made by experienced entrepreneurs
Is the Game for you?
- Yes, if you want to build your first startup but have no idea how to get started.
- Yes, if you can't come up with an idea or don't know to how validate it.
- Yes, if you are struggling with a startup that you are already building.
Future entrepreneur
Are you wondering if you have what it takes to start a business? Go from zero to one and challenge yourself.
Startup founder
Do you already have a startup but lack funding, technical or business skills? Move from one to ten with the game.
Solo entrepreneur
Are you a freelancer or a one-person business who is stuck? Figure out your next step in the game.
You are not alone.
Game Masters will teach you.
Game Masters will teach you.
Mean CEO will guide you.
Elona will entertain you.
Why Mean CEO?
Mean CEO used to be a nice girl who kept her opinions to herself. Then one day she decided to start Fe/male Switch and started writing and talking about female entrepreneurship and diversity in startups. And that's when she could no longer keep quiet. The men who were not happy with her position found it very important to let her know how wrong she was. First she tried to convince them with logic and data. Alas, they just called her names. Women are expected to be nice and obedient, so she did the opposite: she warned the whole world that she was mean. Is she really mean? It's up to you to find out.
Meet
Mean CEO
Mean CEO
Who is Mean CEO?
A small town girl with big dreams. She did well in school and always kept quiet. She used to be shy and obedient, loved computers, books and her own imaginary world in which she was happy. She was told which route to take and what to become in life but she didn't like it. She told her family about her dreams but they just laughed at her. A little contrarian in her pushed through and soon enough she started making her dreams come true: traveling and living in different countries, learning new things and meeting new people until she became a startup founder.
I'm
Mean CEO
Mean CEO
Why was the Game built?
The Dutch Government said that they wanted to bring more women into startups. We put our entrepreneurial and educational experience into a proposal and...didn't get the grant. We decided to bootstrap the project and built the game without any code. And now we can teach you how to do the same for your business.
How Mean CEO
became an Entrepreneur
became an Entrepreneur
The 9 to 5 is my biggest nightmare. I tried to escape it by all means necessary. I even got 5 (yes five) University Degrees just not to be stuck in an office doing something that was not inspiring enough. I worked in the USA and a few other countries but I always did something extra on the side. Something that made me feel like I am my own boss without much risk.
Stuck at the office
1
It's not a surprise that at some point I decided to start working for myself full time. And when I say full time, I mean 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. I started a one-person English as a Foreign Language school and it felt great until it didn't. A few years in I hit the ceiling. I needed to change something in my business model or start delegating, but I wasn't ready for either.
Switch to freelancing
2
And then the universe called out my name and said: shouldn't you get into startups? And I didn't hesitate, because I was ready for a change. Long story short: I packed my things and moved half way across the continent to join a startup incubator. It was 4 years ago and the rest is history. I have never been happier with my life.
Serial entrepreneur
3
Unlock your success! Join Fe/male Switch today!
The goal of the game is to keep your burn rate positive. This means that you have to earn more than you spend. Can you do it?
Watch
the demo of
the Platform
the demo of
the Platform
Our unique Approach
Transform Your Dreams into Reality with Our Proprietary Gamepreneurship Methodology by following the right process. Become an entrepreneur with zero risk!
Gamepreneurship
Tired of looking for the right co-founder? Our AI tools never argue and never ask for equity. Upgrade to an AI co-founder today and start building a startup.
AI co-founder
Learning by doing is the best, right? However, if your new skill doesn't bring you money, what's the point of that skill? Building and selling come hand in hand.
Learn, play and earn
How the game works
Baby steps at Skill Lab
Start growing your inner entrepreneur, get into startup mindset, upgrade and expand your digital skills. Create and monetize your content and sell your skills as well, so you can earn your first tokens and treat yourself to a nice mug of coffee!
You Snooze, you lose
Start hustling: gather a team, get tokens for quests, and get a better office! Just like in real life, you have to decide on salaries, build your audience and make sure there's enough cash for champagne to celebrate victories! Mental health matters! So learn to enjoy life!
