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Women 2.0 Products

Women 2.0 Blog Network is a unique content platform where female founders, investors and innovators share their startup stories, tips and tricks and guidance. New stories go up everyday. Stay updated on the latest news and trends in technology and entrepreneurship with us here.

Interested in blogging with us? Write to us and tell us your story by contacting Angie Chang, Editor-in-Chief of Women 2.0 at editor@women2.org.

Founder Friday is a Women 2.0 networking event to promote the creation of new networks among aspiring entrepreneurs, current entrepreneurs and investors in innovative cities around the world. Founder Friday is hosted in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, New York, Madrid and Barcelona and more cities each month. Stay updated on upcoming Founder Fridays on Twitter at @FounderFriday or check for the latest events here.

Interested in bringing Founder Friday to your city? Contact Sepideh Nasiri, Director for Events and Corporate Sponsorships at sepideh@women2.org.

PITCH is an annual startup competition for early-stage technology startups across web, mobile, cleantech and more to gain exposure to investors and valuable feedback for next steps. Each year we receive 100+ submissions and engage iconic investors such as Michael Moritz (Sequoia), Tim Draper (DFJ), Esther Dyson (ED Ventures) and more. Stay updated on PITCH 2012 here.

Video interviews feature female CEOs and company founders sharing product and startup growth advice. These include leaders at the helm of mobile, software, platform, search, and e-commerce companies, and feature the experiences of Caterina Fake (Flickr, Hunch), Eileen Gittins (Blurb), and Megan Smith (Google.org), among others.

Founder Labs is a 5-week pre-incubator focused on the first phase of launching a startup — finding a team and validating the business idea. Each Founder Labs includes 20 participants that form teams, and work with mentors to validate new ideas and launch prototypes. Founder Labs is hosted over 5 weeks in San Francisco, The Bay Area and New York. Upcoming sessions will be announced for 2012. Stay up to date on upcoming application deadlines by following Founder Labs on Twitter at @FounderLabs.

Women 2.0 Leadership Team

Shaherose is currently leading Founder Labs, an early stage incubator focused on new mobile ideas. She is also a part of Opinno and a mentor with 500Startups. At heart she is a mobile and telephony junkie. She’s led new consumer products at Ribbit (BT). Previously, she was Director of Product Management at JAJAH (sold to Telefonica/O2). Shaherose holds a B.A. in Business Admin from The University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business. Follow her on Twitter at @shaherose.

Angie is a product manager, web designer, new tech junkie and above all, an entrepreneur at heart. She has been managing the Women 2.0 brand, website, social media, marketing, and strategy since 2006. Currently, Angie serves as Editor-in-Chief of Women 2.0 and co-organizes events for the community such as Women 2.0 Startup Weekend. Angie launched Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners in January 2008, asking that guys come as the “+1″ for once. In her free time, she studies the diaspora of tech-savvy and entrepreneurial women and designs cool stuff. Angie holds a B.A. in English and Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Follow her on Twitter at @thisgirlangie.

Women 2.0 Awards

Women 2.0 Advisors

Chris Albinson (Managing Director, Panorama Capit)
Chris Albinson is a co-founder of Panorama and focuses primarily on technology investments. He joined the firm in 2002. From 1999 to 2002, Chris served as an officer at Digital Island, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISLD; acquired by Cable & Wireless, Inc. in 2001), most recently as Chief Strategy Officer, and continued in this role for eight months post acquisition. Previously, Chris held corporate development roles at Newbridge Networks, Inc. where he was involved in a $217 million corporate venture fund, which invested in 27 companies, including Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNPR) and Cambrian Systems Corporation (acquired by Nortel Corporation).

Chris Shipley (CEO, Guidewire Group)
Chris is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the executive producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG Executive Forums, Chris has helped technology companies bring more than 1,000 new products to market since 1996. As a founding partner and editorial director in Guidewire Group, she consults with emerging technology companies in the U.S. and Europe to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market. Fortune Small Business Magazine placed Chris on its “Top 10 Minds in Small Business,” and the San Jose Business Journal named her a “Woman of Distinction.”

Joy Marcus (Venture Partner, DFJ Gotham Ventures)
Joy joined DFJ Gotham Ventures as Venture Partner in May 2011. Prior to joining DFJ Gotham Ventures, Joy was General Manager, US for video website Dailymotion, from its US launch through its acquisition by Orange (France Telecom) in January 2011. Prior to Dailymotion, Joy was SVP Global Marketing at Time Warner and VP Business Development of Barnes&Noble.com, which she helped take public in 1999. She was VP International Business Development at MTV Networks and began her career as an M&A lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton.

