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Interviews With Women Teaching Women Coding

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Talking with Girl Develop It, Ladies Learning Code, Web Start Women and Startlucks. By Jennifer Lindner (Organizer, RailsBridge & Freelance Open Source Developer)

There’s a rapidly growing movement of women teaching women technology skills: all over the Americas, self-starting organizations are running hands-on classes to huge success. Girl Develop It, Ladies Learning Code and Web Start Women are all great examples of startup-savvy applied to gender in technology.

Here are some excerpts from a series of interviews with each of these organizations. Although in very different locations, all report similar experiences with breaking down fears about technology, building confidence, support from their local technology community, and the success of hands-on teaching techniques.

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Are More VCs Betting On Women To Make A Buck?

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Capital will always move toward the greatest rate of return. By Leah Eichler (Contributing Writer, Femme-O-Nomics)

I felt no “Dragon’s Den” vibe when I met Vincent Gasparro for coffee at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto recently.

The very approachable managing director of The Green Tomorrow Fund, an independent private equity fund that invests in sustainable business, clean energy projects, and businesses that support the green economy graciously gave his time to offer me advice on raising capital for my new venture. Yet, the conversation quickly turned to the issue of gender and investing.

In his current role, roughly 60% of businesses

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The Women Of Y Combinator – And They Are Awesome

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This article has been syndicated from TechCrunch. By Kim-Mai Cutler (Writer, TechCrunch)

I would normally rather have a root canal instead of write about the issue of women in technology. I just find most essays on this really tedious and obvious. (Sorry Alexia.)

But I do want to point one thing out. When I went to my first Y Combinator Demo Day three years ago, there was one woman. At this week’s Demo Day, there were six companies with one or all female founders among the 66 startups in the class.

I’m going to keep this post simple. No complaining.

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A First Date With The Valley – Women 2.0 PITCH Conference

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The first thing PITCH reminded me was how lucky I am to live near the Silicon Valley. By Miki Johnson (Co-Founder, PassionSync)

I had been on the Women 2.0 mailing list only a few weeks when a message about the fast-approaching PITCH Conference hit my inbox. Sometimes the universe delivers just what you need, just when you need it.

Jackson had started a company before. He’d incorporated and “done a friends and family round” and “pitched to angels” and created the all-important “decks.” I’m a fast learner, but I knew I didn’t even know what I didn’t know yet about the whole Silicon Valley startup world. The Valley and I, we’d seen each other at a few parties, but we didn’t have each other’s number yet.

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But… What If My Inner Critic Is Part Of What Motivates Me?

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If you are aware that the critic is motivating you, take a good hard look... By Tara Sophia Mohr (Founder & Principal, Wise Living)

So, you’ve been getting to know your inner critic. You realize that the anxious, mean, voice in your head is actually in charge of many of the choices you make each day.

You see how its chatter about what you deserve prevents you from honoring your real dreams for your life. How it keeps you from sharing the bold, unique ideas that will get you moving in your career. How its pontifications about your belly and arms and thighs make a day at the beach a lot less fun.

You start to contemplate

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Berkeley Pitch Mixer Makes Networking With Entrepreneurs Fun

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Celebrating women's history month with a women's entrepreneur forum. By Ayori Z. Selassie (Co-Founder & Director, Pitch Mixer)

How many times have you attended an entrepreneur focused event and felt drained afterwards? If you live in the East Bay you’re even more used to feeling drained, not only for the effort required to impress and introduce yourself to so many strangers, but afterward you probably had to drive across the Bay just to get back home before you had to get back to work in the morning! Doesn’t that sound exhausting? It is!

The great news is Pitch Mixer is not like that! Last night we raised the roof for Women’s History Month with an Entrepreneur Forum featuring all women tech entrepreneur pitches, an all-women

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Technovation Challenge A Course In Entrepreneurship For High School Girls – And Their Mentors

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Words of wisdom from Technovation Challenge speakers, and invitation to Pitch Events. By Jeri Countryman (Director of Curriculum & Assessment, Iridescent)

The Technovation Challenge is a program to promote women in technology by giving girls the skills and confidence they need to be successful in computer science and entrepreneurship by developing a mobile phone app prototype, writing a business plan and pitching their idea to a panel of venture capital and technology startup judges.

