Girls In Tech

 Astia, a premier venture accelerator that targets exceptional start-ups with women on their founding teams, today announced that COO Katie Nittler will be speaking at the Stanford Women in Business (SWIB) Conference on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 1:15pm in the Annenburg Auditorium. The panel is titled “Launching into Action: Taking the Bull by Its Horns”. It will be moderated by Mary Liz McCurdy and feature Susie Cranston, author of How Remarkable Women Lead; Traci Long, CEO of Ladies Who Launch; Lorraine Fox, former partner at Crescendo Ventures; Katie Nittler, COO of Astia; and Ruth DeGolia, Co-founder of Mercado Global.

The mission of the conference is to educate, motivate and inspire women to achieve success at every point in their career, whether they’re learning the ropes at their first, entry-level job or leading a successful company and looking to reach new heights. To that end, the conference features speakers who have reached these heights and are eager to share their stories, from recent graduates pioneering their own innovative start-ups to CEO’s of multinational corporations. The conference includes hands-on workshops aimed at broadening women’s definition of the path a career can and should take.

The conference is free and open to undergraduate and graduate students and community members both female and male. For more information on Stanford Women in Business visit http://swib.stanford.edu/

Tags: ASTIA, Katie Nittler, Stanford
Posted in San Francisco, Silicon Valley | No Comments »

This year 24notion and Girls in Tech Portland is the partner/co-sponsor of National Center for Women & Information Technology. NCWIT believe that inspiring more women to choose careers in IT isn’t about parity; it’s a compelling issue of innovation, competitiveness, and workforce sustainability. In a global economy, gender diversity in IT means a larger and more competitive workforce; in a world dependent on innovation, it means the ability to design technology that is as broad and creative as the people it serves.

The NCWIT Symons Innovator Award promotes women’s participation in information technology and entrepreneurship by honoring an outstanding woman who has successfully built and funded an IT business. By recognizing women IT entrepreneurs, the NCWIT Symons Innovator Award hopes to inspire others to pursue IT entrepreneurship, and increase awareness about the importance of women’s participation in IT innovation and business. This year, we are please to announced the 2010 NCWIT Symons Innovator Award Winner is Kim Polese, CEO of SpikeSource, Co-founder of Marimba, and the original product manager of Java at Sun Microsystems.

Be sure to join us for the 2010 NCWIT Innovator Award celebration, 6:30-8:30PM, Thursday, May 20, at the OHSU South Waterfront Atrium in Portland, Oregon. Many thanks to our local host, the Software Association of Oregon, guests will enjoy fine cocktails and decadent treats, the lovely musical styling of local vocalist Sarah Billings, and the opportunity to ride Portland’s famous Aerial Tram to experience a breathtaking view of the city at night. We invite you to purchase tickets early as space is limited at this venue.

KEY FACTS:

• Girls represented just 17 percent of Advanced Placement computer science (CS) exam-takers in 2008; that’s the lowest female representation of any AP exam.
• In 2008 women earned only 18 percent of all CS degrees. Back in 1985, women earned 37 percent of CS degrees.
• Women hold more than half of all professional occupations in the U.S. but fewer than 24 percent of all computing-related occupations.
• Only 16 percent of Fortune 500 technology companies have women corporate officers.
• A study on U.S. technology patenting reveals that patents created by mixed-gender teams are the most highly cited (an indicator of their innovation and usefulness); yet women were involved in only 9 percent of U.S. tech patents.

Learn more about Girls in Tech Portland

Learn more about 24Notion / tweet with us @24notion and @mssonicflare

Tags: 24notion, girls in tech, gitpdx, ivo, ivolukas, oregon, Portland, symons award, technology, women in IT, women in tech
Posted in All Chapters, Events, Portland | No Comments »

On April 22, the Los Angeles chapter of Girls in Tech hosted an incredibly successful PR & Marketing 3.0 panel. The turnout was above and beyond what we expected and we were thrilled to be able to engage so many great minds on such a relevant topic.

The amazing panelists (if I do say so myself) were: Rynda Laurel @rynda (AF83, Bearstech & Hackable:Devices), Heather Meeker @heathermeeker (Whrrl), Babette Pepaj @bakespace (Bakespace, TechMUNCH & The Daily Bits), Amanda Coolong @acoolong (Tech Zulu, ThisWeekin.com & Beta PR) and me, Christine Kirk @luxuryprgal (Social Muse Communications). Unfortunately, the equally wonderful Nicole Jordan (Mobile Roadie) and Andrea Scott (Pom Wonderful) had last minute commitments that kept them from being on the panel as originally scheduled.

