Girls In Tech

Just in time to help break the ice at this year’s holiday gatherings, the web’s premier relationship compatibility site Moonit is introducing the Moonit Social iPhone app. Now you can walk around with your very own “virtual wingman” in your back pocket that lets you see how compatible you are with everyone you meet for flirting or for friendship.

The Moonit Social iPhone app offers insights into your romantic and platonic relationships by performing an analysis of your birthdays through astrology. Users can view their percentage compatibility and a short, entertaining paragraph of tangible advice on what to appreciate, what to look out for, and what to work on for that particular pairing. The app ultimately helps users uncover all the characters in their lives by collecting Moonit relationship stickers like “Wedding Bells,” “Wingman” and “BFF.”

How Does It Work? Download the free app, set up your profile with your full birth date and picture, and send someone a Moonit request to connect for flirting or friendship—just make sure they’re an iPhone app user, too. Once they accept your request, you’ll both receive your compatibility results.

Over 1 million web users are accessing Moonit’s compatibility offerings on www.moonit.com, while over 500,000 email subscribers are opted in to Moonit’s relationship horoscope email alerts. The quantitative and qualitative components of Moonit’s relationship offerings are driven by a proprietary predictive algorithm, which seeks out the strongest weighted aspect between two individuals to reveal the overriding dynamic of that relationship. This unique algorithm that performs birth date analysis was co-developed with Astrolabe—the leading software provider for professional astrologers.

To download the app, click here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moonit/id469944437. And if you’re not an iPhone app user, you can go to: www.moonit.com to get insights to all your past, present and future relationships

Tags: Adriana Gacoigne, App, Flirting, girls in tech, iphone, Moonit, Social dating
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Guest blog entry written by Jennifer Hyman, co-founder and CEO, Rent the Runway

Neither Jenny (my co-founder, President of Rent the Runway) and I had a background in technology prior to Rent the Runway. You could say that we were thrown into it. Technology is the backbone of our growth right now and vital to our business. In the beginning we outsourced some of the development and then we gradually built our amazing in-house team. Due to that, Jenny and I got fully involved with a lot of the technology. I would not go as far as saying that we can code, but we can carry on a conversation about the technology of our site and we can interview and hire people effectively. There is a lot of work that we are doing to get us to the next point of growth, and we are really focused on technology right now.

Before finding Jonathan, our Senior Vice President of Engineering, Jenny and I had to delegate several of the responsibilities on the technology team to non-tech people in the company. At one point or another, several of our employees experienced learning QA, creating wireframes and understanding how to create a product vision. From that process, we realized that tech is not another language. It is vitally important and should not be delegated off to another part of the company. It created far more of a collaborative culture at Rent the Runway amongst technology and every division of our business.

About Jennifer Hyman

Jennifer Hyman has been the Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway since the company’s inception in November 2009.  She is responsible for all areas of the business including technology, fashion, sales, marketing, operations, customer service, and team management, while also serving as the company spokesperson.   Most well-known within the entrepreneurial and fashion communities for her phenomenal marketing abilities, Jennifer was named as the Chief Marketing Officer of Fortune magazine’s “Executive Dream Team.”

Jennifer co-founded Rent the Runway with her Harvard Business School classmate Jennifer Fleiss.  After receiving approximately $31 million in venture capital from Bain Capital Ventures, Highland Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, they have quickly built the company to include 1.5 million members, over 60 employees and 150 designer brands.  Rent the Runway is a members-only online fashion community that builds customer loyalty for designer brands by enabling women to rent dresses and accessories for all the special occasions in their lives. As the “Netflix for fashion,” Rent the Runway encourages women to live the life they dream today.

Within only two years of business Rent the Runway has been honored with numerous recognitions, including Time Magazine’s “50 Best Websites of 2010,” Forbes’ “15 Names You Need to Know in 2011,” Fast Company’s “10 Most Innovative Fashion  Companies of the Year” and Newsweek’s “Best Ways to Save in 2011.”  Additionally, Jennifer and her co-founder were named as Inc. Magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30,” Fashionista’s “Fashionista  50: The Most Influential People in New York Fashion,” and the New York Daily News “Fashion Week Top 20 People Cutting a Bold Figure in New York Fashion.”

Prior to Rent the Runway, Jennifer was the Director of Business Development at IMG where she focused on the creation of new media businesses for IMG’s Fashion Division. She also ran an online advertising sales team at WeddingChannel.com and was an in-house entrepreneur at Starwood Hotels, creating Starwood’s first wedding business which was recognized on the Oprah Winfrey Show for its innovation.

