Building a business is no easy task and securing funding is even harder. Now, a new crowd-funding website, iFundWomen is helping Nashville start-ups get the help they need.
A few years ago, Stevie Estler was in-between jobs and wondering what to do next.
"Three-years ago if you had told me I'd be running a wood-shop I'd die laughing. I was handy, but not this handy," she said.
Estler had just bought a house. She needed furniture and decided to build her own.
"From a headboard it was a desk, to a farm-house table that I built for myself," she said.
Estler went from building one headboard in her two-car garage to now having furniture in homes all around Nashville.
So how'd she do it?
Securing funding has always been one of the biggest challenges for female entrepreneurs. According to a recent report by the National Women's Business Council, women tend to start businesses with around 50 percent less capital than their male counterparts.
Estler attributes a lot of her success to the crowd-funding site.
"So I got on the iFundWomen website, I applied to do it and I think I heard back in like 24-hours," she said.
The website was launched by a former Google executive and features a "Nashville" landing page.
Estler said the site helped her make a video and market her idea Online.
She's even bringing in extra help to keep up with demand.
"Bringing young girls into the shop who have this idea of, 'Oh I want to use my hands, I want to be a girl in a man's world,'" she said.
