The power of women backing themselves | Trust, visibility & long-term success | Vandana Tolani

In this episode of the Bee Formless™ Flow Driven CEO Podcast, I connected with Vandana Tolani, Founder and CEO of Convanto, whose career spans investment, family offices and advising hundreds of founders. Yet our conversation quickly went somewhere more personal: the period when Vandana didn't recognise her own talent.After closing deals and receiving recognition for her work, she remembers sitting by the window in her office and realising the capability had been there all along. What had been clouding it was self-doubt, criticism and the noise around her. Once she began trusting what she could do and filtering out that noise, something shifted.Trust became a thread through our whole conversation: the trust we place in ourselves and our decisions, the trust a founder asks an investor to place in them, and the trust that has allowed Vandana to grow Convanto through relationships, referrals and showing up for clients beyond a transaction.We explored why she sees the founder-investor relationship almost like a marriage, why capital needs shared expectations and integrity, and why founders need to understand who they are approaching and whether their business is genuinely ready for investment.For women, our conversation moved into visibility, decision-making and backing ourselves. Vandana spoke about the progress she sees alongside the gaps that remain in boardrooms and positions of genuine influence, and why women recognising their skills, making their own decisions and allowing themselves to be seen matters.Towards the end, Vandana shared the metaphor of a bamboo tree. For years, very little may appear above the surface while underneath, the roots are becoming strong enough to support what eventually emerges. I loved this as a reminder of how easily we compare our progress with somebody else's, when so much of building a business, reputation or ourselves happens before anyone else can see it.THE SHAPE SHIFT IN MOTIONWhat becomes possible when we trust what we're building before the results are visible?LEARN (LETTING GO)✨ Let go of the noise that makes us question our capability.✨ Release comparison with somebody else's visible success.✨ Stop assuming every investor or opportunity is the right fit.UNLEARN (CREATE, REIMAGINE & RESHAPE)✨ Reimagine fundraising as a relationship, not a transaction.✨ Build visibility around who you are and what you stand for.✨ Reshape success around trust, consistency and long-term value.RELEARN (TEST & IMPLEMENT)✨ Prepare the business before asking investors to back it.✨ Keep showing up while the roots are still forming.✨ Build relationships that can grow beyond a single deal.ACTIVE RECOVERY (REFLECT & RESET)✨ Where are you still questioning your capability?✨ What are you building beneath the surface?✨ Whose noise are you ready to stop carrying?Where to find more:🌐 https://convanto.com/🔗 https://linktr.ee/💭 Where could trusting yourself more change how you show up, make decisions or build what comes next?Book a Strategic Shape Shift Diagnostic to illuminate what needs to shift across leadership, business and brand, from the inside out.🔗 https://calendly.com/beeformless/strategicshapeshiftdiagnostic#beeformless #flowdrivenceo #convanto #womeninbusiness #femaleentrepreneurs #selftrust #founders #fundraising #trust #insideouttransformation #selfbelief