Published on: May 16, 2013 – 6:00 am
Bootstrapping your products business by offering services is a controversial move, but Sramana Mitra believes she has good evidence that it’s often a successful strategy.
By Sramana Mitra (Founder, One Million by One Million)
Because it’s often so difficult for entrepreneurs to obtain seed funding for their startups, bootstrapping is one of the best methods to self-fund their projects. If outside investment capital is for whatever reason undesirable or unobtainable, bootstrapping a product by offering a service is one of the best ways to go. This, by the way, remains a controversial point-of-view, and most industry observers will take the position that companies get distracted if they try to bootstrap a product with a service. At 1M/1M, we take a pragmatic and contrarian position, and back it up with numerous case studies. From where we sit, bootstrapping products with services is a tried and true method. Read More »
Published on: May 13, 2013 – 12:14 pm
What goes into a winning pitch? An infographic explains exactly how to craft the perfect pitch.
By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt (Editor, Women 2.0)
A winning pitch deck is made up of many different parts that complement each other perfectly. This infographic, presented by InvestorPitches.com, will teach you how to include all the pieces you need, and none that you don’t. Read More »
Published on: May 8, 2013 – 1:17 pm
The reason that so many top brands agreed to work with Mika, says Fenseko, is that most of the on-line retail world is about discounting and Mika is actually selling clothes at their full price photographed as if they appeared in Vogue or W.
By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt (Editor, Women 2.0)
You know what it’s like when you’re getting ready for a board meeting and you just don’t have the mojo to pull together a great outfit. Elena Fesenko, the founder of the new startup Mika just raised $1.7M to solve this dilemma for women, according to Tech Crunch. Read More »
Published on: May 3, 2013 – 9:00 am
Founder Institute CEO Adeo Ressi shares his thoughts on the recent changes in the funding landscape, and the risks he sees for the future.
by Adeo Ressi (Founder & CEO, Founder Institute & TheFunded.com)
Since 2008, I believe there has been more innovation in the field of funding entrepreneurs than in any other short period in history. Recently, I have been asked by many entrepreneurs, investors, and journalists to provide my thoughts on the last five years, and on where we are headed in the future. Here’s my opinion.
Read More »
Published on: May 1, 2013 – 7:00 am
Accelerators are plentiful. Seed stage funding, not so much, writes the founder of Canopi.me, which means a slow and agonizing death for many startups.
By Erin Flynn (Co-Founder, Canopi.me)
After twiddling my thumbs for quite some time, in other words reading blogs and drinking abnormal amounts of coffee, I was finally inspired to write about what has been weighing on my mind for quite some time now. Fundraising is hard. Period. Fundraising as a woman in a women-driven market is even harder. I’m not going to preach around the difficulties of how hard it is to fundraise. I’m pretty sure that boat has sailed. Instead, I’d like to preach on the problem that seems to be somewhat silent. This problem that is otherwise known as the “big ass HOLE.” Read More »
Published on: April 30, 2013 – 8:00 am
BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker talks to Women 2.0 about her experiences as a woman in male-dominated fields, and why she thinks women have distinct advantages in tech.
By Jessica Stillman (Editor, Women 2.0)
When it comes to being a rare woman in a male-dominated industry, BlackLine Systems founder and CEO Therese Tucker faces a double whammy. As the founder of a firm that makes accounting software, she travels in both technology and financial circles — both of which are seriously short of women.
So how did she manage to build BlackLine into a rapidly growing company that serves more than 75 Fortune 500 companies with 165 employees? Tucker talked to Women 2.0 about being the only woman in the room, female programmers’ unique approach to software and how she managed to start up with two school-age kids (and no venture capital). Read More »
Published on: April 29, 2013 – 3:56 pm
HealthyOut was a finalist at the PITCH SF 2013 Startup Competition.
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
With two-thirds of American adults struggling with overweight and obesity issues, developing solutions to help people eat healthier has never been more important.
Mobile app HealthyOut, co-founded by CEO Wendy Nguyen raised a $1.2 million round led by 500 Startups, Blueprint Health, 37 Angels, Jan Brandt (AOL Vice Chair Emeritus), Peter Horan (Answers.com President/COO), BHV, partners at TSG Consumer Partners, NY restaurateur Dave Kassling and other angels. Read More »
Published on: April 29, 2013 – 7:00 am
Freelance writer Justine Lee talks to female angels and founders about how to get more women to invest in startups.
By Justine Lee (Contributing Writer, Women 2.0)
In a room full of 100 angel investors, 85 of them are men, and 15 are women.
While this proportion is already shifting, there is work to be done to get that number closer to 50. I spoke with three women entrepreneurs and three women angel investors about their ideas on how we can get there. Read More »
Published on: April 24, 2013 – 8:00 am
Vogelaar and her fellow founders made the smart call that people will be more likely to invest in 3D printing if they don’t have to buy printers.
By Rachel Lehmann-Haupt (Editor, Women 2.0)
Everyone’s been skeptical about whether 3D printing is really going to hit. Female founder Marleen Vogelaar, COO of Shapeways, seems to have found the secret sauce. This week
Chris Dixon made his first investment as a partner in Andreeson Horowitz, announcing that they are giving $30 million to Shapeways, a 3D printing market place that lets designers upload and print their 3D creations. Dixon is also joining Shapeways board of directors.
Read More »
Published on: April 23, 2013 – 12:24 pm
Menlo Park-based Susan Akbarpour, co-founder and president of Mavatar, raised $1 million in seed funding this week!
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Smart comparison shopping company Mavatar was co-founded by Stanford Graduate School of Business grad Susan Akbarpour, who presented at Women 2.0 PITCH SF Startup Competition as a finalist earlier this year.
The company today announced raising $1 million funding from former Facebook CPO Chris Kelly, former Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer Jeffery Moore, Triton Systems CEO Ross Haghighat, and Dr. Afshin Graveli and his wife Anousheh. Read More »
