Editor

article placeholder

How To Encourage More Brown Women To Launch Tech Startups

Editor

By Adria Richards (Technology Consultant, But You're A Girl) Why are women, especially Brown women, not planning, developing and showcasing tech startup ideas?

The reason more Brown women aren't launching tech startups is because they're not seeing role models, peers and friends do it. They're not talking about it, not going to conferences and not reading up on how to get started. I can directly attribute my attendence tonight to the San Francisco Startup Weekend to my initial sit down conversation with a Brown woman engineer by the name of Erica (@swirlspice) in the spring of 2009 and this same story has repeated itself time and time again.

I'm very excited that I was able to move the needle in the direction I wanted without being a whiny commenter on TechCrunch. Instead I made a difference by inviting a friend who is a Brown woman like me to attend Startup Weekend. I also wanted to make a special effort based on my amazing experiences over the last few months regarding the Brown startup world where I:

  • Cheered on Jes Carter who is building Toour, an app allowing you to "create, discove and share tours of your favorite places".
  • Was amazed to see Gokit launch at SXSW in less than 24 hours.
  • Attended a positive and uplifting brunch organized by Kimberly Dillion, founder of House of Mikko.
  • Smiled with happiness to see Angela Benton announce the NewMe Accelerator incubator for Brown startups.... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

How Following Your Gut Leads to a Product

Editor

By Ellie Cachette (Founder, ConsumerBell) Back in October of 2009, I had the idea of creating a site that collected people’s complaints. Not in the back-end kind of way but in a crowdsourcing way where people could vote if they had the same issue, which I then could contact the company to work out some kind of deal. Today, ConsumerBell helps companies track and manage product recalls online. They work with consumers and parent bloggers to spread information about product safety.

My main goal from the beginning was to minimize class action lawsuits and find a faster way to resolving product complaints by consumers (which stems from my father getting infected with HIV from a spoiled product in the eighties. Read more here). At the time I had a male CTO and two female interns who worked with me for four months trying to find juicy leads and work with companies but we had absolutely no success and for a lack of better count, essentially zero internet traffic.

I realized we needed to find a different way to solve the problem and re-brand. I especially wanted a blog so we could have a conversation with our consumers and users so we could learn more about the process and issues that can happen from a customer service side.

“A blog is a stupid idea,” my-then CTO told me. “What’s the point of a blog if you have no traffic? Besides we’ll never get funded unless it’s because someone thinks you are hot.” That was an eyeopener. I decided at that very moment that whoever I worked with in the future needed to have full faith in our vision. I killed the project, terminated any ties with that CTO and built the very first version of ConsumerBell myself using Weebly which was, for the most part, ugly and as ghetto as possible -- but it worked.

... Read More...
Uncategorized2 min read
article placeholder

Never Been a Better Time for Women Entrepreneurs

Editor

By Wendy Tan White (Founder & CEO, Moonfruit) It’s been a great 12 months for our business, taking a $2.25M Series A round from Stephens(US) for international growth, backing from Silicon Valley-based 500 Startups, relaunching Moonfruit to focus on SMB’s who expect better DIY design tools to build better designed websites, record revenues and the Everywoman Entrepreneur of the Year award. There has never been a better time to be a women entrepreneur, get out there and set up your own business!

Women-led firms are the fastest growing sector of new venture creation in the US. The trend is international, in Brazil there are more female than male entrepreneurs and China has created half of the female billionaire entrepreneurs globally a direct result of women's economic empowerment. I believe there is also growth opportunity for women in the UK. As business owners, women in the UK still have a lot of ground to make up on our American cousins.

Recent statistics have shown that if the UK had the same level of female entrepreneurship as the US, there would be approximately 600,000 extra women-owned businesses, contributing an estimated additional £42 billion to the economy. To put it into perspective, with businesses started by men in the UK too, an extra 150,000 start-ups would be created per year if women were to meet their number of businesses started.

... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

After Railsbridge, A Startup In The Honeymoon Stage

Editor

By Hadiyah Mujhid (Co-Founder, Urban Posse) A few weeks ago, I took a Railsbridge class to learn Ruby on Rails. I was placed in a small group with others with computer science backgrounds looking to learn a new language. The group was pretty amazing. All of us were aggressive and hardcore about learning a new skill. So aggressive that we sort of conned our teacher into skipping over the planned curriculum in favor of just building something useful. And a startup was born.

Since the class, we've been consistent in meeting together two times week and pairing on the off days. Normally, someone from our group (five total) is meeting up with another on a daily basis. We also have a 24-hour Skype IM session in which we are all active. I'm extremely amazed at each person's dedication to our new startup. I believe our commitment and openness to spend huge quantities of time together has enabled us to bond faster and build a better foundation.