#GITPR Panelists

One thing for sure is that we were a group of opinionated, passionate, and incredibly intelligent ladies who had a lot to say. Online communications and the digital world is something we are all deeply involved with in our daily personal and work lives, and it couldn’t have been a livelier conversation.

If you couldn’t make it to the event last week, we hope you come out to the next one (we know it’s tough economic times, but price of entry is ten bucks, and you get to schmooze with gorgeous, smart women – what more can you ask for?)

At a high-level, some of the “golden nuggets” (if you will) provided by the panelists were:

• Press releases are NOT dead. They have undergone an evolution with the advent of the social media press release and are still relevant for SEO purposes. They are also a vehicle to disseminate your brand’s messaging the way you want, and in a controlled environment.
• Twitter and Facebook aren’t about the number of followers and friends that you have. Social media is about building brand awareness and making a direct connection with your customers and consumers and having a two-way dialogue with them.
• Twitter Lists are your friend! Use them to create organized groups on different topics, industries, etc. Start with www.wefollow.com for help.
• Social media is but one arrow in the quiver, don’t get caught with tunnel vision on this one channel of communication, and remember to use the many other avenues available to get your brand out there.
• Use geolocation services (FourSquare, Gowalla, Whrrl, etc.) as personal brand builders and “legitimize your work through your lifestyle.” If you represent hospitality brands for example, checking in to restaurants, hotels and spas builds confidence that you practice what you preach.
• How can you avoid Internet stalkers when using geolocation services? Check in when you check out. Only check in when you’re LEAVING a venue, not when you arrive.
• Twitter is great way to create relationships with media you want to pitch stories to. Use Twitter to really learn who a journalist is, what they cover, and how they liked to be pitched. Ask them questions, send them interesting articles and acknowledge them when they post a story they wrote. Build a legitimate relationship and they’ll be more willing to open your e-mail the next time you send one…
• Only small niches of people are actively on Twitter, so your message may not go far. Identify key influencers in other places online and off who can take your message beyond social media.
• Geolocation is here to stay, so you better start learning FourSquare, Gowalla, and Whrrl to stay on top of your game.

Christine Kirk is founder and principal at Social Muse Communications, a social media marketing consultancy firm for luxury travel, restaurant, tech and lifestyle brands in Los Angeles. She also holds the position of PR Manager for the Los Angeles chapter of Girls in Tech. She can be reached via e-mail at christine@socialmuse.com or on Twitter @luxuryprgal.

Tags: Amanda Coolong, Babette Pepaj, Christine Kirk, facebook, FourSqaure, geolocation, Heather Meeker, online communications, Rynda Laurel, social media, twitter, Whrrl
Posted in All Chapters, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

Despite the highest number of female Internet users of all Arab states in the Gulf, young women in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) are reportedly especially prone to becoming victims of cyber crime.  This is something the Dubai government & American IT companies hope to change so are launching the inaugural TechnoGirls event held at Dubai Women’s College.

To educate young girls on the dangers of social-engineering scams and hackers, more than 400 Emirati students from public and private schools on April 13th participated in TechnoGirls, a one-day event launched by the Dubai Minister of Education Humaid Al Qutami and Dubai Women’s College, who worked in partnership with Microsoft, HP, and Intel.  Along with promoting awareness on how girls can educate themselves to be protected against cyber crime — to protect themselves online — the event also sought to raise awareness for these young women on career opportunities in technology-related fields.  “There is a dire need of Emirati students in robotics, programming, software engineering and security systems,” said Jyothi Ganglani, a faculty member in charge of the project, to the Khaleej Times Online.

What a great event; and one which we hope will be repeated for girls in tech in other countries, as well as here in the States!  To read more about the event and those involved, click Here.

(quote courtesy of the New New internet.com)

Tags: cyber crime, girls in technology
Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

The Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), a national non profit organization with 1,400 members and 84 chapters located internationally, and American Express OPEN, the division of American Express dedicated exclusively to helping small business growth, today released the 3rd ranking of the 50 fastest growing women-led companies in North America. The Top 50 generated a combined $2.3 billion in gross revenues (2009) and averaged 128 employees in the same year.

