Networking women entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley
In Conversation with Women 2.0
Women 2.0’s Emily Goligoski, Jazmin Hupp, and Saroj Yadav interview women entrepreneurs and technology leaders about their professional experiences and lessons learned. Education, transitions, risk, and networking are covered in the series.
Emily Goligoski from Women 2.0 sat down with VidSF and Megan Smith, general manager for Google.org, to learn about the search giant’s philanthropy efforts and how they dovetail with Smith’s personal passions.
Emily Goligoski from Women 2.0 sat down with VidSF and Julia Hartz, co-founder of the online event registration company Eventbrite, in San Francisco to discuss the company’s approach to mobile and knowing when an idea is worth making sacrifices for. The former television network executive discusses building a quality product, growing a repeat user base and perfecting a divide and conquer co-founder strategy before seeking $7 million from Sequoia Capital.
Women 2.0’s Emily Goligoski and VidSF sat down with Eileen Gittins, founder and CEO of the book publishing company Blurb, for her thoughts on naming a company with international aims and launching a digital offering days before the release of the iPad. Gittins discussed approaching VCs about physical publishing when it wasn’t front of mind, expanding Blurb’s service worldwide and still making time to see the work its’ community creates.
When Tal Flanchraych took the marketing helm at the startup Cabulous, the taxi hailing iPhone app took off in pursuit of changing the way cab transportation happens in cities. Come along for a ride to see how it works.
Sharon Vosmek, the CEO of Astia and a longtime supporter of Women 2.0’s work in encouraging leadership of high growth startups, discusses her non-profit organization’s work to fuel innovation in the countries where it works, including India, the US and the UK. Current data on the number of female company founders is discussed.
During Women 2.0’s recent “Will It Launch?” weekend workshop for prospective entrepreneurs, moderator Poornima Vijayashanker spoke about her decision to leave Mint.com (where she was the founding engineer) to create software for small businesses. She discussed knowing when to take a risk–including leaving Stanford grad school to start a company that was later sold to Intuit–and how her BizeeBee co-founder Liz Wiltsie found her by following Women 2.0 on Twitter.
In advance of the most recent Skimble iPhone app update, company co-founder Maria Ly talked with Women 2.0 and VidSF about creating the activity tracking platform. She certainly didn’t sit down for the In Conversation series interview at Mission Cliffs, but she did discuss transitioning from a Fortune 500 company to selecting activities for personal tracking, including snowboarding, swimming, running, and yoga. Platform participants note their physical exercise and can share their progress with friends.
Julie Greenberg founded Jobnob after 10 years of working for internet/media companies like ZING (sold to Dell), Napster, and NBC Universal. She talks about how to avoid stalling your startup by over-planning, empowering yourself to earn more with salary information, and finding free fabulous interns.
Amra Tareen, founder & CEO of allvoices.com shares how she has done it all - having a family, founding a team and being a CEO.
Prior to allvoices, Amra was a partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. She was at Sevin Rosen from 2000-2006 to focus on investment opportunities in communications infrastructure and next generation carriers. Prior to joining Sevin Rosen, Amra was a product marketing director at Ascend Communications. She was instrumental in growing the DSL business. She was also responsible for product positioning, competitive analysis and outbound marketing for the remote access business. Earlier she worked as the product manager for Ascend’s SS7 gateway.
Megan Casey, co-founder of squidoo.com shares her journey from an editor to a co-founder. Before joining the founding Squidoo team Megan spent 6 years in book publishing, most recently at the Portfolio business books imprint of Penguin Group, USA. There she developed pioneering marketing and technology books from the likes of John Battelle, Seth Godin, Bo Burlingham, Rod Beckstrom and Ori Braufman, and Dave Balter — among countless others.
Megan was universally regarded as the most effective (and, irrelevantly, the youngest) editor working in the popular business book genre. She is also a user experience and marketing consultant for several author websites, and once upon a time ran her own author website development company.