Laura Galloway (Principal, Galloway Media Group)
Laura is the founder and principal of Galloway Media Group, a media strategy firm founded in 2004 with offices in New York City and San Francisco. Laura draws on more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist and media professional to help clients achieve greater public impact for their ideas. Galloway Media Group clients include: emerging technologies, design and innovation focused efforts, major corporate philanthropic initiatives and experts from academia, science and design. Starting in 2006, Laura was also head of media relations for the TED Conferences for over five years.

Theresia Gouw Ranzetta (Partner, Accel Partners)
Theresia focuses on Internet and software investments with specific interest in vertical search/media, online media, advertising and security. She serves on boards of ForeScout, Glam Media, Imperva, Jasper Design Automation, Kosmix, LearnVest, Trulia, TRUSTe and Wetpaint. Theresia has worked in computer and communications industries since the late-1980′s as an entrepreneur, consultant and investor. Prior to Accel, she was founding VP of Business Development & Sales at Release Software. Theresia holds an Sc.B. in Engineering from Brown, magna cum laude and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Women 2.0 Supporting Leaders

Ann Miura-Ko (Partner, FLOODGATE)
Ann is a partner at FLOODGATE where her investment interests include e-commerce, security, and big data. Ann is finishing up a Ph.D. in the Management Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University, where her research focused on mathematical modeling of computer security. She teaches High Tech Entrepreneurship at Stanford and is a frequent lecturer in courses such as Technology Venture Formation, High-tech Entrepreneurship, and the Mayfield Fellows Program. Ann holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Yale.
Dave McClure (Founding Partner, 500 Startups)
Dave McClure is a venture capitalist & the founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet seed fund and startup accelerator program in Mountain View, CA. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O’Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. He also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt. Dave has been an investor in over 100 startup companies.

Eric Ries (Creator, Lean Startup) – Women 2.0 Labs Advisor
Eric is an author, speaker, and consultant for The Lean Startup. Previously, he co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of IMVU. He is the co-author of several books including The Black Art of Java Game Programming (Waite Group Press, 1996). In 2007, BusinessWeek named Eric one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs of Tech. He serves on the advisory board of a number of technology startups and venture capital firms. In 2008, he served as a venture advisor at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Steve Blank (Creator, Customer Development)
Steve moved from being an entrepreneur to teaching entrepreneurship to students at UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Columbia University/Berkeley Joint Executive MBA program. The “Customer Development” model he developed in his book is one of the core themes in these classes. In 2009, Steve was awarded the Stanford University Teaching Award in the department of Management Science & Engineering. In 2010, Steve was awarded the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching Award at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Women 2.0 Founding Sponsors

Kauffman Foundation is working to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, to advance entrepreneurship education and training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and to better facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and others, which have great promise for improving the economic welfare of our nation.
Kauffman FastTrac is the leading provider of learning curricula that equip aspiring and existing entrepreneurs with the business skills and insights, tools, resources, and networks to start and grow successful businesses. Kauffman FastTrac was created by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest foundation in the United States devoted to entrepreneurship.

Women 2.0 Startup Sponsors

Caldwell Partners is one of North America’s premier providers of executive search and has been for 40 years.
Mariposa Leadership is a premier provider of leadership coaching for executives and managers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
True Ventures is a venture firm for very early stage entrepreneurs. Founders of high growth companies deserve partners with experience, creativity and strength. Our team has directly founded over half a dozen startups and has over seventy years of combined venture capital experience. We like to put that experience to work for our entrepreneurs.

