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06/04/12 | Uncategorized

Meebo, Founded By CTO Sandy Jen And Developer Elaine Wherry, Acquired By Google For A Rumored $100M

Congratulations to co-founders Sandy Jen and Elaine Wherry for the acquisition of Meebo by Google today!

By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

Six years ago, we invited Meebo co-founders Sandy Jen and Elaine Wherry as speakers for the first Women 2.0 conference in April 2006. I remember how excited the Women 2.0 team was to meet the two female engineers (and co-founders of a tech startup) that day. They proved that you can use AJAX to build a scaleable, multi-client IM service. Meebo was a huge hit; everyone was using it; VC funding ensued; the rest is history.

Fast forward 6 years and today, Meebo announces on their blog that they have been acquired by Google – congrats to Meebo!

 

Co-Founder and CTO Sandy Jen is a frequent speaker at events and conferences – encouraging women to go into tech and feel confident in it:

“You may not feel as if you are qualified or confident enough… The biggest insight in this entrepreneurial journey of mine was when I realized ‘someone I knew who was not super smart, who failed the same tests I did, and started a company’, I realized I could do that too. We launched Meebo without funding, got a lot of traction and finally was fulfilled.

The gender thing hit me a few years later when people realized that the two technical founders of Meebo are women, and the guy is the business guy. That was interesting for me personally because I hadn’t noticed until I went to the Grace Hopper Conference and realized I had never seen so many young women engineers in one room…

What I learned there is women tend to under estimate themselves. They can accomplish so much, but they don’t identify themselves as being powerful and smart and just as good as the guy next to them. They make excuses for their achievements… Be confident for who you are,” said Meebo co-founder and CTO Sandy Jen at a 2011 Technovation event hosted by Andreessen Horowitz.

And here are some recent Founder.ly videos interviews Sandy Jen participated in:

“”Perseverance is the key to overcoming self-doubt.” Full transcripts available here for part 1 and part 2 of her interviews.

May we be hearing much more inspiration, stories and news from Meebo co-founder and CTO Sandy Jen in the future! Her success story, determination and passion for supporting/mentoring women is exemplary.

Angie Chang co-founded Women 2.0 in 2006. She currently serves as Editor-In-Chief of Women 2.0 and is working to mainstream women in high-growth, high-tech entrepreneurship. Previously, Angie held roles in product management and web UI design. In 2008, Angie launched Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners, asking that guys come as the “+1” for once. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland

Anne-Gail Moreland, an intern with Women 2.0, was on the StartupBus. She studies neuroscience at Mount Holyoke College, where she is trying to merge a passion for tech and the brain into a new wave of cognition-based technology

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