U
D

Conversation

the

10/04/10 | Uncategorized

Disruptive women at TechCrunch Disrupt 2010

Disrupting Disrupt were the women — while the panel on “women in tech” created a lot of talk (also known as useless banter) and a deflating aura, the founders in the Battlefield pushed forward and we are excited to see these founders deliver strong pitches.
We look forward to their success in the coming months. Check out female founders to watch from TechCrunch Disrupt 2010.

After returning from TechCrunch Disrupt 2010, we have 5 wishes for TechCrunch Disrupt in 2011:

  • No such panel called “women in tech”
  • More than 5 female founders pitching in the Battlefield
  • At least 1 team from Women 2.0 Labs, our pre-incubator program
  • Positive news such as growth or funding from the 5 female founders that launched this year
  • Better veggie options for lunch 😉

We had the chance to catch up with some of the founders who pitched at TechCrunch Disrupt 2010. We asked about their experiences launching their company in front of one of the most capitive, active and cyncial tech audiences. The reflections they shared are encouraging!

Tara Hunt, Founder of Shwowp, said “TechCrunch Disrupt was the best thing Shwowp could have done. Number one, it made us really hone our pitch. Number two, we came together as a team under pressure – you know what they say, the difference between graphite and a diamond is pressure. Lastly, being in the show got us the exposure and made us the sorts of introductions we could have never gotten on our own. I’d highly recommend it to anyone launching their startup.”

We also had the chance to hear from Julia Hu who bravely launched a new hardware product on stage, Lark: “TechCrunch Disrupt was a spectacular event not only because of the great people, but because it forced us to completely put ourselves out there and let the broader audience judge and interpret our company. Going live for the first time (and in front of an international audience), our team was inspired to work harder than they ever had in focusing on articulating what LARK is really about, and throwing out all the secondary messages/issues/features we’d been mulling on. That focus has been transformative for our company. I’m so thankful Mike, Heather, and Erick really stuck by us and gave us so much support- we were sort of an oddball as a simple consumer product in a sea of amazing high-tech software startups.”

Sumaya Kazi from Sumazi said: “Competing and launching at TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield was both an exhilarating and exhausting process. From the moment we found out we were selected as one of 25 of 1,000 international applicants to compete (just only about 2 weeks before competition) we were officially in launch mode. That meant we had impossible development goals to meet, insane team working meetings that lasted sometimes 12-14 hours (most of the time we weren’t done until 5am), last minute preparation for rehearsals with the TechCrunch editors & VCs giving us advice, and of course the mad dash to put together a solid pitch and presentation for competition day. It was the best experience a startup could ask for. Not only did we get an amazing outpouring of excitement from people worldwide, we also had an insane amount of traffic and signups to our site, investors knocking at our door, great press from publications like the New York Times, and of course a big launch on the world stage. The highlight of it all was when we were recognized at the awards ceremony by the Head of Investments at Omidyar Network as the ‘Startup Most Likely to Change the World.’ We were definitely one of the earlier stage startups competing but I believe we held our own and showed the world a small taste of the big things to come from Sumazi.”

A huge congratulations again to everyone who launched their companies at TechCrunch Disrupt 2010.

Editor

Editor

The Switch Editorial Team.

Straight to your inbox.

The best content on the future faces of tech and startups.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SHARE THIS STORY

NEW COHORT STARTS JANUARY 2024

Join the Angel Sessions

Develop strategic relationships, build skills, and increase your deal flow through our global angel group and investing course.

RELATED ARTICLES
[yarpp]