Wings of Inspired Business

Women entrepreneurs are changing the game of business, stepping into our authentic feminine power and growing consciousness to start and scale great companies. Listen to Wings to learn from women who've "been there, built that" with 7, 8 and 9-figure businesses, even billion dollar Unicorns. You'll learn how to manifest the mindset, mojo and money to create, grow and scale a business aligned with what makes your heart sing. Wings is hosted by Melinda Wittstock, a 4-time serial entrepreneur, tech visionary and award-winning journalist. Melinda focuses where personal and business growth meet, her insightful interviews with inspiring female founders and businesswomen providing actionable tips to help listeners to real and tangible results. These innovators, influencers, and investors all share their success secrets, epiphanies, and practical advice on how to get the confidence, connections and capital so you too manifest the success of your dreams in life and in business.

Wings of Inspired Business is a business podcast hosted by Melinda Wittstock, with 1,000 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Melinda Wittstock hosts Wings of Inspired Business, a business show with 1,000 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #1002

  Reinventing Corporate Events: Entrepreneur Laila Marshall on Transforming Concierge Service into Scalable Tech

  Sep 29, 202631 min

  Laila Marshall is the Founder & CEO of Beebizy, a B2B event management SaaS built for the lean teams running events that drive real business revenue. A previously exited founder in on-demand healthcare technology, Laila brings a rare combination of practitioner depth and product vision — having personally produced 500+ events before building the software she always wished existed. Based in Los Angeles, Laila is currently in active enterprise conversations with brands like Marriott, Hilton, and Eleventy Milano, while raising a seed round to fuel the next phase of growth. She also serves on the General Leadership Council of the Ayana Foundation, which focuses on capital access and development programming for female founders. Key Takeaways Turning Event Nightmares into Seamless Success: Planning events, whether for 2 or 2,000 people, can be overwhelming, so learn how even "non-event planners" can create and run impressive gatherings in minutes. Hint: Software and repeatable proven processes are key for finding reliable vendors, staying on budget, and organizing across all departments. ✨ Building Software from the Ground Up: Why Laila built Beebizy as a concierge service, planning 500+ corporate events and using every pain point as a jumping off point to build a scalable software platform built on customers' real-world needs and challenges focused on everything from transparent budgeting, remote site planning, vendor discovery and management, and analytics reporting. Fundraising and Female Founders: Why warm introductions from other founders to investors is critical to success in raising angel and venture capital, and why even if you're not ready to raise, it's important to start cultivating those relationships and networks asap. ❤️Face-To-Face is Valuable: Why events are increasingly important for any company's marketing, sales and customer success, as more people crave genuine connection. ️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings1002 More about Laila at Beebizy www.beebizy.com

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  Episode #1001

  Venture Capital for Women: Naseem Sayani on Catalyzing an Ecosystem of Women Investing in Women Founders

  Sep 25, 202646 min

  Naseem Sayani is a venture capitalist and the CEO and founder of GCWC and GCWC Capital. She also hosts The Capital Flex podcast, highlighting the stories of female founders raising money for their startups. Previously a GP at Emmeline Ventures, Naseem is on a mission to educate women about venture investing, and catalyze an ecosystem where women are writing checks to support their entrepreneurial sisters. We talk about how 100,000 women, each with a $50,000 check, could revolutionize venture with a $50 billion fund. Key Takeaways ️ The $50 Billion Stadium: Naseem's math: 100,000 accredited women, $50,000 each, is $50 billion into venture, "a sports stadium of people." What it takes: Education about venture, an annual investing allocation for investing in women-founded startups, and female fund managers working together. ✨Volume Creates Change: If more women pooled resources—even at modest check sizes—we could move billions in venture capital, funding more women-led innovation and leveling the playing field for the next generation. Build Powerful Networks & Share Opportunities: Connecting women with each other to share knowledge, resources, and opportunities is foundational. Stronger communities mean more collaboration and less isolation, enabling collective success. Plus, how to overcome deeply embedded ideas about scarcity and competition between women that stand in the way of collective power and progress. Financial Fluency Matters: Understanding financial tools—from investment terms to strategic use of leverage—is crucial. Moving beyond "treasurer" roles into "co-CFO" positions in households and businesses allows women to take charge of generational wealth-building. The Numbers Don't Lie: Women-founded companies deliver 2.5x the returns, generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested against 31 cents for men, burn 15% less capital, exit six months faster, and made up 24.3% of US venture exits in 2024 on less than 2% of the funding. As Naseem puts it, "that's not the takeaway." Imagine how much bigger these businesses would be if they were funded. "This isn't charity; I'm here to make money." ️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings1001 More about Naseem: GCWC Capital · T he Capital Flex Podcast

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  Episode #1000

  Who Gets the Money? Seven Women on Raising Capital, Returning It, and Building Our Own Fund