The Top 5 are:

1. Beatriz Manetta – Argent Associates, Inc. (New Jersey) – Supply Chain Management
2. Shelly Sun – BrightStar Care (Illinois) – Staffing services
3. Ranjini Poddar – Artech Information Systems LLC (New Jersey) – IT Consulting
4. Gail Warrior-Lawrence – Warrior Group (Texas) – Premier construction services
5. Elizabeth Elting – TransPerfect   (New York) – Language services provider

Some of the other key findings about these women and their enterprises were published along with the list and include:

Toughest challenges

• Lower sales – 56% say their biggest challenge in our current economy is “existing customers reducing purchases.”

Positive Outlook

• Doubling their workforce – Nearly all (96%) plan to be adding employees this year.
• Boosting the economy and their communities – Their ability to create much needed jobs is the greatest benefit of being a successful woman entrepreneur

To see the full list of Top 50, go to  this EON link.

Tags: Top 50, Women-Owned Business
Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

Linda Projansky and Kathy Carpenter have started My Job Search Pilot and HR Pilots for the active need right now for professionals who are seeking guidance in their job hunting/hiring endeavors.  Outlined here are their ten common mistakes women make on job interviews.

“Women can really sabotage themselves during job interviews by either being too chatty or by dressing inappropriately for the interview. Remember to keep your talk and your clothing professional. . .,” explained Principal of My Job Search Pilot,  Linda Projansky.  Here is their list:

Ten Common Mistakes Women Make On Job Interviews

1. They tell instead of sell — women focus on their job functions or responsibilities, they really need to focus on their accomplishments instead.
2. Women need to be liked — women have a need to be “liked” that men just don’t have. They need to place this need to be liked on the back burner. It’s not always about playing nice.
3. They talk about their personal lives too much — don’t talk about personal things in a job interview. Don’t mention that you just went on a maternity leave or your son’s middle name.
4. Women do not negotiate for a better salary — women tend not to negotiate for better salaries. One estimate says that by failing to negotiate for a better starting salary, a woman may sacrifice over half a million dollars over the course of her career.
5. They are too chatty — keep the chit chat to a minimum. Be sure to keep the conversation focused on the job interview and work experience.
6. Women sabotage themselves with honesty — women tend to be too honest, and they sabotage themselves in interviews saying things like… “to be honest I haven’t done that.” Focus on accomplishments.
7. They may dress inappropriately for the interview — not sure what to wear? Then ask your mother. Clothes can cost you a job, so be sure to be professional and polished.
8. Women sit by the phone waiting for a call — be proactive and make that call to find out about a position. It’s the professional version of waiting for the guy to call and ask you out.
9. They don’t have a clear idea of what it is that they want to do — do not fall back on the classic line “ I want to work with people.” Say instead that you want to utilize your interpersonal skills managing and mentoring your employees.
10. Women often don’t ask for help with their job search — yes, networking can be intimidating or scary for a lot of women but you need to utilize your network.

(List courtesy of HR Pilot & My Job Search Pilot)

Posted in All Chapters | 3 Comments »

Earlier this month, my life exploded faster than you can say Eyjafjallajokull. In the same day, my Outlook crashed, my iTunes stopped syncing, my company migrated email servers and my iPhone died. I couldn’t text, couldn’t tweet, couldn’t calendar, couldn’t email, couldn’t find half my contacts. In short, I couldn’t do any of the things that keep my crazy, busy life running at the pace that it does. I wish I could say I learned some important lesson about how life can go on gadget-free – or at least experienced some zen-like appreciation of the peace of not having constant connectivity while everything was down. But I didn’t. I just panicked.

Fortunately, I live pretty close to an Apple Store, and they happened to have a Genius Bar appointment available relatively quickly after I – literally shaking and stammering and cradling my dead iPhone like the precious baby that it is – made my way there. And luckily, there was a fix to get my baby back up and running. But, it involved wiping the whole thing clean. And I mean completely clean. Total factory restore. Which, of course, wouldn’t have been a big deal if I could have just restored my data from the iTunes backup. Or at least re-imported my calendar and contacts from Outlook. But, since everything else was breaking that day too, I couldn’t.

Fortunately for me – and for everyone who has to live with or around me – I had taken some preventative measures just a few months before to protect myself against this very sort of situation. I had begun regularly exporting my Outlook calendar and contacts into CSV files, and copied all my iTunes data into a folder I stored on my desktop, separately from the rest of the iTunes application information.

