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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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Founder Friday OC: “Founding A Startup Is Like A Gambling Addiction”

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While Founder Friday isn't a 'support group', it's like a gamblers-anonymous meeting. By Yaneth Acosta (Co-Founder & President, SKINMETRO™)

Last week, SKINMETRO™ co-founder, Lisa O'rrell, and I had the honor of co-hosting the launch of Women 2.0's Founder Friday in Orange County, California. We were amused because we have tons of advice about what not to do, but we're still not sure exactly what to do - it's been four years. Lisa equates founding a startup to a gambling addiction - you throw everything on the table every day believing you're going to beat the odds and win the jackpot.

While Founder Friday isn't a 'support group' - it's an appropriate substitution for a gamblers-anonymous meeting.

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Founder Friday Launches In Orange County, San Diego

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Women 2.0 director Sepideh Nasiri attended Founder Friday Orange County and San Diego last week. By Sepideh Nasiri (Director of All Things Offline, Women 2.0)

Last Thursday night's Founder Friday Orange County was a success. You would not think of Orange County as a hotbed of startups. There were many interesting and successful female entrepreneurs in the room and filled it with great energy. In addition, many organizations were excited and reached out to help make Founder Friday bigger and better.

There were two startup founders who spoke at the Founder Friday Orange County. Fight Class founder and host Kristen Nedopak (pictured above) has a background in user experience

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Partner Event: Founders’ Series Event With VC Jeff Clavier (May 22)

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Apply for your seat at this invite-only event with SofTech VC Founder and Managing Director Jeff Clavier. Join MIT/Stanford VLAB for the Founders' Series: Startup Office Hours With SoftTechVC's Jeff Clavier on May 22 in Palo Alto, CA.

Founder of startup? Not in an incubator? Have questions or need advice from an experienced Silicon Valley luminary like an exited startup founder, high profile CEO or VC?

Apply for your seat at this invite-only event with SofTech VC's Jeff Clavier (you may recognize him as the afternoon panel moderator at the Women 2.0 PITCH Conference on Valentine's Day.

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Almost $20k Cash – AT&T Hackathon Recap (Engineers Don’t Blog)

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This is my story of how I almost won $20k. By Hadiyah Mujhid (Co-Founder, Black Founders)

This weekend I participated in the AT&T Mobile HTML5 Hackathon. I had very mixed feelings in the beginning about my participation for multiple reasons.

The first reason in which I was against participating is because I have a number of uncompleted apps from previous hackathons that I have yet to complete, and I didn’t want another incomplete project. But the top prize was $20k.

The second reason in which I was against participating

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