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Entrepreneur Nikki Durkin Launches 99Dresses At Y Combinator

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Female-founded fashion startup launches out of Y Combinator Demo Day. By Simone Brummelhuis (Founder, TheNextWomen)

Australian entrepreneur Nikki Durkin has re-launched 99Dresses at the Y Combinator Winter 2012 Demo Day. Tech pundits Robert Scoble and Ben Parr (former editor at Mashable) have already named 99Dresses their favourite company to come out of Y Combinator's Winter 2012 program.

Nikki Durkin, Founder of 99Dresses, said Y Combinator had helped provide the perfect platform for their global expansion.

"The last three months in Mountain View, California, have been a tremendous experience for myself and the talented

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TechCrunch Opinion Post: On Women In Tech

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This article has been syndicated from TechCrunch. By Matthew Prince (Co-Founder & CEO, CloudFlare)

Geeklist must never have learned the first rule of holes: When you’re in one, stop digging. I was all the way on the other side of the world at a conference held at a random amusement park in the German countryside and it still seemed like the Geeklist boys had almost dug their way to me.

I first got wind of the incident, which appears to have reignited the women in tech debate, from an Australian who was also attending the conference. “Silicon valley hasn’t changed since I left there years ago,” he said over a beer. “Still a bunch of frat boys

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The First Cut Is The Deepest (Controlling Startup Expenses)

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"A good company never lets its Sales, Marketing and General Operating Expenses (SG&A) get too big." By Teresa Dentino (Founder & CEO, The Financial 411)

Whether it’s “cutting edge”, “leading edge”, “bleeding edge” or “burn rate”, the terms we hear volleyed around deal-making may sound straight out of an Grey’s Anatomy episode, but it all comes down to this equation to the ears of your third-party funding sources: New Technology = How much Cash Needs to Burn + How Long it will Last before the Bleeding Edge Technology is Profitable.

So to get you on the right edge, where you’re not only fluent with the terms, but aware of how to maximize your breakthrough concept’s financials, let’s talk numbers that really count.

Initially you have a lot of R&D (Research and

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An Insider Look At Launch Conference (As A Woman-Led Startup)

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From applying to stealth mode, from rehearsals to launch. By Carrie Requist (Co-Founder & CEO, U Grok It)

The LAUNCH Roller Coaster.

They say that doing a startup is like riding a roller coaster.

Nothing captures that as well as being a 1.0 company in Jason Calacanis’ LAUNCH conference.

Here’s what our experience was like from the inside, from applying to stealth mode, from rehearsals to launch.

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Tell Your Own Story, Invent Your Own Future

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Take control of your own narrative - what is your personal startup founder pitch? By Karen Gifford (Co-Founder & Principal, Broad Ventures Leadership)

When I was practicing law, the arrival of the opposing side’s brief was a much-anticipated occasion. It was our chance to finally see the other side’s best arguments, and after we had a chance to read it, inevitably a little drama would ensue. If the brief was written with any skill at all, most of my team members on the case – as well as the many on-lookers in the office who had some sort of stake in the matter – would be shaken by it. Seeing the story it told about our client’s conduct was disturbing.

Invariably, I’d get panicked advice that ran something along the lines of, well this is terrible. We have to refute everything they said

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How To Be Productive On A Startup Schedule

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Get stuff done by using RescueTime - be more productive! By Jenn Vargas (Founder, Accompl.sh)

While working on Accompl.sh full-time, I’ve been on a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, productivity, success and failure, and it has helped me to better understand what I need to do to keep myself on task. In one week alone, I managed to launch a redesign of nearly the entire Accompl.sh site and watch eight out of nine movies that were nominated for Best Picture this year, on top of whatever else was already on my calendar.

It’s entirely possible to get a good night’s sleep on a startup schedule and still make time for fun. Here’s how:

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Women In Technology – Past, Present, Future

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This week, I delivered two keynotes to middle school and high school girls interested in tech careers. By Gayle Laakmann McDowell (Founder & CEO, CareerCup)

The first one was for the Philadelphia area awards dinner for the Aspirations in Computing Award, and the second was for a wonderful event called Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology. I’ve printed my message below which addresses why everyone - both boys and girls - should consider a technology career.

