By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) In a much discussed BBC Video about CES 2012, a booth babe tells the reporter "I don’t know any women [interested in tech]. I don’t know any women that would choose the tech world over shopping or cooking or taking care of kids." Wait, is this really 2012?
Here is the CES Booth Babe Problem as articulated by Violet Blue:
"CES doesn’t look much like a cutting-edge convention now that problems have emerged around the hired female models dressed in provocative outfits to be “booth babes”
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O’Reilly Where (April 2-4, 2012 in San Francisco, CA) is where the grassroots and leading-edge developers building location-aware technology intersect with the businesses and entrepreneurs seeking out location apps, platforms, and hardware to gain a competitive edge. Where Conference presents leading trends rather than chasing them. Women 2.0 members save 20% with discount code "WHR12WOMEN" when they register here.
... Read More... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) Two pieces of sunny news for women in business and technology:
As co-founder and CEO of VMware, Diane Greene led the company to an IPO the largest the tech industry has seen since Google's. Recently, she was named to Google's Board of Directors, bringing the number of women on Google's board to 3 out of 10 members.
Ann Mather and Shirley M. Tilghman have both been on Google's Board of Directors since 2005.
Diane Greene was a speaker at last year's Women 2.0 PITCH event. You can still get tickets for this year's PITCH Conference.
... Read More... By Marie Wilda (Writer, PolicyMic) The video game industry has an annual revenue of over $25 billion. One largely anticipated game set to be released in 2012 is Grand Theft Auto V, and it assuredly will not disappoint.
One reason game forums await the release of GTA V is to find out if the male protagonist streak will be broken. A recent Internet trailer did nothing to confirm or deny rumors of a female lead character.
The question is no longer if women play video games, rather it has become how to address that niche.
... Read More... By Meghan Casserly (Writer, Forbes) A recent Kauffman poll shows that Gen-Y may be poised to be the most entrepreneurial bunch the world has seen. “54% of the nation’s Millennials either want to start a business or already have started one,” says Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.
Paired with data on the rise of female entrepreneurs, the outlook for young women is promising. As Lesa Mitchell, Kauffman’s vice president of innovation pointed out “Women’s entrepreneurship is an economic issue, not a gender-equity issue.”
... Read More... By Elizabeth Kiehner (Co-Founder & Principal, Thornberg & Forester) As Thornberg & Forester approaches its five-year anniversary next month, I am reminded of our stellar employee retention rate. With a staff of sixteen at present, we’ve had only one person leave our team these past years when she moved closer to her parents after having her first child.
So, how do we do it? Easy.
#1: First of all, HR is not a department --- it is a way of thinking
Almost every employee has his or her own custom
... Read More... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) The run-up to Women 2.0 PITCH Conference on February 14, 2012 is defined by Women 2.0's fifth annual Startup Competition for early-stage tech startups.
Watch the finalists of the 2012 Women 2.0 Startup Competition pitch live on February 14. Hear first-hand feedback from panels of real investors on what makes a successful pitch for investment.
Here are the 10 finalists of the 2012 Women 2.0 PITCH Startup Competition:
... Read More... By Laura Sydell (Digital Culture Correspondent, National Public Radio) Bill Reichert, a partner in Garage Technology Ventures, says another reason is that a lot of the female entrepreneurs he sees don't have the computer science background.
"We tend to invest in companies that have very strong core technical teams, and ... that population is disproportionately male," Reichert says.
But starting an Internet company isn't as technically difficult as it used to be.
... Read More... By Jazmin Hupp (Director of Awesome, Tekserve) "In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer
Read A New Book Every Month John Spence says that the average business person reads one business book every 5 years. If you read 6 business books a year, you’ll be in the top 1% of learners in America. If you read a business book every month, you’ll be in the top 1% of learners in the world.
... Read More... By Mary Simonds (Blogger, Startup America Partnership) Are you a Startup America Master? Do you have enough startup influence to help us recruit 100,000 startups by March 31, 2012? Prove it.
We ended last week with a bang and kicked off our first Master Challenge Throwdown: Brad Feld v. TechStars!
As of this morning, Brad Feld is in the lead with 55 startups and TechStars with 53 with David Cohen claiming almost half (22) of the TechStars number, and finally getting
... Read More... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) The number of women obtaining patents grew at an accelerated rate in the past 35 years -- and in numbers considerably higher than previously reported.
Reported by the National Women's Business Council who commissioned the study, the report demonstrates that the largest spike came in 2010 as 22,984 patents were granted to women (a 35% jump over the previous year). In 2009, women received 17,061 patents (a 4.5% increase over the 16,321 issued in 2008).
... Read More... Women 2.0 interviews Candace Klein, Founder & CEO of Bad Girls Ventures - a non-profit, micro-finance organization focused on educating and financing woman-owned startup companies. To date, Bad Girls Ventures has educated over 250 businesses, financed 26 women with $700k and created 154 jobs across Ohio. Here is her heartfelt story of starting up and empowering women -- to solid economic results and job creation!Women 2.0: How did you get the idea for Bad Girls Ventures? Start at day one, or even before then. Candace Klein: I was born to a teenage mother on welfare and lived in a trailer park near Cincinnati, Ohio. As the oldest of five children and 35 grandchildren in my family, I was the first to go to college. I secured four degrees from Northern Kentucky University
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