By Tara Hunt (Co-Founder & CEO, Buyosphere)
Team Buyosphere had an amazing day at the Women 2.0 PITCH Conference yesterday. We were super honored to be picked out as one of the 9 finalists out of almost 200 applications!

We were even more honored when we saw who else was pitching! Our team had to follow the effervescent and brilliant LeAnne Ozaine-Smith (who has over 10 years coaching experience in her area and a deal with Mary Kay Cosmetics!) of Prosperity (I can’t lie… I loved her “solopreneur” pitch and thought for sure she would win!), which was no easy feat.

I, personally, loved the variety of startups pitching. From money to makeup, babies to business contacts, healthcare to HR – and beyond – women are kicking some butt in the startup sphere. We were up against some incredible competition.

So, you can imagine how incredibly freakin’ excited we were to be chosen as the “most promising team” by both the audience and judges. Big ups to Tropo for sponsoring the amazing prize of a full year of free server space ($24,000 value!) at Rackspace (yo, Scoble! w00t! Thanks!)

I was blown away at the number of people who gathered in a standing-room only room for the conference. Rebecca Lipon, one of the organizers, announced that there were over 1,000 people who attended the day. That’s amazing! I recall being at one of their first events in 2006 where there were about 40 of us in a small room. Huge kudos to Shaherose and Angie for what you’ve built. I know it’s been loads of work and a labour of love. It’s definitely been a boon for THIS mostly woman-founded team. xo

This post was originally posted at Buyosphere’s blog.

Abou the guest blogger: Tara “missrogue” Hunt is a crazy audacious dreamer and the co-founder and CEO of Buyosphere. Tara was named as one of the most influential women in technology as well as one of the 25 female startup founders to watch in Fast Company Magazine. She wrote The Whuffie Factor/The Power of Social Networking (published in 8 languages), is a conference speaker and co-founded the international coworking movement. Follow her on Twitter at @missrogue.