Women 2.0 Network Partners

Astia accelerates the funding and growth of companies through programs that are designed for start-ups at all stages, and is supported by Astia’s Advisor Network (over 70 former and current CEOs and 100 investors).
Bay Area Girl Geek Dinners are informal dinners featuring women speakers. Speakers vary on topics from technical to business, or even on women and tech issues (such as mentoring). The events are varied, the reach vast, and for those who are making steps towards encouraging women into and to stay in the IT industry around the world.
EZEBIS founder Pemo Theodore video interviews venture capitalists, angel investors and women founders on the shortfall in funding for women.
femtalent is an innovative equal opportunities initiative promoted by the Network of Science and Technology Parks of Catalonia (XPCAT) under the management of 22@Barcelona and with the technical collaboration of the ENRED company to foster the presence and the role of women in the XPCAT.
Ladies Who Launch is the first company to define entrepreneurship as a lifestyle choice and connect women online and in person to foster creativity, community, and support.
TheNextWomen is an online news magazine and community focused on women business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors. We have several channels: The NextWomen website (business magazine, news, database, online community), The NextWomen Events (offline community) and The NextWomen Fund & Consultancy. Started in October 2008, the magazine has profiled many Female Business Heroes, making them notable and quotable, built up a huge following, run many successful and sold-out events, such as networking events, high-profile kitchen dinners, and funding & pitching events.
NCWIT (National Center for Women and Information Technology) hosts an Entrepreneurial Alliance that brings together representatives from more than 20 established entrepreneurial organizations who understand the factors associated with entrepreneurial success. The EA’s work will address the causes and possible interventions concerning the small number of women involved in starting businesses, filing patents, and transferring technology in the IT field as its member organizations work to increase women’s representation.
NextSpace is the workplace for the new economy. We provide innovative physical and virtual infrastructure that freelancers, entrepreneurs, and creative class professionals need to succeed in the 21st century knowledge economy. In an increasingly disconnected world, NextSpace creates a collaborative community that is revolutionizing the nature of work.
O’Reilly Conferences bring alpha geeks and forward-thinking business leaders together to shape the revolutionary ideas that spark new industries, from Web 2.0 to Gov 2.0, open software to GIS aware, web performance to publishing.
Pipeline Fund is a social venture fund that invests in women-led for-profit social ventures and trains women to become angel investors through education, mentoring, and practice.
SF Ruby Workshops are free Ruby on Rails workshops for women and their friends in San Francisco. Whether you’re a complete programming novice or an experienced developer, please join us and learn Ruby! Workshops run every six weeks, so check out the website and sign up for the mailing list to join the next free Ruby on Rails class for women. Sarah Mei and Sarah Allen are working to increase the number of female Ruby developers in the San Francisco area. Part of that initiative is a series of outreach workshops for women who want to learn Ruby on Rails. These workshops are free, and men are welcome to attend as the +1 of a woman who’s taking the class. So guys – I know you’ve got a woman in your life who you’ve always thought would make a great programmer. Convince her to sign up and you can come along too!
Springboard Enterprises is the go-to organization for information about and support for emerging growth ventures led by women with the goal of connecting women entrepreneurs and investors. Springboard educates, showcases and supports women entrepreneurs as they seek capital and build their businesses.
Springworks is a mission based venture incubator that provides promising entrepreneurs a community and resource that will prepare them for raising capital and/or strategic organic growth.
Startup Weekend is a 54 hour startup event that provides networking, resources, and incentives for individuals and teams to go from idea to launch. Get connected with local developers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Build community, start startups. Startup Weekend was founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde with the concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating.
TechCentralSF is an online directory resource and collaborative community for high tech, biotech, and cleantech with over 1,000 startups and innovators making breakthroughs across San Francisco.
VCTaskforce is the premier “go-to” organization for investors. We address the crucial issues and concerns in the venture community and produce workshops, roundtable meetings and panel events that provide tactical and strategic insights and information for both investors and portfolio companies.

Women 2.0 Media Partners

AlwaysOn is transforming the media business by providing its readers with an open and participatory editorial environment.
GigaOm is one of the leading daily online news reads for the key influencers in the emerging technology market place, delivering technology news, analysis and opinions on topics ranging from broadband and online games to Web 2.0.
Mashable, world’s largest blog focused exclusively on social networks, puts your brand in front of the most tech-savvy early adopters, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, influencers, Web 2.0 aficionados and technology journalists.
O’Reilly media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its technology books, online services, magazines, research, and tech conferences.
ReadWriteWeb is one of the most popular technology blogs in the world, known for offering insightful analysis about each day’s Internet industry news.
TechCrunch is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies.
VentureBeat provides insider news and information about private companies and the venture capital that fuels them.
Web 2.0 Expo features the most innovative and successful Internet industry figures and companies providing attendees with examples of business models, development paradigms, and design strategies to enable mainstream businesses and new arrivals to the Web 2.0 world to take advantage of this new generation of services and opportunities.
W2Wlink is the premier community dedicated to professional women, helping you get to where you’re going – faster. We provide you expert knowledge, tools to overcome obstacles, and connection with others in our online groups.
WomaNetwork is an A-to-Z entrepreneurs’ network resource for women in any industry. WomaNetwork facilitates networking opportunities and provides education, guidance and encouragement to women entrepreneurs.

