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Technovation Challenge’s Emilie Robert Wong Encourages Girls To “Hammer Up!”

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"Technovation recognizes that technology needs the talents of both men and women." By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

Emilie is currently a high school junior in San Francisco. Since winning the first Technovation Challenge, Emilie Robert Wong has developed three more apps (two for Michelle Obama's Healthy Kids initiative and one with an ecology theme), interned at two tech startups and is currently working for LocAid.

She was a Technovation TA and is the founding president of the Technovation Club at her high school in San Francisco. Emilie received the Bay Area "Aspirations in Computing" award this year.

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Why Would A Geek Girl Want To Attend TiECon?

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Entrepreneurship is perfect for women - whether single or married, with or without children! Here's why. By Gargi Nalawade (Founder & CEO, Sepalz)

Successes such as Instagram have the whole developer community up in restless excitement. At least 2 developers approached me the day the Instagram acquisition was announced.

"I'd like to talk to you about becoming an entrepreneur," one said.

"I'd like to know how exactly to become an entrepreneur and what it takes," said another.

Looking at Instagram and the 12 people team that made millions in a few months is giving them a rush.

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500 Startup’s Newest Class Includes 9 Women-Led Startups

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Mountain View-based accelerator/incubator 500 Startups adds 15 women entrepreneurs to the family. By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

27 startups were announced as the 500 Startups spring class. 9 have a woman on the founding team (33%). Not bad!

500 Startups partner Christine Tsai blogged yesterday: "They came from districts afar – Mexico, Brazil, the UK, Slovenia, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, India, Philippines, China, Austin, NYC, DC, Chicago. For the next 3 months, these 27 startups will fight to gain customers, revenue, and investor dollars. Welcome to the 4th Annual FUNDING GAMES." Watch the FUNDING GAMES video here.

Here are the 15 female founders currently contending

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Entrepreneurs Under 25 (The Young And The Relentless)

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"I don't give up. I'm definitely meant to be an entrepreneur," said entrepreneur Cheryl Yeoh. By Karin Kamp (Director of Digital Media, The Story Exchange)

At a time of high levels of youth joblessness - the latest U.S. figures show that the unemployment rate for workers under 25 is over 16% - some are betting that the best chance for finding a job, is creating one.

Over the past month, The Story Exchange has been interviewing young women who have started their own businesses to understand how they've came so far, so fast.

What we found is a group who are fearless in the face of uncertainty and simply propel themselves forward without over thinking the obstacles.

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Lynn Ponder And Maria Fischer: The Face Of Latina Entrepreneurs

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Latina entrepreneurs on what it takes for Hispanic businesses to make it in today’s competitive landscape. By Maria Botta (Contributor, Latin Business Today)

I had the great pleasure of interviewing two bright and unique Latina business owners in very different industries. The first, Lynn Ponder founded Peliculas Ponder and most recently a social media venture called webcitygirls//.

The second is Maria Fischer the CEO and Founder of Bientech International, a technical, scientific and professional services solutions provider for national and international customers in defense, government, commercial and academic sectors.

Lynn Ponder recommends, work hard, know

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Mentorship From Silicon Valley Techies Encourages High School Girls To Dream Bigger

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How mentoring a team of underserved high school girls affected a Silicon Valley techie. By Harini Sridharan (Senior Strategist, Rosetta)

Let me start with a statistic that some of you might already know: While women make 47% of the U.S. workforce, only 5% of startups are owned by women. And here’s another: In 2010, only 2.4% of the U.S. Fortune 500 chief executives were female.

I am a techie. We, in the field, love numbers. We ooh and aah at statistics. Our presentations are decorated with them.

But there are stories and experiences behind these numbers that are the real deal. Numbers are just a way of summarizing these experiences to a 140-character paced audience.

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Founder Friday Madrid: “Each Founder Friday Edition Is Better Than The Last”

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Founder Friday has been consolidated in Madrid as the reference event in the technological entrepreneurs. By Begoña Miguel (Co-Founder, Ellas 2.0)

Despite rain and the holidays, the entrepreneurs of Madrid arrived on time for their May Founder Friday. The wide net of Founder Friday Madrid contacts grows every day and is the sort of event that any entrepreneur should't miss. In addition, Founder Friday Madrid has a spirit that makes it different and unique respect to other events of networking in the city.

Many things are different in Founder Friday Madrid - the main one being the energy that is generated during the event and the end knowledge to be building something great between all.

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Sketchnotes From The Launch Of Founder Friday San Diego

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“Find your tech founder bud, share and learn” - Founder Friday host and TapHunter founder Melani Gordon. By Anne McColl (Principal, The Best D@mn Copywriter)

Over 100 San Diego women turned out for the launch of Founder Friday in San Diego. It was held in the garden atrium in the offices of sponsor Procopio overlooking downtown San Diego and the harbor.

Adriana Herrera, Founder and CEO of Fashioning Change, and Melani Gordon, Co-Founder and CEO of TapHunter, were our hosts. They both echoed the similar theme of the importance of community and finding mentors.

