FFX Barcelona is a full-day experience exploring leadership, power, capital, and real connection in today’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The morning brings embodied sessions and honest conversations that move beyond surface-level networking, creating psychological safety across founders, investors, and leaders while addressing the true cost of success and structural bias in venture capital. In the afternoon, participants dive into focused hubs for founders, investors, and leaders, covering fundraising literacy, negotiation under power asymmetry, gender-conscious investing, and decision-making patterns. We then reconvene for pitching, shared reflection, and a powerful solidarity dynamic, before closing with practical takeaways and Cava & Tapas to connect and reflect.
| ALL HUBS | Session | Speakers | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:45 | ARRIVAL, CHECK IN & COFFEE | |||
| 09:45 - 10:15 | FFX Opening | Lisa-Marie Fassl, Managing Partner of Fund F and Co-Founder of Female Founders | ||
| Natascha Fürst, CEO of Female Founders | ||||
| Helena Torras, Venture Partner of Hans(wo)menGroup & Independent Board Director | Input Session | |||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 10:15 - 10:30 | Mindful Body | Natascha Fürst, CEO of Female Founders | This opening session is designed to help you arrive – in your bodies, in the space, and in the moment. Through a soulful blend of guided breathwork and movement, we create space to release tension, connect with inner strength,and start the day with dynamic shaking and music to awaken energy, joy, and a deep sense of female solidarity. | Energy Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 10:30 - 11:00 | Deep Connection | Christina Figiel, Founder of Wavveup | ||
| Laura Tejada, Founder and CEO of Wavveup | This is not typical networking. Instead of exchanging titles or LinkedIn summaries, this session invites you to connect on a deeply human level with other participants. Through a carefully held and time-bound experience, you’ll slow down, be fully present, and experience what real connection feels like when we move beyond surface-level interactions. | Input Session | ||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 11:00 - 11:45 | European sovereign technology | Roser Roca-Toha, Managing Director & CEO, Airbus GeoTech | Sovereignty as a purpose. Navigating European-made technology & partnerships from the perspective of an arms-length affiliate. | Input Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Women Must Own the Money Narrative | Lisa-Marie Fassl, Managing Parter of Fund F and Co-Founder of Female Founders | ||
| Natascha Fürst, CEO of Female Founders | ||||
| Helena Torras, Venture Partner of Hans(wo)menGroup & Independent Board Director | Money shapes choices, power, and opportunity, and it’s time we talk about it without euphemisms. In this session, we will unpack what women need to know about building wealth, negotiating value, and navigating capital from founder finance to investing. Expect a direct conversation, practical frameworks, and a few truths we don’t hear often enough. | Elephant in the Room Session | ||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 12:15 - 12:30 | Moving the Needle: Key Levers to Mitigate Gender Bias in European VC | Celia Alija, Entrepreneurship Project Manager at EIT Food | Gender bias still shapes who gets funded in Europe, often quietly and unintentionally, but with very real consequences for founders, investors, and the innovation ecosystem. In this session, Celia Alija brings fresh European research and a practical Gender Bias Mitigation Tool developed by EIT Community Supernovas, the Esade Center for Social Impact, and Equinox Equality Experts to the stage, cutting through assumptions to show where bias shows up in investment decisions and what actually works to counter it. | Input Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 12:30 - 13:15 | Building the Body of a Leader | Ghazaleh Samandari, Founder of Vera | Using wisdom from the worlds of behavioral science, women’s advocacy and somatic-informed coaching, this session will explore how the body holds deep intelligence that directly influences decision-making, confidence and sustainable leadership. Participants will learn how to tap into bodily awareness to regulate stress, expand their capacity for responsibility and lead from a place of grounded authority rather than burnout or overdrive. | Input Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 13:15 - 14:30 | Networking Lunch | |||
| INVESTOR HUB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Session | Speakers | Description | Format & Room |
| 14:30 - 15:15 | The Tipping Point of VCs Right Now | Helena Torras, Venture Partner of Hans(wo)menGroup & Independent Board Director | ||
| Lisa Fassl, Managing Parter of Fund F and Co-Founder of Female Founders | ||||
| Anna Fedulow, Founder & Managing Director of Croton Capital | ||||
| Ainhoa Saralegui, Investor at Acurio Ventures | The Tipping Point of VCs Right Now is a straight look at how venture is changing in 2026 - from chasing paper unicorns to demanding real exits, cash returns, and capital-efficient growth. Expect an unfiltered conversation on what’s actually driving investment decisions right now (fund dynamics, the Series A bottleneck, secondaries, and the AI concentration), and what it means for founders who still want to build and raise in this market. | Sharing Circle | ||
| Meeting Room 2+3 | ||||
| 15:15 - 16:00 | Cracking the code for gender-conscious investing in the EU | Taryn Andersen, President and Co-Founder at Impulse4Women | ||
| Carolina Turcato, Project Manager of the European Network of Gender-conscious Investors | ||||
| Jana Drzkova, Head of Business Development at Euroquity-Bpifrance | ||||