Caterina Fake, co-founder of Hunch and Flickr shares her journey of starting Hunch after having succeeded at Flickr. Hunch is a collective intelligence decision-making system that uses decision trees to make decisions based on users’ interests. It launched in June 2009. Prior to Hunch, Fake was co-founder of Flickr, a photo-sharing service developed by Ludicorp in Vancouver and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. Prior to Flickr she was Art Director at Salon.com and heavily involved in the development of online community, social software and personal publishing. She joined the board of directors of Creative Commons in August 2008 and in May 2009 received an Honorary Doctorate from RISD.
Shinyoung Park is working on her third successful startup, as founder of the mobile social network for teens, Funji. She speaks to Women 2.0 about choosing the right founding team members and managing development to make better changes. Shinyoung lived in South Korea for 30 years before moving to the United States and she shares her advice for first generation Americans.
Josette Melchor is the founder and executive director of the Gray Area Foundation for the the Arts. Since 2005, she has been working towards opening three art spaces in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. She speaks about the importance of arts education, choosing a location, and what her organization teaches artists about digital marketing.
Liz Gannes, editor of NewTeeVee on the GigaOM network, covers news and analysis of the online video industry. The former Red Herring reporter talks about the differences between blogging and writing for traditional media, what distinguishes technology and content startups, and the explosive growth of web video.
Jen Bekman thought she was on the perfect path working at Netscape in 1999. Join us as we ask her about starting over, finding the right project for yourself, and curating versus crowdsourcing. Jen Bekman owns an eponymous art gallery, writes a blog called Personism and is the founder of the international photo competition, “Hey, Hot Shot!”. Her latest endeavor is 20×200, a place to buy editioned prints and photos at ridiculously affordable prices.
March 17, 2010 — Patricia Araque (Founder & President, Ellas 2.0) and Shaherose Charania (Co-Founder & CEO, Women 2.0) speak to red.es about women entrepreneurs. For example, Shaherose has participated in the launch of several tech startups. In this talk, these women entrepreneurs shared their experiences in advancing women in technology-based ventures, and answer questions from the audience.
Join Women2.0 in conversation with Veronica Belmont, co-host of Revision3’s tech-centric show, Tekzilla, and Qore on the PlayStation Network. Got to know what you are talking about!! - strongly advises Veronica Belmont. Join us in this interview with Veronica where she shares her journey from CNET to Tekzilla along with her secret to a great personal brand.
Join Women2.0 in conversation with Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream. Shellye shares how her experiences at companies like IBM, BlockBuster led her to where she is today. Shellye is a strong believer in power of planning & having mentors around you.
Wendy Lea has worked as a bootstrap entrepreneur, corporate executive, and angel investor over the last 25 years. She recently joined GetSatisfaction.com as CEO. She shares her advice about when to admit that you don’t understand, raising capital, and how female leaders can authentically manage effectively.
Jennifer Pahlka is the co-chair and general manager of the Web 2.0 Expos for TechWeb. She speaks about avoiding burn-out, understanding complex technologies, and the upcoming Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco (3/31-4/5/09).
Jennifer previously she chaired Enterprise 2.0, and before that was the director of the Game Group at CMP. During her tenure in the games business, she oversaw the dramatic growth of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) from 1995 to 2003 and launched a number of notable programs, including the Independent Games Festival, known as the Sundance of the game industry, and the Game Developers Choice Awards. She is a graduate of Yale University.
Erica Douglass sold her million dollar web hosting company at the age of 26. She speaks about finding funding, knowing your limitations, and how to get started in technology. For more advice from Erica, visit http://www.erica.biz.
Elisa Camahort Page worked in high tech before co-founding BlogHer, a community for and guide to blogs by women that hosts annual conferences, an online content hub, and an advertising network.
Kirsten Spoljaric is a founder and the director of human resources at Mashery. She speaks about starting at the bottom, setting expectations, and working with an all male team.
Sandy Jen is co-founder of Meebo, an Ajax-based in-browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services. She talks about how and why she chose to be where she is today, and shares her experiences as an entrepreneur.