I often hear how hard it is to find the right co-founder(s). And even harder for co-founders to commit at equal effort levels. I must admit that I got lucky and I'm completely in love with my co-founders. I know we're still in the honeymoon stage. But even if we breakup, this will be the best fling I ever had.

Check out the recently released minimum viable product at www.urbanposse.com. Looking for a roommate or have a room for rent? Check it out, create real listings, and provide feedback! We plan to add more features and drive marketing within a couple of weeks, but would like to get listings created.

... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

Launch A Startup For The Price Of An iPad

Editor

By Elizabeth Yin (Co-Founder, LaunchBit) Lots of people ask us how expensive it is to launch a web business idea. That's obviously an impossible question to answer. But, getting your first customers to get some validation for your business idea -- now, that's not as far off as you may think. Getting there would probably cost you less than an iPad. So, skip the frenzied line at the Apple Store and buy yourself a web business instead.

This is how I would invest my saved $499 in a web business idea --

Talk With Potential Customers: In-Person, Via Skype, Or Phone

  • Recruit potential interviewees using Craigslist, Google/Yahoo Groups, Ning communities, Meetup.com, vertical-specific forums, alumni lists, malls/cafes where applicable. (Cost: FREE)
  • Vet interviewees using Google Forms, choose 3-5 different personas to interview for 15-30 min each. (Cost: FREE)
  • Pay interviewees $10-$20 for each completed interview. (Cost: ~$120)
  • Paper/scissors to analyze each interview to find patterns with Google Docs. (Cost: Free)

Find First Customers Through A Landing Page

  • Build a landing page without coding using Unbounce, Weebly, or Yola. (Cost: FREE to $25)
  • Buy a domain name for extra credibility. (Cost: $15)
  • Check landing page for clarity using FiveSecondTest to ensure clarity in messaging. (Cost: FREE)
  • Run Google Ads to the landing page, aiming to drive 200+ visitors to your site. We like to bid under $1 per CPC. You can find cheap keywords if you look hard enough... (Cost: $200)
  • Run Facebook or relevant blog ads to the landing page, aiming to drive 100+ visitors to your site. Facebook ads tend to be more expensive and vary a lot more than Google Ads. Blog ads will range in price. (Cost: $100)
  • Drive more online traffic through relevant forums, Q & A sites, etc, aiming to drive 50+ visitors to your site from a combination of these channels. (Cost: FREE)
  • Analyze your marketing channels and landing page tests using Google Analytics. (Cost: FREE)

With 350+ people now coming to your site, you should now have a good handful of people who are eager to be your first customers/users. Combine that with people you spoke with in-person/via Skype, hopefully you now have a good group of users/customers to work with as you start to think about your exact product/service.

... Read More...
Uncategorized3 min read
article placeholder

Founder & CEO Amra Tareen of Allvoices Talks To Women 2.0 About This Week’s Acquisition

Editor

Congratulations to VC-turned-entrepreneur Amra Tareen, founder & CEO of Allvoices, on the acquisition by Datran Media! Earlier this week, TechCrunch announced the acquisition of the citizen journalism platform, which raised $9M in VC and launched in 2008. Women 2.0: Congratulations on the acquisition announcement! Last we met, you were a panelist at our Women 2.0 conference at Stanford as the founder & CEO of Allvoices. How has your company evolved over the years, and how did you get to the acuiqision?

... Read More...
Uncategorized0 min read
article placeholder

Flying & Calling for (Nearly) Free with FoundersCard

Editor

By Emily Goligoski (Contributing Writer, Women 2.0) Holders of sleek silver FoundersCards the world over share a similar conundrum: stay shush'ed about the savings on business, travel and lifestyle or let others in on the secret. Because Women 2.0 believes in scale, we're spreading the word about the membership organization with this promo:

At $199, joining is a steal and will earn you large percentages off everywhere from Equinox gyms to Apple and international hotels (Barcelona's Hotel Arts, anyone?). To redeem, visit FoundersCard.com and click on Membership Inquiries. Complete form and enter "FCWMN11" as the referral code.

... Read More...
Uncategorized0 min read
article placeholder

Have An Idea Or Startup Working To Solve A Health-Related Issue? Apply To Join Rock Health This Summer

Editor

By Halle Tecco (Co-Founder & Managing Director, Rock Health) This summer, Rock Health will catalyze innovation in the interactive health space. Become one of the first startups to access our unrivaled community of experts and seed-accelerator program where a select group of health-related startups will partake in an intensive multi-month program, turning ideas into products and businesses.