Women 2.0 Events

Starting with a Women 2.0 Conference in April 2006 celebrating Internet startups founders who happen to be women, Women 2.0 has held everything from conferences to panel discussions with accomplished businesswomen, entrepreneurs, and Internet heroes. Wine and cheese mixers are held regularly. An annual business plan competition culminates in a Pitch Night when finalists present their best pitches to a judging panel of VC and executives.

April 2006

“Starting a Startup” Women 2.0 Conference (Palo Alto, CA)
» Mary Hodder (Founder and CEO, Dabble)
» Jessica Hardwick (Founder and CEO, SwapThing)
» Elaine Wherry (Co-Founder and Developer, Meebo)
» Sandy Jen (Co-Founder and Developer, Meebo)
» Joyce Park (Founder, Renkoo)
» Emily Chang (Co-Founder, IdeaCodes)

July 2006

Bowling 2.0 Series (Palo Alto, CA)

August 2006

Poolside Summer Party with Meetro (Sunnyvale, CA)

November 2006

“Converting your Passion into a Real Business” Panel (Palo Alto, CA)
» Liz Gannes (Reporter, GigaOM)
» Nick Douglas (Reporter, Gawker Media)
» Shannon McClenaghan (President, JimmyJane)
» Amy Andersen (Founder and CEO, LinxDating)
» Christopher Surdi (Co-Founder and President, Global Educational Program)
» Michael Cerda (CEO, Jangl)
» Moderator: Ariel Poler (CEO, TextMarks)

January 2007

Wine and Cheese Networking (Palo Alto, CA)

February 2007

Wine and Cheese Networking (San Francisco, CA)
» Rebecca Young (Startup Coach)

March 2007

Web 2.0 Expo Exhibition (San Francisco, CA)
Pitch 2007 (San Francisco, CA)
» Carol Sands (Founder and Managing Member, The Angels’ Forum)
» David Stern (Partner, Clearstone Venture Partners)
» Lara Druyan (Partner, Allegis Capital)
» Marianne Wu (Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures)
» Marleen McDaniel (Emeritus CEO, Women.com)
» Shannon McClenaghan (President, JimmyJane)
» Sharon Vosmek (CEO, Astia)
» Tami Zhu (VP of Business Development, AOL New Ventures)
» Venky Ganesan (Managing Director, Globespan Venture Partners)

May 2007

Spring BBQ Mixer (Palo Alto, CA)

June 2007

Pub Night Mixer (San Francisco, CA)

July 2007

Garden Party Mixer (Atherton, CA)
» Katherine Barr (Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures)
» Rachel Cook (Co-Founder, Minti)

August 2007

Wine and Cheese Networking (San Francisco, CA)

October 2007

Wine and Cheese Networking (San Francisco, CA)

November 2007

Intrapreneurship Fireside Chat (Sunnyvale, CA)
» Nina Bhatti (Scientist, HP Labs)
» Cynthia Johanson (Product Manager, Yahoo!)

December 2007

Media Training Session (San Francisco, CA)
» Sue Kwon (Reporter, CBS News)

January 2008

Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #1 (Mountain View, CA)

February 2008

Meet the CEOs Open Mic Session (San Francisco, CA)
» Marleen McDaniel (Emeritus CEO, Women.com)
» Joyce Kim (CEO, Soompi)

March 2008

Meet the CEOs Open Mic Session (San Francisco, CA)
» Maria Sipka (Co-Founder and CEO, Linqia)
» Rebecca Weeks (Director of Business Development, RealGirlsMedia)
» Gina Bianchini (Co-Founder and CEO, Ning)
» William Bunker (Co-Founder and Principal, White Space Ventures)

May 2008

Beyond the Spark – Women 2.0 and Stanford Women in Business Conference (Palo Alto, CA)
» Rachel Payne (Founding Member, Google.org)
» Chris Shipley (Director, Guidewire Group)
» Erica Estrada (Product Engineer, d.light design)
» Sanjit Biswas (Co-Founder and CEO, Meraki)
» Amra Tareen (Founder, allvoices)
» Leila Chirayath (Founder and CEO, Market for Change)
» Melanie Swan (Futurist, MS Futures)

