About Me

Karen Cahn is a globally recognized business activist, investor, and growth advisor reshaping how underestimated founders access capital, validate demand, and build sustainable revenue. Her work sits at the intersection of entrepreneurial equity, early-stage growth strategy, and the evolving landscape of small business innovation.

Karen is the Founder of IFundWomen—acquired by Honeycomb Credit—where she pioneered a first-of-its-kind funding platform and ecosystem for early-stage entrepreneurs. Under her leadership, IFundWomen became a defining force in the capital access movement, helping more than 20,000 founders raise over $200 million in early-stage capital and fueling the creation of 95,000 jobs around the world. The company’s model became widely adopted across accelerators, brands, and startup programs committed to building a more equitable funding pipeline.

Today, Karen works independently as an advisor and strategic voice for founders, emerging consumer brands, and organizations committed to supporting small-business growth. Her frameworks for demand validation, revenue modeling, and non-dilutive capital access are used globally by entrepreneurs and enterprise partners navigating the realities of early-stage growth.

Karen’s influence extends across leading media and academic platforms. She has been recognized by Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Female Founders, LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Entrepreneurship, The City & State of New York’s Most Responsible CEOs, and Worth Magazine’s Groundbreaking Women of 2024. 

Her thought leadership has been featured in The New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, Inc. Magazine, MS Now, (formerly MSNBC), Forbes, and more. She contributed to McKinsey & LeanIn.org’s landmark Women in the Workplace Study published in The Wall Street Journal, and has shared her entrepreneurial journey on top podcasts including Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, Business Unusual with Barbara Corcoran, Trailblazers with Erica Wenger, and Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff.

Before founding IFundWomen, Karen spent over a decade as an innovator inside major tech and media companies. At Google and YouTube, she helped build the early monetization engine for digital video and launched YouTube’s first Branded Entertainment business, forging creator–brand partnerships that transformed the online advertising industry. At Aol, she built the company’s first women-led creator ecosystem in video, leading to its first-ever Emmy nomination.

Karen holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, double-majoring in African-American Studies and U.S. History. She continues to champion a more inclusive, transparent, and sustainable entrepreneurial economy—advising founders and brands, shaping thought leadership, and inspiring a new generation of builders to turn validated ideas into thriving businesses.