| Sylvie Lemaire, Co-Founder & Associate of WA4STEAM | A practical discussion on what “gender-conscious investing” in Europe actually looks like beyond the slogans, and where the gaps still are in sourcing, evaluation, and decision-making. Together, the panel will unpack what investors and ecosystem players can change in their process today (from pipeline to IC). | Roundtable | ||
| Meeting Room 2+3 | ||||
| 16:00 - 16:30 | Pitch & Connect | Carina Roth, VC Investor, Fund F | This is an Open Ask Mic session for founders and investors. Through 60-second intros where founders and investors share what they’re working on and what they’re looking for. Then we’ll move into Signal Circles so you can immediately connect with the people and topics that resonate, and keep the conversation going right into the break. | Output Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Break | |||
| FOUNDERS HUB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Session | Speakers | Description | Format |
| 14:30 - 15:15 | Fundraising Literacy | Carina Roth, | ||
| VC Investor at Fund F | It breaks down how investors think, why decisions are made, and why fundraising is not a meritocracy. Participants learn how to frame ambition, pitch upside, manage risk, and control the narrative. The session unpacks how valuation is actually set, how momentum and FOMO are created, and where leverage shifts during a raise. It also exposes the terms that truly matter- and the hidden traps where founders quietly lose power before closing with a practical system for building a strong investor pipeline and repeatable fundraising process. | Input Session | ||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 15:15 - 16:00 | Negotiation Under Asymmetry: How to navigate power dynamics | Yonca Braeckman, Founder and CEO of Impact Shakers | ||
| Carmen Pumariño, Investment Director at Zubi Capital | An open and honest conversation on negotiating with investors and powerful counterparts, focused on navigating uneven leverage, choosing the right language and timing, and knowing when to walk away and how to balance between needing investment and choosing who you build your business with in the coming years. | Roundtable Session | ||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 16:00 - 16:30 | Pitch & Connect | Carina Roth, VC Investor, Fund F | This is an Open Ask Mic session for founders and investors. Through 60-second intros where founders and investors share what they’re working on and what they’re looking for. Then we’ll move into Signal Circles so you can immediately connect with the people and topics that resonate, and keep the conversation going right into the break. | Output Session |
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Break |
| LEADERS HUB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Session | Speakers | Description | Format |
| 14:30 - 15:15 | Breaking the Cycle: Transforming Decision-Making Avoidance | Cristina Frint, CEO and Founder of Munay Group | This master class invites individuals and teams to explore how to overcome patterns of decision-making avoidance and ineffective communication. Participants will learn to recognize their own thinking tendencies, unlock new strategies, and reframe avoidance behaviors into confident, collaborative action.Breaking the cycle of avoidance is not about forcing decisions. It is about cultivating the courage to choose and the clarity to communicate. Through guided reflection and practical exercises, participants will gain insights that transform hesitation into confident leadership, while fostering stronger peer connections and momentum for meaningful change. | Masterclass |
| 15:15 - 16:00 | System-Led: Leadership That Scales Without You | Rocio Alcocer, Managing Director, Norrsken Barcelona | ||
| Melissa McDermott, Founder & CEO, Reclaim | ||||
| Laia Gallart, Human Leadership Strategist and Executive Coach | This roundtable explores how leadership must evolve as organizations grow, shifting from control to governance and from individual dependency to resilient systems. The discussion brings together executive, ecosystem, and founder perspectives on designing leadership systems that move organizations beyond founder dependency and promote accountability and clarity as businesses scale. | Roundtable | ||
| 16:00 - 16:30 | What Matters | Christina Figiel, Founder Couch & Business Angel | ||
| Laura Tejada, Founder and CEO of Wavveup | During this session, leaders gather in theme-based roundtables around topics that genuinely matter in their leadership journey. Participants self-select into the conversations they feel drawn to and dive straight into the core; no long introductions, no posturing. The roundtables are lightly facilitated, offering space for honest exchange, multiple perspectives, and the shared realization that many leadership challenges are more universal than we think. | Roundtable | ||
| 16:30 - 17:00 | Break | |||
| ALL HUBS | Session | Speakers | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:00 - 17:30 | Closing Remarks | Lisa-Marie Fassl, Managing Parter of Fund F and Co-Founder of Female Founders | ||
| Natascha Fürst, CEO of Female Founders | ||||
| Helena Torras, Venture Partner of Hans(wo)menGroup & Independent Board Director | Sharing Circle | |||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 17:30 - 18:00 | Solidarity Dynamic | Christina Figiel, Founder Couch & Business Angel | ||
| Laura Tejada, Founder and CEO of Wavveup | This dynamic is about recognizing how much we truly share beneath the surface. By creating space for honesty and courage, the session reveals common experiences, doubts, and realities that often remain unspoken. It’s a powerful reminder that leadership can be demanding and vulnerable - and that solidarity emerges when we allow ourselves to be seen. | Sharing Circle | ||
| Theatre Room | ||||
| 18:00 - 19:30 | Cava, Tapas & Connect |
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