  Sep 22, 20261h 56m

  Episode 1000. Almost a decade ago I started Wings of Inspired Business to change the power dynamic for female founders, who to this day receive less than 2% of venture capital while delivering 2.5 times the returns. So, for the thousandth episode I gathered seven women who have lived it: Rajia Abdelaziz (invisaWear), Lindsey Mignano (Mignano Law Group), Clare Baukham (The Billionaire Woman), Ungenita Prevost (Ungenita Beauty), Trixy Castro (TRX Capital) and Deborah Sass (SpaceVrse), bookended by venture investor Naseem Sayani (GCWC Capital). The subject: money. Who gets it, why, what to say when an investor hesitates, and how women could put $55 billion into venture without asking anyone's permission. Key Takeaways The Numbers Don't Lie: Women-founded companies deliver 2.5x the returns, generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested against 31 cents for men, burn 15% less capital, exit six months faster, and made up 24.3% of US venture exits in 2024 on less than 2% of the funding. As Naseem puts it, "that's not the takeaway." Imagine how much bigger these businesses would be if they were funded. Qualify Your Investor as Hard as They Qualify You: After 99 no's, Rajia flipped the pitch: "I'm going to be as selective about you as you are about me." Lindsey on why a term sheet is a long-term marriage, "all collaborative until it's not," and the five questions to ask before you take the money. ️ Rewrite the Pitch: How Rajia went from safety statistics to "that could be your daughter, your granddaughter, or your wife," and sold a quarter of a million dollars in two minutes on Good Morning America. Plus, Clare's reverse-psychology close: "Don't put them on a pedestal. It's not for everyone," and my enterprise-sales version, "can you see any reason why you wouldn't want to do this?" ️ Venture Isn't the Only Door: Lindsey on founder haircuts of 20% at seed and 16 to 17% at each round, why "an incredibly great, incredibly lucrative business" may not be right for VC, and the alternatives her clients use: crowdfunding, SBA loans, non-dilutive credit lines and revenue-based financing. Her own girlfriends' fund: 30 accredited women who pooled their money and got into a $300 million fund. Resilience, $52.27 and the Fearless Girl: Ungenita on the day she was down to $52.27 (she still has the bank slip), Trixy crying in front of the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street and vowing to be that girl for everyone behind her, Deborah on why she will "always, always support other women in any freaking way I can," and Clare's butterfly: "that's not me anymore." ️ The $55 Billion Stadium: Naseem's math: 100,000 accredited women, $50,000 each, is $55 billion into venture, "a sports stadium of people." From treasurer to co-CFO of your household, to an annual investing allocation, to female fund managers walking in together instead of as the exception. And why investing in women "is not charity. I'm here to make money." ️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings1000 More about the guests: invisaWear · Mignano Law Group · Ungenita Beauty · TRX Capital · SpaceVrse · GCWC Capital · Clear Art Reserve

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  Episode #999

  Smart Quitting: Entrepreneur Drea Lynn on How to Prepare, Position, Pivot, and Profit

  Sep 15, 202640 min

  Drea Lynn is an attorney, former corporate COO, and author of Smart Quit who helps entrepreneurs escape burnout, scale with confidence, and take control of their business and life with The Smart Shift System®. She also helps professionals make the leap into entrepreneurship with a four-phase framework. After years leading teams inside high-growth organizations, she walked away from the corner office - and the six-figure salary - to build her own consulting business. The exit didn't go to plan: she landed in six figures of debt before rebuilding to half a million in revenue. Her mission is to help one million people quit smart, build bold, and live free. Key Takeaways Cash In, Clock Out: Knowing when to walk away from a job you've outgrown with a plan, not a panic, and how to master the mindset shift that helps you master your time freedom and grow wealth. Hint: It means being nimble, proactive, self-aware, and open to relentless learning. Prepare, Position, Pivot, Profit: Learn the 4 P's of the Smart Quit framework, including knowing when to walk away, and how to avoid the biggest mistakes most people make when they try to leave a job. ️Preparation is power: Build a financial runway, assess your skills, and use your current role to gather relationships, skills, and systems to serve you in your future business. Profit isn't just money: True entrepreneurial "profit" is about building the life you want, not just the business. Consider your why and what freedom and fulfillment look like for you—otherwise, you risk building a new kind of prison for yourself. ️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings999 More about Drea at How To Smart Quit https://www.howtosmartquit.com/ and at DreaLynn.co

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  Episode #998

  Let's Get Visible: Entrepreneur Laura Henson on the Power of Authentic Communication and Community Building

  Sep 8, 202653 min

  Laura Henson is the Founder and CEO of HVM Communications, a boutique strategic communications agency focused on brand storytelling, media relations, and thought leadership for founders, women leaders, and mission-driven organizations. For 20 years, Laura has built a reputation as a trusted voice at the intersection of capital, visibility, and women's leadership. Laura is also an active investor across venture capital, private equity, and early-stage companies, with a portfolio that reflects her conviction that capital and communications are equally powerful tools for lasting change. She serves on the Executive Board of How Women Lead and the Goodnation Foundation. She is a contributing author at Inc.com and was named to the KNOW Women list of 100 Women to KNOW in America in 2025, and 100 Women to KNOW in New York in 2026. Key Takeaways ✨Visibility is NOT optional: How to overcome persistent challenges women face in gaining visibility as entrepreneurs, including imposter syndrome, and how to make visibility part of your strategy from day one because it drives business opportunities, secures funding, and establishes credibility and influence. In a competitive landscape, it's vital not to leave your narrative up to others. ❤️Authenticity builds trust: In a world awash with performative content and skepticism, showing up authentically (not just "talking the talk" but "walking the walk") helps you stand out and create a lasting impact. Learn how. Invest in women: Whether it's supporting women-led ventures with capital or amplifying each other's expertise or buying each other's products and services, creating a virtuous cycle advances everyone. It's not charity; it's a path to creating more wealth, opportunity, and impact for all women. Practical Steps for Founders: Build your networks on platforms like LinkedIn and join IRL communities because face-to-face interactions often turn into lasting business opportunities; set aside specific times each week to connect with new people, and focus on building trust. Leverage AI the Human Way: AI can help streamline busywork and free time for deeper, more authentic relationships, but it needs human oversight, critical thinking, and personal voice so you can stand out from the crowd with authenticity and build trust. ️Subscribe to Wings and get the full Show Notes at https://bit.ly/Wings998 More about Laura at HVM Communications Get a 15-minute Zoom to brainstorm your visibility: DM Laura on LinkedIn.

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