Adriana mentioned how her mentors challenged her to think even bigger, “Any idea you have can be ten times bigger.” Melani shared how important it was to find other tech founders

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The Secret Behind Winning The Singularity University Global Impact Competition

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It is about persevering and never giving up. Any woman can do it if she cares about something. By Priszcilla Várnagy (Co-Founder & CEO, Be-novative)

How can we improve the lives of at least 1 million people and the standard of living — health, education, and security — in the next 3 years through the use of any kind of exponentially improving technology in the Central Eastern Europe & Southern Eastern Europe region?

This was the question raised by Singularity University, lead by Rob Nail and jointly founded by Dr. Peter H. Diamandis and Dr. Ray Kurzweil based at the NASA Research Park campus in the heart of Silicon Valley. I represented the Be-novative team and won the competition and the scholarship.

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Founder Friday Santiago De Chile: Focus, Consistency, Passion

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"I am a digital fan, but I'm more a fan of my family," said Marta Cruz, Friday Founder Santiago de Chile. By Marta Cruz (Co-Founder, Nextperience & NXTP Labs)

Focus, consistency and passion are the three main ingredients to make a dream come true, and if we add imagination, courage and commitment, we will be able to grow and develop both at personal and professional level.

Considering that "an entrepreneur is someone who goes through life and suddenly detects a situation that he does not like or an unsolved problem and develops an idea to solve it", we may say that it all starts with a great deal of imagination that leads to what we call "idea" - an idea which you are passionate for and obsessed with

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Why You Should Talk To Investors (Even If You’re Not Looking To Raise Any Money)

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I’ve been on the fence about raising money for my second startup. By Erica Douglass (Co-Founder & CEO, Whoosh Traffic)

As the owner of a startup, should you raise money for your business?

There are arguments both ways. In the software industry, developers are expensive, and it may take 12-24 months to come up with a viable product. Also, software companies are typically popular with acquirers, as the perception is that there is less work involved and they are more “scalable” than a service-oriented business. (Instagram had just 13 employees and was acquired for $1 billion.)

The flip side is that you can give up a lot of your company (and, perhaps more importantly, control of your company) to investors, and it may take you some months or years to find the right

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3 Steps To Meaningful Engagement (The Platinum Rule)

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The Platinum Rule is key to emotional intelligence, a key component of success in work and life. By Camille Preston (Founder & CEO, AIM Leadership)

One of the first things I do in the training sessions I lead is ask participants what the Golden Rule is. Some respond, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Others respond, “The person with the most gold wins!” Two responses with a very different impact on how that individual engages with the world.

But the rule I want to teach is the Platinum Rule: Do onto others as they want done onto them. In other words, treat people how they need to be treated. Makes great sense, so why don’t people live by this more? It requires a lot more effort

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Founder Friday Silicon Valley Hosted By Two Female Engineers Who Became VC-Funded Startup Founders

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Talks from startup founders Pooja Sankar of Piazza and Claire Hough of Citrus Lane show true grit. By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

"The last time I talked to you - Piazza was spelled with three Zs, your last name was Nath, and you weren't pregnant!" someone exclaimed to Piazza founder and CEO Pooja Sankar.

The Silicon Valley startup ecosystem is a small world, made even more accessible to early-stage women entrepreneurs with events like Founder Friday Silicon Valley. Two powerhouse startup founders shared their stories last Friday night.

Piazza founder and CEO Pooja Sankar spoke first. At seven months pregnant, she is a sight to see addressing the

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Build The Next Big Mobile Game In 2 Days With Chartboost!

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Coming up: 2-day hackathon focused solely on making great new games for iOS and Android. By Maria Alegre (Co-Founder & CEO, Chartboost)

Ever seen a game on the App Store and thought, “I could do better”? Well now is your chance!

Join us for a 2-day hackathon next weekend focused on making great new games for the iOS and Android platform. Developers and designers can team up and brainstorm during our Friday night launch party, then come back Saturday to start working your magic. Competitors will be hacking away in the brand new workspace of Startup HQ in the tech-centered SOMA district of San Francisco.

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At Age 17, Sara Naseri And Emilie Kjeldsen Invent New Sun-Protective Technology

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The founders of BUCKY'o'ZUN participated in Blackbox Connect, which brings global startups into the Silicon Valley ecosystem for a 2 week immersion experience, meeting local venture capitalists and startup founders. Deadline to apply for the next group is June 15, 2012 - apply here. By Sara Naseri & Emilie Kjeldsen (Co-Founders, BUCKY’o’ZUN)

Most 17 year olds go to school, play sports and spend time with their friends, others invent pioneering technologies within the sun protection industry, discuss their project with Nobel Prize Winners, win national as well as international prizes, and travel the world to develop their project. This is what happened to us a few years ago. All of this started out as a school project.

We were walking on the beach one day, wondering why it is impossible to be outside and enjoy the sun without having to fear getting a sunburn, or even worse, developing skin cancer. This was definitely something we wanted to change.

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The Women 2.0 Editorial Staff.