Show me the Tokens
Your startup lacks some knowledge or your team needs funding? Consider spending your tokens on skills acquisition for the team, or get an investor. Do you want both? There's plenty of ways to earn: get creative and challenge yourself! Win prizes and get funded.
Start your entrepreneurial journey in the startup world!
Inside the Platform
We have something for everyone. Do you want to learn? Run to Skill Lab. Are you ready to use your skills? Hit the "play" button and start hustling. What do you have to lose?
Start by validating your idea in Sandbox
Have a startup idea but don't know what to do with it? If you don't want to waste time and money on building something that nobody wants to pay for, you got to get it validated. It's a lot easier and more fun when your own AI co-founder (called PlayPal) is here to help you stay on track.
1/5
Learn & grow in Skill Lab
Learn via micro-modules and check your progress to be even more proud of yourself. When a quest in the game seems too complicated, Skill Lab is the place where you gain the missing knowledge on how to start a business.
2/5
It's time to Play!
The goal of the game is to reach the top of the FMS Tower by moving to a higher level (and thus a better office) and become a star of F/MS village! Build in public and master the startup building process while making friends. Our women-friendly AI will be there to support you.
3/5
Explore the Market/place
Use in-game tokens to buy tutorials and expert sessions. This way you invest into yourself. And you can sell your skills and services as well! Check your wallet to see how many tokens you have earned.
4/5
Get a live Certificate
With our certification system, every skill you gain in Skill Lab and every quest you win in the game transforms into a micro-credential that gets added to your verifiable portfolio. Your live certificate grows with you.
5/5
Choose the BEST TIER
for you
* Early Bird Launch price. Offer expires in 6 months. VAT included. Tier "Play" has a 14 day trial period.
Start
Communicate with gamepreneurs in the Forum
FREE
/monthly
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Elona Musk
Get support in Forum
Intern
Get started
€2,5*
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Elona Musk
Play
best value
€10*
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Game Masters and Elona Musk
Become an intern and join the startup game
Play any role in the game
Win prizes and swag
Play as an intern in the game
* Early Bird Launch price. Offer expires in 6 months. VAT included. Tier "Play" has a 14 day trial period.
Start
Communicate with gamepreneurs in the Forum
FREE
/monthly
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Elona Musk
Get support in Forum
Intern
Get started
€27*
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Elona Musk
Play
best value
€108*
Learn in Skill Lab and get feedback from Game Masters and Elona Musk
Become an intern and join the startup game
Play any role in the game
Win prizes and swag
Play as an intern in the game
Play with an AI co-founder & build your first startup
Scared of taking the first step? Start small and check out our AI tools that will help you get started in no time.
Check out some of the benefits that you can get by playing the startup game
Benefits for you
- Master the process of business buildingIf you think that having a great business idea is the most important thing, think again. Ideas are worth nothing, but the correct business process is what distinguishes success from failure.
- Learn to sell before building: step by step guidesForget about spending months on figuring out how to build something only to discover that nobody is willing to pay you any money. If you learn how to sell something before building it, you are golden!
- 24/7/365 access and individual supportStudy and play any time of day from anywhere in the world. Have one of our Game Masters help you out. Attend workshops and webinars. Schedule meetings directly with Mean CEO or other in-house experts.
- Prizes and micro-funding: upto 3,000 EURWhether you just want to test startup life, meet like-minded people or compete with others, prizes are always fun. If you are building a startup, then you can get micro-funded in order to move further quicker.
- Software discounts and perks worth 1,500 EURGet access to software from our partners for free and learn building a real product. We have several different no-code tools for you to test. View discounts here. Moreover, we will teach you how to get more stuff.
- Legal support, blueprints and templatesAn hour of lawyer's time goes for 100-300 eur these days. In the game, you can have consultations with our in-house Legal Coach for free. You really don't want to miss out on this opportunity to figure out IP, contracts and agreements.