Use what you’ve learned in other segments (gaming, informatics, design, etc.) to solve real, meaningful problems in health. At least one team member should be a developer. Check out the FAQ.

Apply to Rock Health's seed accelerator program for startups by Friday, May 13 at noon (PST).

Rock Health will welcome a group of developers and entrepreneurs with early stage ideas to San Francisco’s newest incubator, focused on health apps. Startups will receive a grant for $20,000 along with operational and strategic support, office space, and mentorship from a team of experts in tech, design, legal/IP/FDA, devices, consumer healthcare, clinical medicine and business.

... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

Kreeya’s Saroj Yadav Builds a Platform for Local Independent Designers, Beginning in San Francisco

Editor

By Saroj Yadav (Founder, Kreeya) I grew up in a small village in rural India. I learned the value of hard work from my parents who toiled hard all day in the fields. I will forever be grateful for the values of hard work and perseverance my parents instilled in me which pushed me to be an engineer and an entrepreneur.

When I moved to San Francisco, I wanted to shop for clothes by independent designers in the city. But there was no convenient way to do this. That was the beginning of my startup, Kreeya.

... Read More...
Uncategorized0 min read
article placeholder

Founder Alicia Morga of Consorte Media (acquired by Audience Science): “My Initial Idea Was Not To Build An Ad Network” – How Business & Industry Evolved

Editor

By Alicia Morga (Founder & CEO, Refleta) I ran Consorte Media for five years before it was acquired. When I started Consorte Media in 2005, it was verboten to say when fundraising that you were building to flip a company. Today, many angels are looking for just that approach. But every business, no matter the original idea or approach, needs time to figure out what it’s going to be –- especially if it’s going to be big. It also needs time to make mistakes, and we made plenty.

My initial idea was not to build an ad network.

But that’s often how building a company goes – the business always morphs and grows, and never ends up looking like the original vision. My vision of connecting Hispanic consumers with service providers who could offer their services to them in Spanish was inspired by my own culture, having seen the incredible lack of services addressing the Hispanic market.

... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

Startup City Poised to Turn Baltimore Into an Entrepreneurial Hub (Extended Deadline)

Editor

By Amy Dusto (Writer, Discovery News) Baltimore -- A city full of talent and ideas, the raw material for beginning businesses. Yet the actual amount of entrepreneurship happening doesn't always seem to match. Local entrepreneur and programmer Mike Subelsky noticed this and decided to give well-intentioned visionaries a kick start. He created a proposal for "Startup City," a twelve week summer program offering free workspace in Baltimore, $15,000 of seed money, mentoring, and workshops for ten lucky entrepreneurs, all to help them blossom.

"The actual problem we're solving is to tell the story for these ten companies in a visible way, [the story] about people struggling and succeeding," Subelsky says, "to show it's doable." The city should subsequently benefit from the action of more than just whirling brains, but solid ideas going into motion with economic development attached. As Subelsky drafted in the Startup City proposal, "All we need are a few success stories to create a chain-reaction of entrepreneurship." Then he sat on it for about a year, until one day his friend and tech-scene colleague Monica Beeman, founder of Vines to Vino and regional director of small business lender FundingUniverse Maryland, asked him, "Why isn't anything happening with this? Let's do this."

Apply to Baltimore City by Wednesday, May 4 (MIDNIGHT). Application available here.

... Read More...
Uncategorized1 min read
article placeholder

Intro to Python Web Programming in Los Angeles

Editor

By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) Pasadena, CA -- Come and learn the Python programming language on Sunday, May 15 in Los Angeles. The Intro to Python Workshop will be taught by Audrey Roy and Katharine Jarmul, and assisted by Christine Cheung, Esther Nam, Jessica Stanton, Sandy Strong, and Sophia Viklund. The PyLadies are a group of women in Los Angeles who use and love the Python programming language -- and on track to increase the percentage of females in the Los Angeles Python community to 50%.

Never tried programming before? Not sure if you'll fit in? Don't worry. Intro to Python Workshop on May 15 in Pasadena is designed to be friendly to absolute beginners. Now, meet the PyLadies!

... Read More...
Uncategorized0 min read
article placeholder

How To Get Started with Android Mobile Development

Editor

By Jean Hsu (Android Developer, Pulse) Several people have asked me what the best resources are for getting started with Android. There are so many Android code blogs with "working" example out there, it's hard to know what's the best way to get started.

I'd recommend starting at the official Android Developer site, as it has the most up-to-date documentation and plenty of basic examples, which should be enough to get you started on a basic application. Here are some other resources I've compiled for getting started with Android development.

... Read More...
Uncategorized0 min read

Editor

The Women 2.0 Editorial Staff.