Published on: May 17, 2012 Tags: Babble, Clever Girls Collective, Dad 2.0, Daily Buzz Moms, Digital Royalty, Federated Media, Glassybaby, Linqia, Maria Sipka, Martha's Circle, Mom 2.0, Mom Bloggers, Momfluential, Mommy Bloggers, Moms Central, Money Saving Queen, Nature's Path, Social Moms, This Week For Dinner, Tony Hsieh
A blog becomes a living, breathing resume for an individual. Build credibility through an authentic voice.
By Maria Sipka (Co-Founder & CEO, Linqia)
I consider myself a natural networker, but for some crazy reason I never felt comfortable attending a mom blogger summit, at least until I became a mom. Last August, I became a proud mom to baby Lyla. Now armed with my (mental) ticket, I set out on my maiden voyage to Miami for Mom 2.0 in early May of this year.
3 days and 52 conversations later, my eyes were cranked open as the breath was knocked out of me whilst I sat at this exciting intersection between the moms who blog (it’s so not cool to call them mommy bloggers) and the brands vying Read More »
Facebook is seeking to add directors, including at least one woman, adding diversity to its all-male board.
By Carol Hymowitz & Douglas MacMillan (Writers, Bloomberg)
Facebook has been working with executive-recruiting firm Spencer Stuart to identify prospective board members, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the search is private. The addition of any new directors probably won’t be announced until after Menlo Park, California-based Facebook holds its initial public offering, one of the people said.
The world’s largest social networking service has drawn scrutiny for the lack of independent directors and gender diversity on its board, even as most of its 901 million users are women. Read More »
Moonfruit took £1.57M in funding in 2010 from Silicon Valley angels including Dave McClure of 500 Startups.
By Mike Butcher (Writer, TechCrunch)
In the white heat of the current tech market it’s sometimes easy to forget that some companies, although taking their time, simply become viable businesses – instead of waiting for a call from Facebook or Twitter that may never come.
I’ve been covering web site and shop builder Moonfruit for longer than I care to remember (they launched in 2000), but along the way husband and wife team Joe and Wendy Tan White kept on pushing the company until it was one of the most innovative of its kind out there.
Today that hard work is rewarded Read More »
Published on: May 16, 2012 Tags: Colleen Ross, Engineers, Entrepreneurship, Heather McGough, Kate Swanson, Michael Jackson, Sasha Laundy, Thriller, Women Developers, Women Engineers
Michael Jackson’s lyrics decoded to the tune of entrepreneurship.
By Heather McGough (Founder, Urbanity Events)
I’ve recently interviewed developers from all over the Bay Area to ask them why they chose to take the leap and join risky, early-stage startup companies.
While each person had his/her own story to share, I heard common themes clear as melodies. Since many of us tend to have Michael Jackson in constant rotation, I decided to share what I’ve learned via the lyrics of the Moonwalk-ing King of Pop, and describe the virtues of choosing this Thriller-packed road of entrepreneurship.
Read More »
Software development is not code. It’s solving problems. Before you learn how to code, learn how to propose better solutions.
By Gina Trapani (Founder, ThinkUp)
In a post entitled Please Don’t Learn How to Code, software developer Jeff Atwood argues that the “everyone should learn programming” meme has gotten out of control, and that most people don’t need to learn how to code.
I mostly disagree with Atwood’s premise and land on Benjamin Stein’s side of the argument.
Coding teaches you analytical thinking skills, logic workflows, and debugging like no other activity can, and you can apply those skills to lots of situations beyond Read More »
The magic of Lilypad Arduino, or “how to sew your way into the computing sciences.”
By Adda Birnir (Co-Founder, Balance Media & Skillcrush)
When I tell people that one of my personal goals is to bring more women into tech, and that I plan to do so by making tech learning fun and accessible, a lot of people – usually men – worry that what I am doing is patronizing. They worry that I am peddling a “dumbed down” version of tech learning, and that I think women need to be shielded from the “harder stuff.”
Inherent in this argument is the idea that this “harder stuff” – a more difficult, less accessible version of things – is the real version and thus the better version. Read More »
The interest graph concept works like this: you reach less people, but you reach them on a deeper level.
By Tine Thygesen (Co-Founder & CEO, Everplaces)
As people are bombarded with more and more information, they become more and more fatigued, harder to engage and picky about what they’ll listen to. That represents a challenge if you’re an entrepreneur and a marketer.
The interest graph might be your answer. It is the next step in our human mission to filter, curate and make sense of the information overload.
The interest graph digs into narrow verticals. Essentially Read More »
Empowering women in business, startups mixing fashion and feminism are celebrating a renaissance.
By Tara Hunt (Co-Founder & CEO, Buyosphere)
Many of those not in the know think of fashion as a trap for women. Uncomfortable shoes. Impossible body images. Shallow spendy status symbols. Magazine layouts of size zero 6 foot tall women juxtaposed with an ad for weight loss.