Who we are
We are experienced and fun entrepreneurs and awesome AI PlayPals who love building a startup simulator for you to succeed in business
Features
Made specially for women
Personalized educational track
Female role models present
Interaction and feedback
Co-building with the community
Features
Made specially for women
Personalized educational track
Female role models present
Interaction and feedback
Co-building with the community
Features
Made especially for women
Personalized educational track
Female role models present
Interaction and feedback
Business courses
Co-building with the community
Low
Features
Low
Made specially for women
Startup incubators
Personalized educational track
Not enough
Female role models present
Interaction and feedback
Serious games
Co-building with the community
Low
Female startup communities
Features
F/MS: startup game for women
Made specially for women
Personalized educational track
Female role models present
Interaction and feedback
Co-building with the community
Why we are Different
We are the only women-first startup game made by entrepreneurs.
Community-powered and simply fun: the game steers you towards success.
Community-powered and simply fun: the game steers you towards success.
Unleash your inner boss! Join Fe/male Switch today and start building your startup empire!
Our Partners
Our gamepreneurs
love the Startup game
love the Startup game
- Alexandra SciberrasI loved the Fe/Male Switch experience!
The platform provided a super effective way of learning new skills, while having the chance to meet like-minded entrepreneurial women. All in the form of a game which made it so much more interesting and effective! Even as an entrepreneur who already founded a start-up, it provided a wonderful opportunity to improve upon my skills and gain more confidence in them, along with learning new skills that are proving to be very useful for my start-up!
Thank you to the F/MS Team for this opportunity, really looking forward to the official launch! - MariekeLoved the challenge that FMS gave me and kept the pressure on. Within 4 weeks the FMS pilot made me (want to) deliver a complete project including presentations a landingpage, social media, a mentor and investor and so much more from which upon I can build a real life startup! Without FMS I would have been stuck on perfecting and changing and in the end would take me forever and I would have probably gave up. FMS is a great platform that offers not only a lot of possibilities to learn new skills in a fun way but also guides you in what steps to take and so much more. I have met a lot of amazing woman (and a few men;) for which I am extremely thankful. Highly recommend!
- Shekoufeh IzadkhastiThe idea of Gamepreneurship was unique. Participant has the opportunity to know other participants with different experiences and supporters as big sisters. the atmosphere of game push you to bring your idea to reality, step by step without any cost.
It really worth trying if you had dream about starting your own business but didn't know how to start.
Haven't found the answer here?
Check out our FAQ section or text us.
Check out our FAQ section or text us.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have launched on August 7, 2023 and have Start and Play tiers open to anyone.
No, you don't need to have a startup. The game is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs like yourself come up with ideas, validate them, build an engaged audience, a scalable product and assemble a team. You can use the AI tools and educational resources provided in the game to experiment and explore different startup ideas without actually starting a business. However, if you do decide to turn your startup idea into a real business, the game can provide valuable support and guidance along the way.
No, you don't need to have a startup idea to play the game. Our tool Little Sister can help generate ideas for you, and you can choose the one that resonates with you the most. Simply click on "use this idea" to add it to your startup card. You can always edit the idea or come up with a new one later on in the game. The most important thing is to have fun and get inspired!
Ideas are not the most important part of building a startup. We urge you to use any idea that looks fun to you and just play around with it. We want you to learn the algorithm of idea validation by going through multiple ideas. It's a game, so play a little. And once that "one and only" idea comes to you while
Ideas are not the most important part of building a startup. We urge you to use any idea that looks fun to you and just play around with it. We want you to learn the algorithm of idea validation by going through multiple ideas. It's a game, so play a little. And once that "one and only" idea comes to you while
The workload is 5+ hours per week. You can do as little or as much as you want on top of that. We have some scheduled activities that are useful to attend (but can be viewed as a recording in case you cannot be there), but most of the things in Skill Lab and the Game can be done any time. It's a nice training for a remote work experience. And at times it will be asynchronous, because of different time zones of all the participants.
Of course! You are more than welcome to encourage your female friends to participate in the project and grow together! You can form a team and invite your friend or join one together.
Join us now &
grow your inner Entrepreneur
grow your inner Entrepreneur
Not sure if entrepreneurship is for you? Give our startup game a try and find out – it's the perfect way to explore without risking a thing. Give it a shot and see if entrepreneurship is your jam!
Explore
startup Playbook
startup Playbook
full of startup tips from entrepreneurs who have been there and done that
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For the "behind the scenes" of Mean CEO and Elona Musk building a startup game