Rooted Confidence: The Inner Work of Raising Capital
Rooted Confidence: The Inner Work of Raising Capital
When confidence becomes your competitive advantage in fundraising.
Pitching with polish is one thing. But what about the confidence to ask for what you need, hold your boundaries with investors, navigate rejection without losing momentum, and lead your company all the way through to exit?
This isn't a session about presentation skills or "faking it till you make it." This is about building the kind of deep, unshakeable confidence that carries you through an entire fundraise—and beyond.
What We'll Explore
The Confidence Equation: Ability × Reps
We'll work on both sides of this equation—the skills you can practice and the beliefs underneath that either support or sabotage your ability to execute consistently.
From Sounding Confident to Being Confident
There's a crucial difference. We'll dig into what embodied confidence actually feels like, where it comes from, and how to access it when you need it most (especially when you're feeling like shit).
The Beliefs That Hold You Back
Money mindset. Worthiness. Permission-seeking. The stories we tell ourselves from early life events. We'll surface what's underneath and give you frameworks to move through it—with optional deeper work available through 1:1 coaching for those who want it.
How It Works
This is a co-hosted, interactive session with Xann (founder perspective, lived experience, real talk about confidence and pitching) and Elle (coaching frameworks, belief work, embodiment practices).
We'll move between:
Opening presence work (land in the room, breathe, put everything else down)
Story and experience sharing
Skills practice and breakout work
Reflection time (solo or partnered—your choice)
Live CBT exercise to showcase how to shift beliefs in real-time
Closing ceremony to carry this clarity forward
You'll leave with tangible practices, a clearer sense of what confidence means for you, and renewed conviction in why you're the only person who can build this business.
Session Speakers
Elle Whitelegg is the founder of Praeduco, a coaching and consultancy practice that helps ambitious businesses build performance that lasts. For scale-ups and founder-led teams navigating change, high growth, constant pressure, and evolving demands, Praeduco delivers tailored workshops and 1:1 coaching programmes focused on wellbeing, resilience, and sustainable leadership.
With a background as a senior marketing leader at global brands like YETI and Reebok, and experience competing internationally in multiple sports, Elle understands first-hand what it takes to perform at the edge—without burning out. She is a qualified in Executive Coaching (ICF), Nutrition Coaching, and Sleep, Stress & Recovery Management, and holds a mini-MBA in Marketing.
If you’re building something bold and want to lead with clarity, energy, and longevity, get in touch at praeduco.co.
Xann Schwinn is Founding Member & CEO of the Cambridge Female Founders Network (CFFN) and Founder & CEO of Biiah, a music healthtech company exploring how singing can measurably improve wellbeing. Her work sits at the intersection of community, health, and technology.
With a background in music from Berklee College of Music and the University of Cambridge, Xann combines creative practice with evidence-led innovation. She has spent the past decade supporting founders through mentorship, programme design, and ecosystem building, and is especially passionate about helping women navigate fundraising, leadership, and the often-unspoken challenges of entrepreneurship.
Through CFFN, she is building a coalition-style network that connects founders with investors, partners, and peers, strengthening not just individual companies, but the wider innovation ecosystem.