There is a large part of fashion that I grapple with that doesn’t leave me feeling very empowered. There is an incredibly empowering side of fashion: self-expression. Though I romanticize the historical cuts, I couldn’t think of a better time to live in where I have all of the tools available for me to express Read More »
Sometimes you don’t get a seat at the table, and sometime you learn to build your own amazing table.
By Melissa Pierce (Founder, Chicago Women Developers)
Last year, I showed up to an open invitation “hacking” day where local programmers were invited to work on their projects and help each other at an informal get together. New to programming, and just wanting to know enough to fix my own WordPress site, I was excited to attend.
When I arrived, every seat was taken by guys so I stood and exchanged greetings with the men I knew and announced my coding problem, a man I didn’t know said, “no room for noobs with boobs at this table!” then he laughed and they all turned their heads back to their computers, nobody offered an apology, nobody offered help.
Read More »
Is it possible to have 50% female attendees at Startup Weekend Hamburg this June 8-10, 2012?
By Lara Obst (Organizer, Startup Weekend Hamburg)
Imagine rockstars, creatives, computer nerds… all together in one room – cheering, clapping and shouting. Then silence. “..and the winner is…” announcement met with deafening applause!!
These are the sounds of a typical Startup Weekend organized in more then 300 cities, in 90 countries in the last 5 years! The next Startup Weekend event in Germany will be June 8-10, 2012 – come to Hamburg Startup Weekend!
For 54 hours, developers, marketers, product managers, biz dev and many more come together to launch startups! Read More »
Although the fundraising process for software startups is largely formulaic, the same isn’t true for hardware.
By Renee DiResta (Associate, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures)
The hardware ecosystem is flourishing. But hardware is hard, and conventional wisdom is that VCs don’t like to invest in it. So how do you fund your hardware startup?
During the Hardware Unconference, the session on fundraising was one of the most widely-attended. The challenge of raising money is on the minds of many people in the hardware community. Some fall into the “Maker” category, others are trying to build companies, but they’re encountering similar issues.
Kickstarter is attracting a lot of hardware Read More »
An interview with Deborah Farrington, founder and general partner of StarVest Partners in New York.
By Adam Bryant (Senior Editor, The New York Times)
This interview with Deborah Farrington, a founder and general partner at StarVest Partners, a venture capital firm in New York, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. What were some important leadership lessons you’ve learned?
A. I found early on as a manager that it was hard to learn how to delegate. I think that most people in their early leadership positions either tend to delegate too little or too much. And I delegated too little at first. I felt I needed to know everything that was going on, so I ended up doing a lot of the work myself Read More »
For more women in the boardroom, dream big and lay groundwork early in your career for a board seat.
By Leah Eichler (Contributing Writer, Femme-O-Nomics)
Let’s talk about women and boards.
Talking about women and boards may sound unproductive but used appropriately it can be a tool to instigate change at the grassroots level. For one, women must start asking the important questions on how to reach the board level and those that made it up the ranks need to better illuminate the process.
By lifting the veil on what it takes to rise to the board level, more women can learn to tailor their career choices early on. Read More »
Published on: May 15, 2012 Tags: Clara Shih, Facebook, Hearsay Social, IPO
Stay focused and keep shipping.
By Clara Shih (Co-Founder & CEO, Hearsay Social)
It’s electrifying here in Silicon Valley this week, even more so than usual. Normally, many of us are heads down, focused on our own companies, but right now, even in the land of “what’s next?” all anyone can talk about is the Facebook IPO.
This week marks the dawn of a new era. Facebook going public – with a billion users worldwide and $3.7 billion in revenue – confirms that Facebook is doing to Google today what Google did to Microsoft nearly a decade ago. It’s hard to believe that it’s been eight years since the Google IPO. Read More »
Investors in the Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley ask different questions, evaluate deals on different criteria.
By Ellie Cachette (Founder & CEO, ConsumerBell)
The interesting thing about fundraising, in general, is that it’s very complex and there are many things that can affect your chances or strategy around funding. Each ecosystem is different as to how it sees value in things so it’s important to know where the best ecosystem is – for your company as well as investors most likely to invest in your company.
For example, if you are mobile and need to build your team, try to find areas that have talented or underpoached developers. If you are social and need to be close to other agencies, then you should Read More »
Is a lonely road to blame for the dearth of women in tech?
By Meghan Casserly (Writer, Forbes)
According to a new survey the number of women in senior technology positions at U.S. companies is down for the second year in a row.
The survey, published by U.S. division of the British tech recruitment group Harvey Nash, attests that just 9% of U.S. chief information officers (CIOs) are female, down from 11% last year and 12% in 2010. According to Reuters, 30% of the 450 American tech executives polled said their IT groups have no women at all in management positions. What’s more, when the same group of executives was asked whether women were underrepresented, roughly one half said no. Read More »
The characteristics of successful entrepreneurs are often credited as male ones.
By Candida Brush (Contributor, Forbes)
I recently completed a webinar reporting the findings of our Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Women’s Report. This study compared women’s and men’s entrepreneurship in 59 economies around the world.
