By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
This week, we learned the numbers behind Facebook’s impending IPO – and that COO Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook’s highest paid employee, earning $30.8M last year.
The all-male board of Facebook makes you wonder why a company serving a user base of at least 50% half women has no female representation on the board. We told ourselves that women board directors can build value and bring win-win strategies to the table – let’s #changetheratio here.
Women make up half the world population, but Read More »
By Roger Park (Blog Editor, AT&T Interactive Blog)
This week, AT&T Interactive will be a participant and sponsor of Women 2.0’s Founder Friday at the Bluxome Winery in San Francisco. In 2011, we were a sponsor of Women 2.0’s San Francisco session of Founder Labs, which was a great experience. And it’s that entrepreneurial spirit Women 2.0 exemplifies with these events that makes us proud to work with Women 2.0 again this year!
I’m happy to tell you about the YP? Developer Program – our new program that offers app and web developers free access to information on more than 17 million local businesses Read More »
Published on: February 3, 2012 Tags: Caterina Fake, Ellen Dudar, Flickr, FourthWall Media, Hunch, Julie Yoo, Kyruus, Leah Busque, Michelle You, Songkick, TaskRabbit
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Do you remember when serial tech entrepreneur Caterina Fake graced the cover of Newsweek magazine for founding Flickr?
Women are often identified as consumers of market goods, but seldom recognized for their ability to create products – from consumer goods like Giddy Snacks in Whole Foods stores to venture-funded tech startups like Songkick.
We at Women 2.0 are celebrating product innovators that happen to be women on Valentine’s Day – join us for a day of speakers on product innovation. Read More »
Published on: February 3, 2012 Tags: Amrita Rao, TreasureYourArt
By Amrita Rao (Founder & CEO, TreasureYourArt)
So you’ve done everything your entrepreneurship professor at business school taught you to do. You’ve done your numbers, run your models, spent months getting that perfect website up and running, emailed everyone you know (and many you don’t), and in your excitement, you’ve even printed Business Cards with your name, followed by that coveted Founder and CEO title.
But now what? Where is that first order? Why is it taking so long? Have I done something wrong? Should I do more?
Starting your own business has many benefits – Read More »
By Gina Trapani (Creator, ThinkUp & Todo.txt Apps)
I’ve switched to an iPhone as my primary mobile device because I’m dogfooding my new iOS app. Coming off of three straight years of Android, one of the toughest parts of the transition was losing the applications drawer.
My new iPhone had so many screens of icons, all perfectly aligned in a grid, every one with rounded corners, all equal visual weight, nary a widget in site! I got dizzy swiping across the carousel of apps trying to find the one I needed.
I decided to get all my apps onto 1 or 2 homescreens Read More »
Published on: February 2, 2012 Tags: Anna Billstrom, Arduino, Give Back, Hackfests, Invention, LilyPad, Momentus Media, My First Android App, Open Source, Pair Programming, Semantic Web, Session Topics, She's Geeky, Stacie Hibino, Unconference, Why I Went To The Cloud
By Anna Billstrom (Developer, Momentus Media)
I really want to find this picture of my great-grandfather standing in front of his car, that has a license plate with a big circle cut out of the center. He’s showing off his invention. A way of keeping your car from being stolen. You take the center of the license out with you when you leave the car. Ta-da.
Inventing things is so much fun! OK blog post is done.
Alright, more background: She’s Geeky is an “unconference” that is, a loosely self-organized conference based on Read More »
Published on: February 2, 2012 Tags: Andrea Lo, Balsamiq, Idea, Iterating, Join.Me, Keynotopia, Paper, Paper Prototype, Piggybackr, PowerPoint, Prototype, Prototyping, User Feedback, Weebly, WordPress
By Andrea Lo (Founder, Piggybackr)
The purpose of a prototype is to cut down on the time spent building out a product so you can focus on figuring out what people want.
Having a prototype from day one gives you authentic user feedback – because you are able to immediately gauge how users react to your product.
Surveys and interviews are only so helpful since they often depend on how well you’ve phrased your questions or cut out biases.
Here is what I learned while prototyping during the idea phase of my startup Read More »
Published on: February 2, 2012 Tags: NCWIT, Sheryl Sandberg, Sit With Me
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Above: Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook with the red chair. Below: Wild Frog Studio co-founder Rodica Ceslor in the red chair.
Facebook had a red chair at their Silicon Valley headquarters and invited people to stop by during lunch in the cafeteria. Over 80 Facebook employees had their pictures taken “sitting” in the red chair as a statement of solidarity for women in technology.
What Is The Red Chair?
The Sit with Me campaign encourages women and men to “sit” to take a stand and validate women in technology, recognizing them for the important role they play in creating new technology.
