By Laurie Segall (Reporter, CNN Money)

Tiffani Bell, a NewMe participant and founder of online appointment booking site Pencil You In, relied on her coding chops to get her startup ready in time for Demo Day — an event where Silicon Valley investors gather to field pitches from companies seeking funding.

Bell studied computer science at Howard University and went on to intern at IBM and Hewlett-Packard before working as a Web developer for a government contractor.

“It’s important to have a technical background to make sure the product actually gets built out,” she said. It also cuts costs: Outsourcing often means paying a significant amount to have someone else build your product.

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Photo credit: Mark Hill / CNN