So, when I switched to using Google to manage my contacts & calendar, it was easy to import those CSV files and start over. When I uninstalled the incredibly buggy iTunes 9.1 (which I’m convinced broke my iPhone 3G in the first place, something you can read about all over the interwebs right now), and reinstalled 9.0, I just used my backed up iTunes data to get everything back to normal. And, when I figured out that you could use the iPhone’s built-in exchange feature to sync google data directly with your phone, I knew I was on the right track to getting my life – or at least my sanity – back.

Long story short, backing up turned what could have been a total disaster into just a few short – albeit excruciating – hours of restoring, reinstalling and reconfiguring. Now, in addition to the things I do to back up my iPhone – both in the google cloud and also on my hard drive and flash drive – I’ve also signed up for Mozy to start backing the rest of my data as well. Because, if there’s one thing my own personal techpocalypse did teach me, it’s the value of a good backup plan. Although I still don’t know how to pronounce Eyjafjallajokull.

Tags: backup, data, iphone, storage
Posted in Girls In Tech, Los Angeles | 1 Comment »

As noted by my colleague Tommy Jenkins’ posts below, a recent New York Times article by Claire Cain Miller: ‘Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley‘ is a very good synopsis of the roadblocks that women in the high tech industry run into, daily. From women wanting to begin start-ups and looking for venture funding (like Candace Fleming of Crimson Hexagon, mentioned in the article), to women (like Poornima Vijayashanker quoted by Miller), who struggle with the decision to choose career-focus for a time, as opposed to starting a family right away, there are many facets to this every-growing, every-changing dynamic.

Poornima Vijayashanker now owns her own software company

It begins, some say, when young women are in school pursuing their engineering degrees. Says Miller: “When women take on the challenges of an engineering or computer science education in college, some studies suggest that they struggle against a distinct set of personal, psycho-social issues.

Miller quotes a study of 493 undergraduate engineering majors’ and their intentions to continue with their major, where “men tended to stick with their studies as long as they completed the coursework, while women did so only if they earned high grades.” And there are groups such as Stanford’s Women in Computer Science to help girls stick with it; and also to give them the idea that they can pursue a technical degree while remaining socially active and having other extracurricular interests.  This is also where Girls in Tech comes in.  — As the article mentions, that groups such as  Girls in Tech and Women 2.0 are “sprouting up for women in tech,”  we are hoping to be some of that driving force to help shift the balance, as Ms. Jenkins’ post eludes to, in gender in the technology field.   And as Ms. Miller notes in her article, since having a mix of men & women in the boardroom and the executive suite seems to make start-ups thrive, this day may come sooner than we all think!

To read the full text of the article, click:  HERE ::  (Quotes courtesy of @ NY Times.com.)

Posted in All Chapters | No Comments »

Jalak Jobanputra Senior Vice President New York City Investment Fund

Jalak Jobanputra is Senior Vice President at the New York City Investment Fund and manages the Fund’s investments in the information technology, media and cleantech sectors. Prior to joining the Fund, Jalak was a Principal at New Venture Partners, a $300M early stage venture fund where she was a director of Procelerate Technologies and Real Time Content. Previously, Ms. Jobanputra worked at Intel Capital where she led and managed strategic investments in software, digital media and services companies. Cont…

My twitter stream and email inbox has been full of links to the NY Times article published yesterday — Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley.

It is great to see that a conversation is finally evolving on the importance of gender diversity in the technology and venture capital sectors. On my trip to Rwanda last year I wrote a blog post on why I thought diversity in general was important.

When I meet with startups one of the first reactions/comments is that they have never met a female VC before. We exist, and I count close friends, and investors that I admire greatly, in the ranks. I have also worked with many male VCs who have funded women led companies and are supportive of women. However, after 11 years as a venture capitalist, I can say this industry is one of the most male dominated that I have encountered (including investment banking — many larger firms have diversity programs, shareholders and boards that provide incentives and oversight on this issue).

Successful companies grow out of an ecosystem and network of support, and that includes mentors, investors and role models. Integration of different viewpoints and backgrounds is not always easy but research validates that there is long term payoff for any short term challenges that may exist:

For those with a bottom-line approach, analysts say it makes a difference when women are in the garages where tech start-ups are founded or the boardrooms where they are funded. Studies have found that teams with both women and men are more profitable and innovative. Mixed-gender teams have produced information technology patents that are cited 26 percent to 42 percent more often than the norm, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

Building out an ecosystem that gives ALL smart, talented entrepreneurs access to funding, and support for their fledgling businesses will benefit everyone in the long term. When I helped launch NYCSeed with Owen Davis a couple of years ago, the goal was to provide this network of support in addition to seed funding. And everyone, including the most successful serial entrepreneurs, can benefit from these networks.