Eileen Hassi on founding Ritual Roasters in San Francisco (Download MP3)
Eileen founded San Francisco’s Ritual Coffee Roasters four years ago and has managed to expand to three locations and a roastery in the midst of a recession. She discusses ways that informing local consumers tastes’ can improve the quality of life for coffee growers worldwide, why entrepreneurs don’t make good employees for other people, and the importance of finding good mentors while following your own instincts.
Our mission is to increase the number of female founders of technology startups, by enabling entrepreneurs with a network, resources and knowledge to take your startup from an idea to launch. Join the Women 2.0 mailing list here.
Founder Showcase featuring Elon Musk & Jason Calacanis
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010, 4pm - 10pm
Microsoft, Mountain View, CA Women 2.0 members save 15% with coupon code "w20"
See Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com, speak at the The Founder Showcase on Tuesday evening, August 3rd in Mountain View, CA. This quarterly start-up pitch and networking event brings together over 275 investors, founders, and members of the press to hear speeches from leading CEOs, and pitches from 10 hot technology start-ups in an open Pitch Competition. Watch as ten of the most promising early-stage companies, as selected by over 14,500 registered CEO Members of TheFunded.com, present their companies to the Silicon Valley elite. A panel of investors will provide critical feedback of the pitches, and the two best companies will face off in a "Showcase Showdown" lightning round to determine the Grand Prize Winner. There is also a networking and table area where investors and start-ups will convene with food and drinks. Tickets start at just $40, but there is a very limited number available. For more information or to apply to the free Pitch Competition, click here.
Yahoo! Girl Geek Dinner
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Yahoo! HQ, Sunnyvale, CA
Join us for a night of technology, great food and conversation at Yahoo! Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 (5:30pm - 8:30pm) at Yahoo!’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA! Learn about what’s going on at Yahoo! and network with other girl geeks, including those responsible for designing and building cool Yahoo! products. Hilary Schneider (Yahoo! Americas EVP) will be the keynote speaker, and presentations on Yahoo Query Language (YQL), YUI, web performance, innovation at scale, infinite browse system, and accessibility will be delivered by Yahoo! girl geeks throughout the evening. All registered girl geek will receive a free Yahoo! “Code like a Girl” shirt and sticker at the event. For more info and to RSVP for FREE, click here.
Commonwealth Club presents "Girls Gotta Do Business: The Rising Force of Women Entrepreneurs"
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010, 6pm
SF Club, San Francisco, CA
The exponential growth of women-owned businesses has been in the news. More than a quarter million women in the United States own businesses with revenue exceeding $1M. Demographics have played a role: female empty-nesters, corporate escapees, and the newly laid-off are flexing their entrepreneurial muscle. However, some studies indicate women-owned businesses generate less revenue on average than businesses owned by men. Panelists will explore this issue and more, giving insight on how women entrepreneurs can take it to the next level of success. Panelists include Alison Covarrubias (Co-founder, The Hatch Network, SF), Baat Enosh (Entrepreneur Alliance Program Director, NCWIT; VP of Operations, Women 2.0), Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa (Director, Savor the Success, SF Bay Area), Julie Abrams (CEO, Women's Initiative for Self Employment). For more info and to register, click here.
SDForum’s Green and Clean Evening Series presents "The Water Crisis: An Update on the Challenges in Water Efficiency and Treatment”
Thursday, August 5th, 2010, 6pm to 8:30pm
Orrick, Menlo Park, CA Women 2.0 members save $5 with coupon code "GREEN05"
The global water crisis continues to be a top priority for consumers, corporations, entrepreneurs, investors and the government. Our panel of experts in these sectors will update us on what is being done in regards to water efficiency and treatment.
Speakers include Anup Jacob (Virgin Green Fund), Bill Kocher (City of Santa Cruz), Bruce Keiser (Cohesive Ventures), Tamin Pechet (Banyan Water LLP), and moderator Mitch Zuklie (Orrick). For more info and to register, click here.