During the ten-week program girls are supported by high school teachers and female mentors in the technology industry. This spring over 500 girls are participating

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Female Founders To Watch From UC Berkeley

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UC Berkeley breeds high-tech, high-growth entrepreneurs, investors and innovators. By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

While Stanford University sits squarely in the heart of the Silicon Valley with venture capital firms lining Sand Hill Road nearby, UC Berkeley has been quietly delivering promising women leaders in new tech and startups as well.

Here are female founders from UC Berkeley to watch:

Jen O'Neal (Co-Founder & CEO, Tripping) Jen co-founded Tripping, a travel site offering people to meet and places to stay. Follow her on Twitter at @JenONeal.

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Increasing Women Entrepreneurship: StartOut’s Lesbian Entrepreneur Mentorship Program

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Apply by April 12, 2012 to be a mentee in the pilot entrepreneurship program! By Leanne Pittsford (Founder & CEO, StartSomewhere & Board Member, StartOut)

There’s been an increased focus recently on the gender inequality in startups, in Silicon Valley and especially among VC firms. If you’re like me, these stats probably drive you a little crazy. Though there’s the big rallying cry to get women more involved, it seems at times like an insurmountable challenge. Broken down into smaller pieces, though, we can make a measurable impact.

If conventional wisdom dictates that success with your startup success yields experience, money and connections; and it follows logically that experience, money and connections

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Homework For A European Startup Ecosystem

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After publishing this article, her former employer’s website collapsed with the traffic in Germany. By Jenny Jung (Global Partnership Director, blackbox.vc)

"How do you perceive German entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley?"

The host kicks off a panel discussion featuring US VC fund managers and business angels. Carol Sands, Managing Member of The Angels' Forum and The Halo Funds responds:

"The German community is not well represented within the angel investing world. I’d love to see that improve because my number one investment this year was in a group of four Germans that came over (…) evidently because they had been trying to get some connections to the German community and got none, which I found interesting because

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Starting Up: Resources For Learning Programming, The Software Business And Design

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Learn how to program, what software businesses are, and how to design - through free classes online! By Frances Advincula (Former Platform Development Intern, Accenture Software)

 

Someday I will get through all of this - the courses here are free, through endeavors such as iTunes U and MIT Open Courseware.

For The Programmers

  • Multi-core Programming Primer Course - When PSN was down, I was so happy because I had my guy all to myself. If you’re dating or have dated or are a gamer… Well, now you can say you’ve programmed on the Play Station 3 development platform.... Read More...
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For The 99% – Online Engagement As The New Democracy

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PopVox CEO Marci Harris talks about increased political engagement via the Internet. By Ellie Cachette (Founder & CEO, ConsumerBell)

While the female entrepreneur momentum brews within the community, I had a chance to sit down with Marci Harris of PopVox to talk shop about her startups focused on political transparency. Marci agreed not all female founders are limited to the “Pink Ghetto” and how her life of inspiration has evolved into a flourishing product.

Listed as one of 15 Female Founder startups to watch in 2011, Marci ramps up PopVox just in time for the election season, we had to ask - what does the future hold?

Women 2.0: What do you think is the single most

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Entrepreneurs Work The Second Shift: Interview With Sarah McIlroy, Founder Of FashionPlaytes

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By Doreen Bloch (Author, The Coolest Startups in America) Sarah McIlroy is an entrepreneur based near Boston (specifically Salem, MA) who launched FashionPlaytes over three years ago. FashionPlaytes’s first product enabled girls to design clothing through FashionPlaytes’s online tools and then purchase and receive the customized garments.

She has raised over $5 million in venture capital for the business, after leaving a steady job and having a house full with three children.

I interviewed her

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Put Your Name In For Y Combinator: Interview With Kathryn Minshew, Founder Of The Daily Muse

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Daily Muse founder Kathryn Minshew talks about applying and getting into Y Combinator. By Doreen Bloch (Author, The Coolest Startups in America)

Formerly a consultant at McKinsey, Kathryn Minshew – founder of The Daily Muse, a destination website for women – has been named a Forbes 30-Under-30 and one of Inc.’s “Women to Watch in Tech.” Her work so far led to an acceptance to Y Combinator’s current class, where Kathryn and her team are working on taking the startup to the next level.

I spoke with Kathryn recently, and am excited to share her stellar advice for female founders, from why you should apply to Y Combinator to how to manage a large team.

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