But this access becomes particularly important for first time entrepreneurs, and I am seeing an increasing number of women in this category. These women are thinking just as big as their male counterparts (and sometimes are better at weighing the risks and alternate scenarios!) As technology usage becomes more mainstream and diffuses into more industries and disciplines, more women are becoming creators and users of technology as a default.

That’s why I sat on the board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs in 1999 in Silicon Valley when I started my venture career, and continue to support women entrepreneurs through Astia, Girls in Tech and a host of other organizations. That’s why I am moderating a panel of incredible women entrepreneurs on the topic of Social Media for Social Change this Monday April 19 at GreenSpaces with Echoing Green and NYWSE. And stay tuned for a panel of tech company founders who have successfully raised venture funding, including Heidi Messer (LinkShare, WorldEvolved) Stephanie Sarka (goto.com, new stealth startup), Jen Bekman (20×200) and Jenny Fleiss (Rent the Runway) on May 27 with GIT and Astia hosted at Polaris Ventures‘ Dogpatch Labs in NYC.

This is not about singling out women just because they are women, but because they are building businesses that are going to make a significant impact on our lives in the future (while generating a nice return for their investors along the way….)

Tags: entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, venture capital, women
Posted in New York | 1 Comment »

Union Square Ventures is hiring – at the least for the next half-hour now. Famous for finger-on-the-pulse technology and internet investments, they are also famous for their winning philosophies, an open and direct rhetoric, and seem to relish in the ability to innovate publicly. In their new positions they do not sway from their course. The General Manager role is a dynamic communicator and integrator, while he/she, will join the analyst role in submitting testaments of web presence and LinkedIn for consideration. Looking up @usv @fredwilson @albertwenger reveals a string of approval on Twitter.

This got me thinking and in between a fantastic call with Katarina Skoberne for our London chapter and an interview for one of the most popular newspapers in China by @acrosstheC featuring a new initiative we are exploring with @crystalcy and of course the GIT China launch (@jennybai) I started to write up this up as an FYI … Later Jalak Jobanputra@jalak, Christine Lemke @clemke and Melek Pulatkonak@theorientalist got in touch and announced the finalization of our first GIT NYC Entrepreneurship series event – and Jalak chronicled her perspective on http://nothingventuredblog.com. We’ll repost it here, as you really can’t beat the intelligence, experience, humor and passion with which she approaches everything.

I thought back to when we rounded the bend to 2010, when there was a feeling of excitement about the new year – throughout Girls in Tech chapters, and I think the rest of the world to some extent. We were collaborating online in new ways and excited about new chapters and events. As the year progressed, the virtual economy announced new functionality across the internet, traditional media and news became easier to access, and innovation-spirited, communication-focused internet products launched and spread quickly locally. Brands and models followed, led, and employed social media, and vice versa.

At AlwaysOn OnMedia 2010, men and women VCs provided thoughtful industry analysis and qualified the social media feedback loop in terms of what it meant for platforms and models. Most if not all of it is chronicled at OnMedia, specifically Pricing Private Companies: What’s the 2010 Strategy? and Social Media’s Next Step: The Savvy E-Commerce Campaign in this context. This was all mirrored as social good campaigns like twestival were reaching a year or more of maturity and more executives focused on social good. Platforms or tools were punctuated with APIs that could be used for similar purposes.

The online ecosystem is itself more eloquent (code is poetry). Through the media, women taste this eloquence: from DARPA (as mentioned in a previous post), from McKinsey, from the Economist, from Forbes Women, and through organizations like GIT, find a chance to celebrate it. As creativity as a pursuit in itself edges its way into the spotlight of our tech-ness, women’s achievements and stories from their ecosystems, declare themselves strongly from abroad and are featured within New York City.

Our leaders – brilliant and online – social and learning – and more numerous than it may appear.

Some resources:
@AstiaNYC
@GoldenSeeds
@IlluminateVC
@Thenextwomen
@theglasshammer
Entrepreneur’s vc100
The most loved vcs by thefunded
Venture capital at alltop.com
Forbes Midas List
Forbes powerful women VCs

Posted in New York | 2 Comments »