Girls in Tech presents "The Fast Track of Mariam Naficy"
Monday, August 9th, 2010, 6pm - 8:30pm
Nextspace.us, San Francisco, CA
Serial entrepreneur Mariam Naficy shares with us her rapid rise to success fresh out of business school as co-founder and co-CEO of Eve.com. She raised $26 million for her start up venture and sold it for $100 million in her late 20's. Mariam is now pioneering the area of crowd-sourcing design with her new venture, Minted.com, the online retailer of stationery, invitations, and photo cards. She will talk about what she attributes her early success to and what other young (and any age!) women can do to harness their entrepreneurial potential. For more info and to register, click here.
SF Game Developer's Workshops presents "How to Grow your Online Games for massive player engagement and revenue"
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010, 7pm - 9pm
Art Institute of California, San Francisco, CA
Do you want to network with other phenomenal game industry personnel and have a good time? Join us August 10th at 7pm to get an hear Joe Dunn and Josh Rose give you a brain dump download of how they win in the market so you can too. They will cover how they combine creative design, new technology, and platform agnostic virality to create game experiences players crave, share, and keep coming back for. There will be a brief interactive Q&A; between each speaker, so designers and developers can get a chance to get some direct opinions or strategies on some of their own games and businesses. Come party with us after the event to brainstorm, chill, or simply share a beer with awesome fellow game developers, designers, artists, and deal makers. For more info and to register, click here.
FailChat #4: How to Survive Without Funding
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
PariSoma, San Francisco, CA
Many companies today don’t get funded. Considering that, how does a small startup survive tough competition, company growth, and unpredictable markets with virtually zero capital? It definitely happens and to help everyone learn how, we’ve compiled a panel of founders who’ve been there and investors who have seen it happen. We’ll be discussing whether its possible to get by without funding, how to balance the budget if you try, and what problems you are likely to encounter. We’ll also be getting into what tools to use, how to stay lean, stories of what hasn’t worked, and other fundamentals of the self-funded process. For more info and to register, click here.
SF HTML5 presents "Web Forms 2.0 with Estelle Weyl"
Thursday, August 26th, 2010, 7pm - 9pm
San Francisco, CA
This is a FREE event. HTML forms have been the bane of web developers for years. Not anymore! With HTML5 you may learn to love forms. Imagine a day when you can validate a form without any JavaScript. Date pickers, place holder text, pattern matching, required fields, auto focus, error handling, all without JavaScript? That day is not as far off as you think. In this session we'll discuss new to HTML5 form input types and attributes. We can't promise that you'll love creating web forms, but you will gain a new, exciting appreciation. For more info and to register, click here.
Jumpstart Your Startup with Women 2.0!
A unique workshop for women with the next big startup idea, Jumpstart Your Startup is available for aspiring women entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley.
"Jumpstart Your Startup exposed us all to incredible advice, well seasoned speakers and a nurturing environment to help evolve and strengthen our ideas." - Zuzy Martin Lynch, Jumpstart Your Startup participant
"This class was the perfect format to clarify our business idea and perfect our pitch." - Lynnee Jimenez, Jumpstart Your Startup participant
Quotable Quotes
Pitch 2009 is a unique startup competition open to early-stage ventures globally. Eligible startups are in alpha or beta stage, and must have at least one female founder. Deadline to apply: April 10th, 2009.
"A recession is the best time to start a company. The opportunity cost is low, hiring good people is relatively easy, rent and equipment are cheap (sometimes free) and established competitors are focused on reducing costs & staying in business, not on innovation. The key is being in a good position when the economy picks back up."
- Rebecca Lynn
Principal, Morgenthaler Ventures
"Some of the best products and services come out of some of the worst times. In the early 1990s, tens of millions of dollars had gone down the drain in a futile effort to develop 'pen computing' (early phase of mobile computing) and a recession was shriveling the economic outlook."
Danae Ringlemann on co-founding an online community for filmmakers (Download MP3)
