Jane Lu

Being young has often been an advantage for Jane Lu, founder of online fashion retailer, Showpo.

"It's worked better in terms of getting PR," she told Mashable Australia. "And I think it helps me understand my demographic." For one thing, she definitely gets the importance of social media. Lu's personal Instagram account has more than 146,000 followers.

Her role as an entrepreneur began in 2010, after she quit her job in corporate finance to start her own business. The first venture failed, but she had no option but to try again.Now with a team of 14 based in Sydney, the company made more than A$10 million in sales in the last financial year, Lu said.

"When I was working in corporate, I spent most of my time either on Facebook or shopping online because I just hated my job," she said. "I saw a market gap ... for the fast fashion industry to be online, and it just exploded."

Lu said she has never found being a solo female founder without a technical background to be a disadvantage. In fact, the issue was raised only recently. "When we were hiring someone in-house to do our development, I had a recruiter tell me 'you're not going to get to where you want without a technical cofounder,'" she said. "Now I'm determined to prove him wrong."

Showpo has never taken funding, having been bootstrapped from day one. "By the time I really entered the startup community, I was already established," Lu explained. "I didn't have to deal with investors. Maybe that's where people have to deal with that prejudice. You have to justify yourself, and I think women are particularly hard on themselves."

Not taking funding has also meant she has not felt pressure to post big numbers for the benefit of outsiders. "The business can grow steadily. We don't have to be a $50 million business by next year because we need to impress our investors," she said.

In fact, most of the criticism she's experienced was from people who suggested she was crazy for getting into the fashion industry without fashion experience. "Not having a fashion background helps me understand things from a customer-perspective," she said. "I think people can get caught up with what they think and what they've learnt, rather than what the customer wants."

For Lu, success has also come from building a supportive, close-knit team. "It's about finding the right people in the first place who are self-motivated," she said. "That is something it is so hard to get right — how to hire the right people."

While she has now found a supportive network of entrepreneurs, she hasn't really had mentors. "I'm not very good at listening to other people who tell me what to do," she laughed.