We are excited to see Sheryl Sandberg has sat in the red chair.
In last year’s Barnard commencement speech, Sheryl challenged women to be more ambitious and encouraged the young women to sit down and lean in:
“If all young women start to lean in, we can close the ambition gap right here, right now, if every single one of you leans in. Leadership belongs to those who take it. Leadership starts with you.” She reminded women to “take a page from men and own their own success.”
Read More »
Published on: February 2, 2012 Tags: Black Founders, Diversity, Hadiyah Mujhid
By Hadiyah Mujhid (Co-Founder, Black Founders)
So if it isn’t obvious, I want to clarify that the title of this post is just a catch-title. But I also want to clarify that the organization Black Founders is not just for black people. In fact, the organization is created for all. This statement does not take away from the mission of “increasing the number of successful black entrepreneurs in technology”. But an attempt to uncover the broader purpose of organizations that are founded in diversity and equality.
I attended a couple of startup networking events this week. Typical protocol at these events is to introduce who you are and Read More »
By Heather McGough (Founder, Urbanity Events)
For years, I was so caught up in my non-profit bubble that I didn’t realize I was managing and growing a “cool startup” in San Francisco.
What I learned is that I thrive in this atmosphere and crave what Silicon Valley startups are made of: ass-kicking.
I morphed from my non-profit bubble and merged into the world of powerful women entrepreneurs, startups and tech.
Here are five reasons I admire high-growth, high-tech Read More »
Published on: February 1, 2012 Tags: Angel Investors, Angela Lee, Anna Curran, Binta Niambi Brown, Caryn Effron, Fradel Barber, Galia Gichon, Helaine Olen, Holly Lynch, Jade Netanya Ullmann, Jocelyn Jacobson, Kellee Joost, Kristin Calve, Leah Belsky, Liz Roberts, Ming Zhao, Nandini P. Narula, New York City, Nicole Faurot, Pipeline Fellows, Pipeline Fellowship, Shaifali Puri, Sheri Sandler, Sheri Sobrato Brisson, Simone Brummelhuis, TheNextWeb, Women Angel Investors
By Simone Brummelhuis (Founder, TheNextWomen)
A new group of angel investors are entering the world of informal investments.
The Pipeline Fellowship – which trains women philanthropists to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice – has just announced its 2012 NYC Pipeline Fellowship class:
Fradel Barber
Fradel is the Visionary Entrepreneur and Director of Expansion World Financial Group. She is a member of the Leadership Network of World Financial Group — a group of hand selected individuals Read More »
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
A post by Whitney Hess is making the rounds in New York’s circle of women entrepreneurs in technology titled “The plain numbers about women in tech – The VCs”.
She takes an empirical look at the gender ratio of venture capital firms focusing on early-stage funding, that have funded over “brand name” startups, and have funds worth over $100 million.
Here are the more positive numbers for VC firms funding high-profile early-stage startups:
- Accel Partners: 4 women investors out of 40 Read More »
By Kati Bicknell (Co-Founder, Kindara)
I’m the co-founder of Kindara. Our mission is to provide women with a full solution (hardware, software, support and education) that makes the Symptothermal Method of fertility management easier than ever before.
We graduated from the New York Spring 2011 Founder Institute at the top of our class, and recently closed a Friends and Family round of funding. I’m a member of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and one of the few women in the country being trained as a Fertility Awareness Educator. Read More »
By Julia Hu (Founder & CEO, LARK)
You are always building, and rebuilding a great team. It is never in stasis – even when you are not hiring you are tweaking roles to better fit people within your company, or partnering with strategic partners, or letting people go.
At the end of the day, your team is first (or a close second) in what makes your business successful. But, it’s definitely first in line for how happy you are everyday when you are slaving away on building something new.
Here are four lessons that I have discovered Read More »
By Manali V. Dighe (Intellectual Property Attorney, Borton Petrini)
Patents are integral for innovation. On the one hand, patents promote disclosure of new and useful inventions. On the other hand, as a “payment” for disclosure, the patent owner gets the exclusive right to make, use, sell, or offer to sell the invention. Patent law will be experiencing arguably its biggest reform to date.