One of the key findings is that women tend to close their businesses because they have challenges in getting funding. We know from earlier research on women led ventures seeking equity capital that a tiny percentage of women actually receive VC (estimates are less than 6% of all US venture-funded businesses are women led). Read More »
Revamping the TaskRabbit site to cater to women but continue to court men.
By E.B. Boyd (Silicon Valley Reporter, Fast Company)
Whenever TaskRabbit got press, lots of young, professional men signed up. But regular users of the site – which connects members with people willing to do their chores for a small fee – were women. So Leah Busque has been revamping the site to strike a balance: Cater to women but continue to court men.
SEE REAL PEOPLE
To make the service feel less abstract and more trustworthy, women needed to see photos of actual job-doers. When photos were posted, sign-ups doubled almost immediately. Read More »
Published on: May 14, 2012 Tags: Allyson Kapin, Angie Chang, Automattic, BlogHer, Elisa Camahort Page, Infographic, Jane Wells, Joanne Wilson, Kaliya Hamlin, Shaherose Charania, She's Geeky, Shireen Mitchell, Women 2.0, Women in Technology, Women Who Tech
Women 2.0 members save 20% on tickets to Women Who Tech telesummit with discount code “Women2″.
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Our CEO Shaherose Charania will be a speaker in the 4th annual Women Who Tech TeleSummit (WWT). You are invited to join thought-provoking discussions led by the most passionate and talented women in tech, startups, and social media including startup investor Joanne Wilson, WordPress usability expert Jane Wells of Automattic, Shireen Mitchell of Digital Sistas, Elisa Camahort Page of BlogHer, Kaliya Hamlin of She’s Geeky and many more.
Women 2.0 members save 20% with discount code “Women2″ when you register here. Scholarship opportunities are available! Use the contact form here to inquire about scholarships. Read More »
This article has been syndicated from TechCrunch.
By Kim-Mai Cutler (Writer, TechCrunch)
Danielle Morrill’s been thinking about this idea for at least three years. I know this because it was almost all she could talk for an hour straight at a dinner party several years ago.
If you’re an entrepreneur and you get bit with an idea, you just can’t shake it. And so, after several years of apprenticing at building companies like Twilio, Morrill is finally striking out on her own with Refer.ly, a concept that’s been admitted to the next Y Combinator class.
What’s the idea? On the web, there’s a whole secret Read More »
A robust, in-depth new podcast for women in the workplace launched by public radio reporter.
By Ashley Milne-Tyte (Public Radio Reporter & Student, CUNY Entrepreneurial Journalism Program)
I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur until recently. As a public radio reporter, I’ve done stories about entrepreneurs. But all that business sense? That desire to talk about money and make things happen and stay up all night? It wasn’t me. But for several years I’ve been fascinated by stories involving women.
I studied sociolinguistics at college, and the different ways in which men and women communicate began to fascinate me. Years later, I got interested in how differently the two sexes behave in the workplace, and society’s still conflicted view of women’s role Read More »
“I thought a list over 100 was substantial enough to share with the world.”
By Melissa Pierce (Founder, Chicago Women Developers)
I know what you’re thinking.
You are thinking there has been a lot of talk about women in venture capital, or rather, the lack of women in venture capital.
You can read about it, here, here, here, and here.
You can read the outrage about how there are only 5 women on Forbes’s Midas 100 List. You can even see tweets by men who are VCs talk about the dearth of women who are VCs.
What you haven’t been reading are articles about Read More »
Jessica O. Matthews co-invented the sOccket, and founded Uncharted Play with Julia Silverman.
By Nusha Balyan (Writer, The Story Exchange)
The sOccket looks like a regular soccer ball, but it doubles as an energy-harvesting source that can help light up communities without access to electricity.
Jessica O. Matthews and Julia Silverman, who are in their early 20s, came up with the idea for the sOccket while working on a class project during their junior year at Harvard. They were taking an engineering class for non-engineering majors and were tasked with addressing a social issue through art and science.
Both had travelled extensively through Africa Read More »
There are three key ingredients to a great culture boosting activity.
By Pam Selle (Developer, Paperless Post)
One of the things I like most about my current workplace is the culture. In an aggressive tech hiring environment, buffing up on how to build a great culture is definitely worth the time.
At Paperless Post, we recently had a Hack Day (or, per the company mascot, “Stampy Day”).
Here’s what it was, why it was fun, and why you should probably bring it to your company too – but more than that, how the underlying culture and ethic is great for any company.
Read More »
Published on: May 14, 2012
The documentary aims to show true, honest portrayals of women’s journeys.
By Jacqueline Baptist (Executive Producer, She Means Business)
Last November, Elizabeth and I met as part of Microsoft’s Your Office Your Terms campaign. A large part of the campaign was to reach out to women entrepreneurs across the country and talk about the triumphs and challenges they face as they strive to build businesses.
As we became more involved and engaged with this community, the stories that emerged were both amazing. There are so many outstanding women creating new and expanding established businesses. It was clear to both of us that these stories needed to be told. Read More »