I wanted to talk to you today about why I think technology is such a great field to enter. But, first, I think I need to tell you a bit about who I am and how I got here.

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The Board Of Directors: Board Chemistry

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The importance of chemistry in your startup's board of directors. By Fred Wilson (Managing Partner, Flatiron Partners & Union Square Ventures)

One of the least discussed elements of a Board of Directors is the chemistry among the Board members. It is critical to a well functioning Board but not always considered in Board construction.

Like a well functioning startup or a top flight sports team, the chemistry between the participants on a Board must be strong. That doesn't mean they need to be best friends who hang out with each other outside of the job. It does mean they must respect each other and lean on each other's strengths to get to the right decisions.

When you are building a Board, you must think about

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How To Structure Your Early-Stage Startup

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How to structure your early-stage startup: founder equity, legal stuff, financial plans... By Rama Katkar (Co-Founder, Hipiti)

When you first set out to start a new company, it can be easy to get bogged down learning about all the things you didn’t even realize you needed to know. Serial entrepreneurs have an advantage, because they have been there and done that, so they can easily sidestep some of the early hurdles.

But if you’re a first-timer, you can waste a lot of energy focusing on seemingly small things that distract you from what you really want to be doing – building and executing your business idea.

When my co-founder and I recently set out

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3 Things About Mexican Startups That May Surprise Investors

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By Rebecca Lipon (Application & Judges Coordinator, PITCH Competition 2012) Last week I trekked up to the Microsoft’s San Francisco campus to see Mexican.VC's Demo Day. Mexico is not known for spawning Internet companies, but with our sister site, Ellas 2.0, we wanted to know what is happening in Mexico.

Mexican.VC styles itself as Silicon Valley’s first “discovery fund” for Mexico, providing an initial $20k capital boost to entrepreneurs. Why is this necessary? Early seed capital is often provided by a US entrepreneur’s credit card, but with limited access to personal credit in developing markets, a third party is needed to provide “discovery capital”. That is the role Mexican.VC is assuming

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Win A Free Ticket To Google I/O Developer Conference 2012!

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Win one of two FREE tickets to attend Google I/O developer conference! By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0)

Women 2.0 is offering two FREE tickets ($900 value each) to attend the Google I/O developer conference. If you’re excited about meeting other developers who build using Google technology and want to learn about the newest technical developments from Google, this is your opportunity to go to Google I/O.

To apply for one of these tickets, tell us in 200 words or less why you think you should come to Google I/O 2012 in the comments below by Friday, April 13, 2012.

We’re looking for women who

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Calling All Female Game-Changers For Singularity University

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Scholarships are available to select female catalysts chosen to attend Singularity University. By Susan Fonseca (Founding Member, Singularity University & Founder, Women@TheFrontier)

Singularity University (SU), a Silicon Valley organization located at NASA Research Park in California seeks next-generation rock-stars to join this summer’s Graduate Studies Program 2012 (GSP12).

Every summer, SU selects 80 top students from around the world to join the GSP class. Our students comprise a diverse set of forward-thinking minds with entrepreneurial experience and a passion for solving the biggest challenges.

Apply today! Deadline to apply is March 31, 2012.

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What I Learned From Pitching At SXSW’s Dolphin Tank

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The most important lesson was embracing failures as learning experiences. By Misty Gibbs (Founder & CEO, Empower Lounge)

I had the great opportunity to pitch Empower Lounge at SXSW for Startup America Women's The Dolphin Tank.

What did I learn with only two minutes to pitch the panel of judges who happen to be ALL women, a rare opportunity for a female founder? Less is more. More is better. Less is more about the "why" behind your product. I spent most of the two minutes sharing research and what I learned first-hand about what smart women really crave from the digital world to build the case for the pain Empower Lounge

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