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Women In The Law, We’re Building An App For You

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Creating a mobile app for women in the field of law. By Lynnett E. Brooks (Juris Doctor Candidate, 2013, New York Law School)

By way of introduction, three law students from New York Law School, University of Miami School of Law, and School of Transnational Law, Peking University.

We are part of a program called Law Without Walls where we are prompted to identify a problem or "gap" area within our topic in order to design a project to solve the problem using a method that incorporates innovation and technology.

Our assigned topic is "Women in the Law; Is the Glass Ceiling Cracked, Smashed or Unbreakable?"

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Alltuition: Helping Make College Accessible For The Masses

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Bringing greater transparency and ease to college financing for students and families. By Sue Khim (Founder & CEO, Alltuition)

Like millions of others, I required financial assistance as a college student. I went through the arduous and frustrating financial aid and student loan process.

I spent hours surfing the internet only to find that I needed to complete the same information repeatedly and get bombarded with risky financial offers and email spam. As an engineer, I looked at this broken process and thought, if there were software to help me through this, the process could be easy.

This experience brings me to where I am at today.

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Latinas In Business And Technology: The Importance Of Mentors

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Mentors hold you accountable for your actions. By Yvonne Garcia (Director of Segment Marketing, Liberty Mutual & National Vice President, ALPFA)

The Labor Council for Latin America Advancement (LCLAA) report recently released some surprising statistics regarding women in the workforce. Their findings include the following results: over 2.5 million (31.7%) are in sales and office occupations, and less than 2 million (24.1%) are in management or professional occupations, yet Latinas earn 60 cents for every dollar earned by U.S. white males.

The numbers are even more problematic when it comes to women in Corporate America, female entrepreneurs, and women in technology. In a 2009 study, where Latinas formed 5% of entry level technology jobs. That number was at zero percent at

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How Can I Fund My Startup? A Look At Fundraising Options

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Secure the funds you need to give your startup runway - from competitions to crowdfunding. By Nillie Goldman (Founder & Publisher, WebToTheRescue)

For some entrepreneurial ventures, startup capital needs are minimal. If an entrepreneur has a low risk profile (and an idea that doesn’t require a lot of startup capital), this could be the way to go.

For other ventures, startup capital requirements are more involved. While there are entrepreneurs who are able to finance their startups themselves - either from savings and investments or by continuing to work at least part time - most of us need to investigate other sources of financing.

In addition to all the standard options

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Why Not To “Buck Up” – Practice Mindfulness

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Secure the funds you need to give your startup runway - from competitions to crowdfunding. By Marina Illich, Ph.D. (Principal, Broad Ventures Leadership)

Ever been told to “buck up”? The message is everywhere. Get over it. Chin up. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Make some lemonade out of them lemons.

As a native Manhattanite, I grew up with the “buck up” ethos everywhere. “Harder, faster, more intense” was the mantra. It took the form of walking through biting wind tunnels on narrow avenues to subway stations that might have been three cantons away. In heels. Through slush. Or taking my doctoral advisor at Columbia seriously when he suggested I learn Manchu and Mongolian

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From Idea To Patent: Inventing Blinx And Replacing The Traditional Paper Business Cards

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How one business-minded startup founder patented new mobile technology - Blinx. By Carrie Chitsey (Founder & CEO, 3Seventy)

When we started our mobile company over three years ago, we were attending several tradeshows to learn more about mobile and innovation. We developed a handy SMS (text messaging) technology using keywords for our company so people could reach us after the shows. We thought it was unique and would help us stand out from the piles of paper business cards.

With Blinx, people could now whip out their phones regardless of device (regular mobile or smart phone), text our name to a short code, then instantly get our business card.

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Why You’re A Startup Founder: Nature And Nurture

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This article has been syndicated from TechCrunch. By Pokin Yeung (Founder, Askomatics)

Just over a month ago, a random conversation with another startup founder over lunch turned into a full-blown research project.

“You and I are both first-born children,” I mused to my friend, “I wonder if that had any influence on why we chose to start businesses.”

I theorized that first borns were often given more responsibility growing up, and wondered if this role served as training wheels for building startups. I also wondered if our upbringing had an influence on things like when we start, what we start, or how much money we raise — and ultimately, how successful we are with our businesses.

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On Cultural Competence In Product, Startup Success

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By Avichal Garg (Co-Founder & CEO, Spool) Core competence is a factor that cannot be easily replicated and gives the business a competitive advantage in delivering their product or service to customers. Core competencies are how a business does something; the lens through which opportunities are identified and evaluated. Cultural competencies are how a business figures out what to do. [1]

Every business, no matter the size, has cultural competencies.

  • Cultural competencies are a reflection of the founders’ personalities. It’s no coincidence that Google was started and led by Ph.Ds, Apple by a designer-perfectionist... Read More...
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Why Women Continue to Lag Behind Men In The Startup Community – And What We Can Do About It

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Interviews reveal five common themes contributing to the fewer number of women starting up. By Beverly Tam (Student, University of California San Diego)

Over the past few decades, women have overcome tremendous obstacles and have made a lot of progress in the area of gender equality in America.

We now make up 46% of the workforce and over 50% of college graduates, yet when we look at the number of women pursuing high-growth startups, there still exists a very apparent gap in numbers.

According to an article published by the Kauffman Foundation earlier last year, women only make up 35% of startup business owners.

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Female Founders To Follow: Women In Gaming From YetiZen

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Meet the women founders working in and on Yetizen, the SF-based social gaming startup accelerator. By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

There is no shortage of accelerators and incubators today. Best part is, many of these are extremely focused and specialized for the industry.

Try Rock Health founded by CEO Halle Tecco for startups in the health space, Enrique Allen's The Designer Fund for designers starting startups, Blackbox.vc for European startuppers seeking an immersive Silicon Valley experience, Microsoft's Kinect accelerator for the like, and the list goes on.

For games, Sana Choudary founded YetiZen, a game community builder and platform startup accelerator

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Berkeley Pitch Mixer: Another Step Forward

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Efforts to close the divide: Pitch Mixer, Black Founders, Latino Startups NewMe Accelerator... By Esther C. Moore (Co-Founder & CEO, HustleAndCode)

You need only put your ear to the ground these days to catch conversation about Silicon Valley’s diversity challenge as it relates to women, blacks, latinos and other underrepresented groups knocking at the door of what many consider “the land of milk and honey.”

Although I was born in the Bay Area, I grew up in the rural town of Bakersfield, California. I would say that an entrepreneurial spirit has always run throughout my family - which is probably why I find myself in the role of Co-Founder and CEO of HustleAndCode.

Several years ago, I teamed up with my son

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Are You Asking The Wrong Startup Product/UX Questions?

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Some common questions about UX and how to get answers directly from users. By Laura Klein (Principal, Users Know)

When I’m talking with startups, they frequently ask me all sorts of questions. I imagine that they’re probably really disappointed when I respond with a shrug.

You see, frequently they’re asking entirely the wrong question. And, more importantly, they’re asking the wrong person.

It is an unfortunate fact that many startups talk to people like me (or their investors or their advisors or “industry experts”) instead of talking to their users.

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