Editor, Author at Women 2.0

Why Entrepreneurs Need Angels – And How Angels Are Improving

Editor20 August 2012

Many people assume that venture capitalists provide startup funding. But that hasn't been the case in the last decade - VCs usually step in with growth funding, after a new firm has proven itself to some degree... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

Here is an interview with Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Resource Institute about the importance of angel investors to early-stage entrepreneurs:

Angel investors, or simply "angels," are high-net-worth individuals who provide money for startup firms with growth potential. Often former entrepreneurs themselves, angels can bring value to new firms through mentoring and industry connections as well.

Angel investing was long done in an informal, isolated fashion but is now becoming more systematic and organized

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How To Make Tiny Changes For Greater Career Success

Editor20 August 2012

What small adjustment or change could you or do you want to make in your personal in professional life? By Rania Anderson (Co-Founder, Women's Capital Connection)

The idiom “Put your best foot forward” generally refers to making a great impression. But, watching Aries Merritt — the 2012 U.S. Olympic gold medalist in the 110 meter hurdles — made me think of different use for the phrase.

In an interview with NBC, Aries credited his arrival to the top of his game to a small change in the way he starts a race. Rather than starting his race with his right foot, he now starts with his left foot. This tiny adjustment, while not noticeable to most people, changed his stride, allowed him to “run to the best of his ability”

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3 Ways To Turn Your Competitors Into Assets

Editor20 August 2012

Women 2.0 readers save $150 on Smarter Branding For Startups - an online class for creating a powerful brand for your startup - without breaking the bank. By Brenda Bence (Instructor, Udemy)

Business owners often say to me, “Brenda, there’s no way our competitors are brand-building assets. They’re more like liabilities!” Well, I’m here to tell you: Nothing could be further from the truth.

Your competition can help you build your brand more than you ever imagined. You can – in fact, you must – leverage your competition if you want to create and grow a strong brand presence. If that seems counter-intuitive, let me show you why and how.

First, you need to know which other brands really are your main competitors.

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Learning To Be A CEO (Create Your Own Network)

Editor20 August 2012

As a startup CEO, you gain an independent and important perspective on many of the key activities you do yourself by serving on another board. By Laura Yecies (CEO, SugarSync)

There have been a couple of good posts recently about startup CEO’s serving on the boards of other startups. Brad Feld wrote one and Mark Suster continued the thought here.

The logic is that you gain an independent and important perspective on many of the key activities you do yourself by serving on another board. In particular, Brad lists these advantages:

“You’ll extend your network.
You’ll view a company from a different vantage point.... Read More...

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How To Launch A World-Changing Idea In 5 Minutes

Editor20 August 2012

The simple act of writing, sharing and talking about your idea is the magic of the launch. This may seem trivial or “too easy” but until you’ve done these steps you won’t know what you’ve accomplished. By Sumaya Kazi (Founder & CEO, Sumazi)

I’ve been fortunate to have founded two companies. My first, a media publishing company dedicated to young professionals, won me the recognition by BusinessWeek Magazine as one of “America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.” My second and current startup, Sumazi, was recognized by the Omidyar Network as the “Startup Most Likely to Change the World,” among other accolades.

Both ideas were launched in fewer than five minutes.

To be clear, there’s a very big difference between launching an idea and launching a startup. But I find the first five minutes

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Sparking American Enterprise In Global Entrepreneurs (Kauffman Foundation’s Global Scholars Program)

Editor19 August 2012

How do entrepreneurs come to view the world as small, and the potential for their ideas very large? By Wendy Torrance (Director of Global Scholars Program, Kauffman Foundation)

When the Kauffman Foundation launched the Global Scholars Program in 2006, we envisioned a unique and world-leading opportunity that would teach and excite aspiring technology entrepreneurs. We planned to immerse them in entrepreneurial culture in the United States with a view to inspiring, building skills and knowledge, and turning their expertise in the direction of entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative businesses.

Guided by Benjamin Franklin's lessons from centuries ago about the importance of the transnational exchange of ideas

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Don’t Let Your Crowdfunding Campaign Fail Before Launching

Editor19 August 2012

Historical data has shown in order for your project to be a success you must raise at least 30% from your own personal network — that takes time and preparation. By Ruth Hedges (Founder & CEO, CrowdfundingRoadMap & FundingRoadMap)

The passage of the JOBS Act and the legalization of debt and equity based crowdfunding is a very exciting proposition. The community may open their arms and wallets, giving your business the funds you need to thrive and investors a chance to profit.

Unfortunately, what many crowdfunding companies don’t realize is that debt and equity-based crowdfunding is a good deal more complicated then donation-based campaigns. It is not as simple as setting up a deal room on Kickstarter and emailing your network.

There is preparation that needs to be started now

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Women In Business Challenge Finalist Kosi Yankey (Nuba Foods)

Editor18 August 2012

Increasing employment and reducing poverty is something Nuba Foods is deeply committed too also, with the number of employees expected to quadruple to 16 by 2014. By Joëlle Payet (Marketing & Communications Coordinator, BiD Network)

Since 2009, the Women in Business Challenge has provided support, coaching, visibility and finance to over 600 entrepreneurial women in emerging economies. This year, five outstanding applicants were selected from almost 300 and, chosen on account of their potential for growth and the overall quality of their business plans, will receive coaching from professionals before having the opportunity to meet face-to-face with high end investors at the Growing SMEs event at The Hague in November.

