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How To Launch A World-Changing Idea In 5 Minutes

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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)

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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”

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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

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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

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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)

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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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