' Breakfasts™️, the UK's first national platform for female founders reaching their first £1M on their own cashflow. She built her own first company, Nosh Detox, without outside capital. She advised Sam Smith of finnCap from £15M in revenue to IPO and a £52M exit, and Mia Drennan, who founded GLAS Agencies with £6,000 and closed a partial exit at around $1.8B in January 2026, thirteen months after becoming a client. She founded the WCorp certification, holds five Entrepreneur and Businesswoman of the Year awards, and spoke at TEDxBerlin on how healthcare systems fail Black and brown mothers.
Keynote
Victoria Johnson
Keynote Speaker
Victoria Johnson is the founder and CEO of VET.CT. After graduating from Bristol Veterinary School, she worked as a general vet before becoming a Specialist in Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging in 2003. Victoria founded VET.CT in 2009 to provide remote radiology reporting to veterinary teams around the world. She has grown the company into an innovative veterinary teleradiology, consultancy and education company with a global team of more than 280 people. The unique combination of cutting-edge technology and a strong sense of shared purpose, culture and values, results in the consistent delivery of trusted knowledge, support and reassurance to veterinary teams in 27 countries. VET.CT became a B Corp in 2025. The company is currently focusing efforts on deploying its considerable data assets to improve access to radiology services. Victoria strongly advocates for the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence in veterinary medicine to benefit animal health and welfare.
Victoria lives in Cambridge, UK with her two children and far too many pets.
Local Host & Panellist
Francesca Hodgson
Cambridge Local Host
As an exited fintech founder who has raised millions in equity investment, Francesca is passionate about entrepreneurship education and the particular value of a bootstrapped venture. She is Programme Director of SPARK at King's, one of the only intensive incubator programmes in Cambridge, delivered and funded through King's Entrepreneurship Lab at King's College, Cambridge. Her work sits at the point where ambition meets operational reality: she runs programmes that get founders from idea to traction, advises on growth and commercial strategy through Ambition Ventures, and coaches founders and investors with ambition aligned to early-stage ventures
Panellist
Sarah-Jane Butler
Founder & CEO of Farringford Legal
Sarah-Jane is an award-winning lawyer and serial entrepreneur. In September 2021, she and her fellow directors launched Farringford Legal to fill a gap they had spotted: a law firm offering SMEs exceptional, personalised service at a price that reflected their budgets.
She began her qualified career in debt and equity markets at Linklaters, later broadening into employment and commercial law. Her earlier roles spanned Freshfields, Goldman Sachs and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (formerly Berwin Leighton Paisner).
In 2011, Sarah-Jane founded Working Life Solutions, which supported professional women in the workplace for more than a decade. Running an SME of her own showed her that, while the SME community is close-knit, ambitious growth is hard to achieve, with services to SMEs often overpriced or poor quality — and support for female founders in particular was lacking.
Today she is a passionate advocate for female founders, campaigning for the support their businesses need to grow. Her recognition includes 2026 Businesswoman of the Year, 2024 SME Businesswoman of the Year and WeAreTheCity Rising Star Champion, alongside an EY Entrepreneur of the Year nomination. She is also an active alumna of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme.
Panellist
Debbie Zaman
CEO of With
Debbie is the CEO of With, the award-winning PR agency she founded prior to selling it in 2023. Over the 16 years of running the business Debbie has managed the reputations of hundreds of global technology companies and their leaders. Debbie initiated the company’s programme of free media training for women leaders which has trained well over 1500 women for free, and led on transformation programmes for the company from culture to AI. Debbie is now also an NED for other marketing services businesses and an investor in a range of female-founded tech companies.
What This Is
The Room for Women Building Differently.
The Bootstrappers’ Breakfasts™ is a national series for female founders building their first £1M without external investment — sitting in front of women who have done it, past £1M, past £5M, past £200M.
Cambridge is the first. Each Breakfast names the Bargain most female founders have been making without realising — and gives you the language, and the room, to claim what you have already paid for.
No pitching. No networking theatre. Just women who have built, talking to women who are building.
|
1.3%
of UK VC reaches all-female teams
|
£310bn
untapped female-founder value
|
Free
to attend, by registration
|
The Morning
| 8:30 | Arrive & breakfast Coffee, food, time to settle in |
| 9:00 | Welcome Geeta Sidhu-Robb opens the room |
| 9:15 | Keynote Victoria Johnson |
| 9:45 | Panel Conversation Hosted by Francesca Hodgson |
| 10:15 | Open Floor Questions and conversation |
| 10:30 | Close |
The Framework on Stage
The Bootstrap Bargain™
Every Breakfast names a trade most female founders have been making without realising. It is not a punishment — it is the bargain most women would make again, even when they made it without knowing.
Cambridge is where we name it for the first time, in a room, out loud.
CLAIM YOUR PLACEThe Cost You Pay
Slower scale
Harder cashflow
Less external leverage
Slow press, slow recognition
The Return You Collect
Sovereignty
Higher margin
A life that fits a body
A founder still operational at 55
Register
Secure Your Place.
Places are limited. Register and you’ll receive a confirmation email with everything you need to add to your diary.
This event is free. It is for female founders currently building their first £1M — without external investment.
What Happens Next
| 1 | Fill in your details and submit |
| 2 | You’ll receive an email with the full event details |
| 3 | Add it to your diary — The Glasshouse, Cambridge, 14 September |
| 4 | Arrive at 8:30am. We’ll take it from there. |
Register for Cambridge
14 September 2026 · The Glasshouse · Free
By registering you'll receive a confirmation email with diary details.