On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed a landmark patent reform act, the America Invents Act. Some changes will go into effect immediately, and some will go into effect 12 or 18 months from the date of enactment. Read More »
Published on: February 1, 2012 Tags: Aigerim Duiseneyeva, Amanda Steinberg, Angels Sastre, Anu Duggal, Barcelona, DailyWorth, Danae Ringelmann, Elaine Wherry, Elisa Reyna, Exclusively.In, Founder Friday, IndieGoGo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Marta Alonso, Meebo, Muuby, New York City, Petuky, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Sara Mesonero, Shana Zheng, ShopRepublic, Silicon Valley, Stitch Labs, Triptrotting, Uniccos, Willo O'Brien
By Sepideh Nasiri (Corporate Sponsorships & Events Director, Women 2.0)
Women 2.0 is hosting six global Founder Friday networking mixers for women entrepreneurs and their friends on Friday, February 3, 2012 in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York City, Madrid and Barcelona. Read More »
Published on: January 31, 2012 Tags: Career Advice, Career Development, Francine Della Badia, Laura Agostini, Leadership, Nell Merlino, Personal Development, Startup Lessons Learned, Tania Yuki, Wimlink
By Tania Yuki (Founder, wimlink)
How are you doing as a leader?
Whether you manage hundreds of people or you want to get promoted to a leadership role, merely being terrific at your job will not cut it. Yes, even if you’re terrific.
Too many options compete for everyone’s attention, and they continue to expand daily. Therefore, it is critical to ensure you are rising above the noise and focusing on what matters, so you can support, impress and hold the attention of those Read More »
By Melanne Verveer & Kim Azzarelli (Contributors, The Daily Beast)
Businesses are starting to understand what development experts have long known: investing in women pays dividends. Women are more likely than men to put their income back into their communities, driving illiteracy and mortality rates down and GDP up.
Now a corporate revolution is at hand, one that is moving beyond philanthropy, making women partners in business at all levels. This was an important theme at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, which hosted a plenary session entitled “Women as the Way Forward” on the potential impact of women on the global economy. Read More »
Published on: January 31, 2012
By Steph Palmeri (Senior Associate, SoftTech VC)
The team at Women 2.0 is compiling a book – “101 Questions About Launching Your Company”.
“101 questions,” you say?
“Yes, and answers!” from female investors, founders, and CEOs about starting a new venture.
Here’s an early peek. By no means exhaustive, I hope this piece will provide a helpful starting point for first-time founders (women and men) navigating the cloudy waters of raising capital. Read More »
By Amanda Steinberg (Founder & CEO, DailyWorth)
Editor’s note: DailyWorth CEO Amanda Steinberg is co-hosting Founder Friday New York on February 3, 2012. FREE RSVP for the event here.
I’ve always been interested in creating businesses, inspired by my single mother, who always stressed the importance of financial self-sufficiency. I launched my first e-commerce website when I was 21, and throughout the years built Web agencies like CitySoft and Soapbxx to $1 million-plus in revenue.
As a web engineer throughout my twenties, I worked Read More »
Published on: January 31, 2012
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
Bootstrapping your startup? Unemployed or underemployed? Still a student? We understand life has its ups and down.
Women 2.0 is working to keep the PITCH 2012 Conference & Competition affordable to all. You can apply for a deeply discounted ticket for PITCH – we will grant discounts on a need basis over the next week.
So tell your friends, neighbors and colleagues about PITCH and how we are keeping the conference accessible to all. Read More »
Published on: January 30, 2012
By Angels Sastre (Founder, ShopRepublic)
Editor’s note: ShopRepublic founder Angels Sastre is co-hosting Founder Friday Barcelona on February 3, 2012. Join the wait list here.
For some reason, I have always been quite restless – I am not really a stay-at-home person. It must be my catalan-phoenician genes that always make me want to explore the world. I remember convincing my dad at 16 to go to the police station to sign up a permit for me to travel alone to France and cross the border by myself.
When I was 21, I had finished my degree in Business Administration and started working in Read More »
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
From the editorial staff at VentureBeat – “because people send us stuff like this all day” – Jolie O’Dell and the team at VentureBeat bring you the video of “Sh*t startup people say”.
Here are our top 10 lines from the video:
1.) “The leading company in the blow-dryer only segment of the beauty industry..”
2.) “Pivot!”
3.) “And if it doesn’t work out, we’ll just pivot.”
4.) “We’re an Airbnb for coffee.” Read More »
By Hadiyah Mujhid (Co-Founder, Black Founders)
“A micropreneur is an entrepreneur willing to accept the risk of starting and managing the type of business that remains small, lets them do the kind of work they want to do, and offers them a balanced lifestyle.” – InvestorDictionary.com
Or you could substitute this definition with a more urban definition like: A micropreneur is someone who has a “side hustle.”
One of my favorite things about following the startup industry is discovering tools that can be used by Read More »
By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)
From New York City, ConsumerBell Founder & CEO Ellie Cachette along with JumpThru Founder & CEO Deborah Jackson talk with Diana Williams of ABC 7 about women entrepreneurs, finding funding and the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs.
When asked about venture-funded startups, Deborah Jackson said:
“The statistics will show you that women do not raise as much money as men raise. I suspect that’s because part of the product that the women tend to create is the products that women understand, and people tend to invest Read More »