Every week, we will be focusing on one of these five women, whose experiences are as varied as they are inspirational.

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Breaking Out Of The Prison Cycle Into Entrepreneurship

Editor18 August 2012

More than 43 businesses have been started by Prison Entrepreneurship Program graduates — representing nearly 15% of the program's graduates, which is a higher business start rate than either Harvard or Stanford Business School alumni. By Catherine Rohr (Founder, Prison Entrepreneurship Program)

T-shirts get printed every day — some in huge warehouses, others in mom-and-pop startups. On this day, A Perfect Print is delivering an order of t-shirts to the headquarters of a large corporation in the Dallas area. Sounds perfectly normal, right? Free enterprise, capitalism, and the pursuit of happiness — so what's the big deal?

The big deal is that the entrepreneur in the driver's seat of this van isn't your typical business owner. In fact, if you look past the ink stains and lacquer, you'll find that, somewhere in the past, James Gorman, entrepreneur, was James Gorman, convicted felon.

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Key Takeaways From Intel’s Inaugural Girl Geek Dinner

Editor18 August 2012

Add value. Don't "act like a boy" and shout out. But don't just sit there and raise your hand either. James tells us: Adjust how you're showing up, but don't stop showing up. By Emily Gonzales (CTO, Bookigee)

At Wednesday's Intel Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner, there was no shortage of sensory overload for the tech geeks like myself who were present. From exciting demos of future products to fascinating facts in the Intel museum, there was plenty to take in while enjoying delicious food and great drinks with like-minded professional women in tech. Without a doubt, the highlight was hearing directly from the speakers, the female technology rock stars of Intel themselves.

Here's what I learned from them:

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A Growing Angel Investment Trend – “The Mommy Investor”

Editor17 August 2012

Rather than turning to traditional at-home employment or entrepreneurship, moms now have an opportunity to begin leveraging their own money and their marketplace knowledge to make money with their minds, instead of their sweat. By Lacey Moler (Co-Founder, Belly Ballot)

Many moms have probably considered starting their own business or finding a job that will allow them to work from home. As children age, moms often find more free time on their hands, or perhaps there are financial pressures, which have made extra income a necessity. In last 10 years, moms have been incredibly successful at closing the mom/professional gap. In fact, stay-at-home moms have created some of the most successful digital blogs, publications, and startups.

But where do we go from here? What other opportunities are available for the aspiring professional mom with diapers in one hand, and a business plan in the other?

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Positive Conflict

Editor17 August 2012

I never saw conflict as a bad or negative thing. For me, conflict is a way to put everything on the table for comprehensive clear discussion. By Heather Schlegel (Founder & CEO, The Purple Tornado)

There's this idea that any kind of conflict is bad, is something to be shied away from. To avoid at all costs. I don't think anyone particularly likes an argument, but to me, passionate conversations, arguments and even conflict are a healthy part of interpersonal communications.

My favorite "conflict" story comes from working with my favorite Dev team. The team was full of amazing genius software engineers. We were a small company building brand new technology and our small set of users didn't yet get the full understanding of how to use this new paradigm. A cross-functional team met

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Female Founders To Watch: Teaching Children On Your iPad

Editor17 August 2012

There are probably more women innovating on the iPad to educate the next generation. Let us know about these women and their companies/products in the comments below. By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

Angry Birds on an iPhone or iPad used to be a good babysitter, but don't you want to educate your children while they play on your iPad?

Introducing a host of female-founded startups working to make the iPad experience for your child an educational one. These female founders range from moms to business executives, from programmers to creative types. There is no "type" for edutech entrepreneurs innovating on the iPad.

Here are female founders building apps and readers for children's entertainment AND education:

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Behind The Scenes Of A Seed Round: Creating A Pipeline, Urgency And 100% (The Hustle)

Editor16 August 2012

The only way to encourage investors to invest today is to create urgency — create a possibility that there may not be a chance to invest later. By Elizabeth Yin (Co-Founder & CEO, LaunchBit)

Every TechCrunch article makes raising a round look easy, but behind most rounds, it’s a real uphill battle. I struggled with deciding to write about our fundraising story, because I’m a fairly private person. But, since I know so many people trying to raise a seed round right now, I thought this might be able to help a little.

500 Demo Day

Last week, we announced our first birthday at LaunchBit, an ad network for email, as well as our seed round of funding at LaunchBit.

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Partner Event: Ideas Are Worthless (September 6 In SF)

Editor16 August 2012

Black Founders events are open to entrepreneurs of all races and encourages all interested to attend.Black Founders hosts Ideas Are Worthless on Thursday, September 6, 2012 in San Francisco, CA. The all-day conference features Michael Seibel (Founder of SocialCam), Steve Blank (Author of 4 Steps To The Epiphany), Charles Hudson (Venture Partner at SoftTech VC), Angela Benton (Founder of NewMe Accelerator), Ann Winblad (Partner of Hummer Winblad) and many more.

Women 2.0 members save 20% when registering with discount code "women2".

Entrepreneurs taking part in the conference will benefit

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