Invest in your career or someone else's by starting the year 2012 with the gift of Women 2.0!Support your female-founded startups -- We took a quick look at a list of female-founded companies' products and found some fun ones for the gift-giving procrastinator:
... Read More... By Leah Eichler (Contributing Writer, Femme-O-Nomics)Karen Ramstead, a former retail manager in Calgary, never imagined that one day she would move to a remote northern Alberta community to become a full-time musher. Years ago, in a bid to persuade her to leave the city and move to Grande Prairie, her husband, Mark, bought her a Siberian husky as a bribe. Karen Ramstead, a former retail manager in Calgary, never imagined that one day she would move to a remote northern Alberta community to become a full-time musher. Years ago, in a bid to persuade her to leave the city and move to Grande Prairie, her husband, Mark, bought her a Siberian husky as a bribe.
It sparked a new passion, and she started breeding dogs, turning that one pup into several dozen, which she trained as sled dogs.
Eventually she made the leap from hobby to full-time
... Read More... By Kapil Kale (Co-Founder, GiftRocket) I first came across Paul Graham’s article, Startup Ideas We’d Like To Fund, in a Google search in mid-2010.
Though published two years earlier, I thought the article was the most thorough compilation of problem spaces for startups to tackle anywhere on the web.
Before coming up with the idea for GiftRocket, we (the founders) treated it like a problem set. We’d methodically work through the list and have late night discussions about
... Read More... By Jonathan Greechan (Partner, The Founder Institute) Are you a seed-stage startup looking for funding or exposure? Apply to the Founder Showcase Pitch Competition, where previous presenters have raised over $30 million without ever being required to pay a dime. Any company less than two years old with less than $250,000 in funding is eligible, but time is running out.
To apply for your chance to present on-stage, click here. The Application Deadline is December 31, 2011, but the sooner you apply, the longer you have to collect votes. Priya Sheth, Guest Blogger on Women 2.0 and Founder Labs Graduate, made it
... Read More... By Steph Auteri (Founder, Word Nerd Pro) It’s been four years since I first launched Word Nerd Pro, a one-stop word-nerd shop offering a variety of writing, editing, and coaching services. In those four years, my business has gone through several transformations. In the coming years, it will probably go through several more. But that’s okay. The best way to learn is by doing, and I’ve been learning a lot as I go. In fact, this hands-on education has helped me strengthen my business tremendously.
But as much as I still have to learn, there are some things I’ve finally caught on about:
... Read More... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) Silicon Valley Ryan Gosling is the dream you don't want to wake up from. The more capitalistic sister of the Feminist Ryan Gosling Tumblr, this brand new blog features pictures of Gosling quipping:
"Hey girl. It’s okay you only have 0.001% equity in your company. You are the primary shareholder of my heart." "Hey girl. I definitely think we should stay home tonight and optimize your new website for mobile. I’ll pick up some takeout."
... Read More... By Brad Feld (Managing Director, Foundry Group) I hate Christmas music. Hate, hate, hate. Call me Grinch Feld. I don’t care. It just makes me want to poke knitting needles in my ears to stop it. Amy and I were in City Market grocery shopping the other day and at some point I had to go outside and scream. It felt good enough that I was able to go back in the store and finish buying greek yogurt and vegetables.
Yesterday I got a note from David Cohen with an attachment of a parody of The 12 Days of Christmas. At first I almost just archived it on general principle. And then I listened to it. And it was hilarious. I decided that since it was a parody, it got to go in
... Read More... By Angie Chang (Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Women 2.0) Women 2.0 and the Kauffman Foundation are together working toward improving the economic welfare of our nation by boosting high-growth entrepreneurs.
This year, the Kauffman Foundation discovered a "jobs leak," illustrated entrepreneurs' contributions and recommended policy reforms for growth. They also looked at research focused on annual startup rates, legal reforms for economic growth and job creation trends.
Here are the highlights from 2011:
... Read More... By Jennifer Lindner (Organizer, RailsBridge & Freelance Open Source Developer) What is Harvey Mudd doing so right, you ask? Well, we’ll tell you:
Since 2006, the percentage of female computer science majors has more than tripled, to about 40%.
This is because of revolutionary changes in the program designed to build confidence during the early stages of learning.
Intro to computer science (CS), a requirement for all incoming students, is now broken into three sections -- one for total beginners, one for those with some programming experience and
... Read More... By Laura Yecies (CEO, SugarSync) A friend sent me this Forbes article – 30 Under 30 -- with the question -- why the focus on youth? It is a really good question. My first thought when I read the article was where was I and what was I doing before I turned the dreaded 30, after which, implicitly in this article -- one’s accomplishments become theoretically less impressive.
So let’s turn the clock back to just before 30. December 1993 -- I had three children (Adam was born when I was over the hill at 31) ages eight, five and six months. I was working at
... Read More... By Brandon D. Finn (Founder, Designer Finn) A lot of people tell me how much they love Balsamiq and Mockingbird for wire framing and mockups of page designs and workflows. But none of them are designers.
I can understand how someone who is more used to a trackpad than a pentab would feel more comfortable with a wireframing tool than Photoshop (PS).
But for those of us who live and breathe the Creative Suite (CS) it seems like an extra, and unnecessary step.
... Read More... By Sarah Perez (Writer, TechCrunch) Today, a new startup accelerator for women, the Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) Accelerator, is opening its doors for applications. The program will start off small, offering two to five companies seed funding of $18,000, plus mentoring, support, and free office space in New York during the course of its three-month program.
The company was founded by Veronika Sonsev, the co-founder of inSparq and the non-profit Women in Wireless, Deborah Jackson, founder of JumpThru, and business strategist Kelly Hoey.
“Accelerators are dominated by men and
... Read More... By Emily Glazer (Writer, Wall Street Journal) When it comes to programs that nurture new startups, women often don’t make the cut. A new “startup accelerator” hopes to combat that gender disparity in at least one booming market: mobile technology.
Women Innovate Mobile opened its application today to startups with a woman founder or co-founder and a product that is related to mobile. The accelerator will offer two to five startups free New York office space, mentoring and coaching, access to venture capitalists and other investors in addition to $18,000 in seed funding, $10,000 worth of product development and design support, and $10,000 worth of mobile marketing promotions.
... Read More... By Willo O'Brien (Co-Founder & VP of Marketing, Stitch Labs) This year has brought about some incredible developments... both personally, and in my career. One of my main goals has been to find my sweet spot:
Do what I love + Do what comes easily to me + Get paid well for it = My Sweet Spot
My geeky venn diagram
... Read More... By Laura Klein (Principal, Users Know) The other day, I posted something I strongly believe on Twitter. A few people disagreed. I’d like to address the arguments, and I’d love to hear feedback and counter-arguments in the comments where you have more than 140 characters to tell me I’m wrong.
My original tweet was, “I don't trust designers who don't want their designs a/b tested. They're not interested in knowing if they were wrong.”
Here are some of the real responses that I got
... Read More...