June 2008

Women 2.0 and Zynga Social (San Francisco, CA)

July 2008

Wine and Cheese Networking (San Francisco, CA)

August 2008

“Startups Helping Startups” Mixer with YouNoodle (San Francisco, CA)

September 2008

Speak with Angels (Palo Alto, CA)
» Patricia Roller (Member, The Angels’ Forum; Co-Founder, frog design)
» Georges Harik (Angel Investor; Former Director of Googlettes, Google)
» Carol Sands (Founder and Managing Member, The Halo Fund)

October 2008

Keeping Your Startup Cool During The Financial Meltdown (Palo Alto, CA)
» Shai Goldman (Director for Venture Exchange, SVB Capital)
» Rebecca Lynn (Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures)
» Prasanna Krishnan (Associate, Draper Fisher Jurvetson)
» Betty Kayton (CFO, high tech startups & early stage firms)
» Greg Schmid (Director, Managing Uncertainty Group)
» Jill E. Fishbein (Partner, Carr & Ferrell LLP)

Music Makers and Technology Shakers (San Francisco, CA)
» Angelina Moysov (Singer / Songerwriter, Persephones Bees)
» Lucia Iman (Top-selling artist, SellaBand)
» Pim Betist (Founder and Creative Director, SellaBand)
» Celia Hirschman (Commentator, KCRW’s “On the Beat”)
» Cecily Mak (Senior Counsel, Real Networks and Rhapsody)
» Jay Durgan (President, Raiden Holdings; Former Head of Business Development, Warner Music)
» Elise Nordling (Music Director and DJ, Indie Pop Rocks!)

November 2008

So You Wanna Start A Company (Berkeley, CA)
» Annie Chang (Co-Founder, LOLapps)
» Edith Yeung (Founder, SFentrepreneur; Co-Founder, Clue Market, Inc.; Executive Producer, BizTechDay)
» Donielle Buie (Founding Partner, Gutsy Partners)
» Hazel Grace Dircksen (Founder, Socialbees Strategy)
» Alison Covarrubias (Owner, Business Legs; Director, San Francisco Chapter of Ladies Who Launch)

December 2008

Women 2.0 Joins BizSpark Launch Party (San Francisco, CA)

January 2009

Women 2.0 Book Swap and Mixer (San Francisco, CA)
» Tara Hunt (Author, The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business)
» Sramana Mitra (Author, Entrepreneur Journeys Volume 1)
» Clara Shih (Author, The Facebook Era: Tap Online Social Networks to Build Better Products)

March 2009

Pitch 101: Applying to Women 2.0’s Startup Competition (Palo Alto, CA)
» Georges Harik (Principal, Better Planet Investments)
» Rebecca Lynn (Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures)
» Betty Kayton (Founder and CEO, InnovativeCFO)
» Aihui Ong (Executive Managing Director of Pitch, Women 2.0)

Women 2.0 VC & Entrepreneur Roundtable (San Francisco, CA)
» Christine Herron (Principal, First Round Capital)
» David Hornik (Partner, August Capital)

April 2009

Women 2.0 Co-Working with Co-Founders (San Francisco, CA)

May 2009

Women 2.0 Pitch Night (San Francisco, CA)

June 2009

Women 2.0 Visits Barcelona – Startup Meetup Goes EURO! (Barcelona, Spain)
Women 2.0 Mixer at LOLapps (San Francisco, CA)

July 2009

Women 2.0 Mixer for Women in Open-Source and Entrepreneurship (San Jose, CA)

August 2009

Women 2.0 Pearls of Wisdom Panel at Microsoft (Mountain View, CA)
Women 2.0 Startup Weekend (San Francisco, CA)

September 2009

Demystifying Government and Stimulus Funding for Your Startup

October 2009

Startup Essentials (San Francisco, CA)

Women 2.0 Golden Rules to Founder Success

• Fail fast, iterate, and try again.
• Build, don’t talk: Launch a minimal viable product as part of idea validation process.
• Bootstrap to launch.
• Entrepreneurship can be a means to fulfill your life’s passions, and positively contribute to the world.
• Be resourceful. If you don’t have the skills, let’s find them.
• Build authentic relationships.
• Operate with uncompromising ethics and values in operations and in the startup ideas we support.
• No frills, keep things low cost, and operate like a startup. No fancy dinners!

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