Jennifer received her BA from Harvard University and MBA from Harvard Business School.  She currently resides in New York City where she enjoys the entrepreneurial lifestyle, neighborhood restaurants, and socializing with her friends and family.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, CEO, girls in tech, Jennifer Hyman, Online retail, Rent The Runway, women in tech
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Big businesses tend to lag in innovation. There are plenty of reasons why large, established organizations aren’t quick to adapt and create. There’s too much hierarchy or a dearth of in-house entrepreneurs, but whatever the reason it’s why startups exist. Some startups push the frontier of what’s possible, while others successfully build within the innovation abysses between existing industry titans.

There is a set of these latter startups that are reaping the benefits of their well-executed, creative business models in crowded industries. But I’m worried about them. These companies may have a nice brand and a passionate team, but they also have a highly replicable product or service. An established company did not try it earlier because they may have not noticed the opportunity or the business concept may have been too risky to pursue at the time, but now that a startup has created market demand, the traditional player can come in and sweep.

I have two salient examples, and I’m sure there are others so don’t hesitate to leave your feedback in the comments section below. The first example is Birchbox, a Beauty 2.0 company that packages sample beauty products and delivers it monthly to subscribers. The company launched a little over a year ago and now has thousands of customers. They set out to show, and have now proved, that yes, people will and do pay for tiny samples of chic beauty products.

So, why can’t luxury conglomerate LVMH or one of its subsidiaries, like Sephora, jump into this market now? There’s little risk that their efforts won’t work, and these companies have the infrastructure to crush the competition. This is Birchbox’s Proof of Concept Problem. The company effectively innovated and executed, but now that the concept is proven to be a success, a company with more resources and reach (Sephora has thousands more email addresses on file and hundreds of brands in its warehouses, as well as marketing muscle and logistics prowess) can easily replicate the samples concept for sure financial gain. A Sephora even has access to enviable value-add features, such as outreach to celebrities to curate beauty collections each month and to know-how from famous makeup artists. The Sephora Sampler, anyone? A Sak’s Beauty Sack? It’s just $9.99 a month, with wonderfully curated boxes sent right to your door… sound familiar? It’s Birchbox’s Proof of Concept Problem.

Another example is MoviePass, a startup working on selling a monthly subscription ticket for members to get unlimited movie theater attendance. The problem is movie theaters aren’t exactly leaping on board. And now, MoviePass has a Proof of Concept Problem too. Once the idea came about (and how did no one think of this before!), why would a movie theater sign up to participate in MoviePass, rather than just offering their own, cutting out the middle man?

PS. MoviePass is a fantastic name. The company should trademark it – otherwise they’ll have another problem on hand besides the Proof of Concept Problem, which is that their brand name will be made generic when every movie theater starts issuing moviepasses!

The Proof of Concept Problem should not be overlooked as a risk in upstartopia, especially as even large companies begin to get on the innovation train (check out the neat videos of Nordstrom’s Innovation Lab).

The Proof of Concept risk can be mitigated, but I’m not convinced a strong brand and team is enough. Startups with the Proof of Concept Problem looming need to offer something more to customers that is not as easily replicable by a large firm. Patents help. Advanced technology certainly does. In the B2B space, landing a key client on a long-term contract would put up a roadblock too. Intellectual Property, advanced technology, or key customer accounts tip a large competitor toward acquisition, instead of in-house replication. Often startups worry about fellow startups launching copy-cat businesses, but there is so much that can go awry at the startup phase, I’d worry more about the well-oiled machines in your industry. These firms can see the success you’re having with the innovative business model and just take your now-proven concept for their own.

Doreen Bloch is a startup strategy consultant, entrepreneur (Poshly Inc.) and author (The Coolest Startups in America) in New York City. Check out her blog, latest projects & consulting client lists at www.DoreenBloch.com.

Image Credit: PSFK

Tags: Birchbox, business development, business model, business models, concept, Doreen Bloch, innovation, MoviePass, Nordstrom, strategy
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Good news:  Several of our very own Bay Area executives and women-owned businesses have been named as finalists for the 8th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  The nominees come from all categories, such as:

Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees – Business Services
Betts Recruiting, San Francisco, CA USA: Carolyn Betts, founder and CEO
DRT Strategies, Inc., Arlington, VA USA: Susan M. Kidd, Founder and CEO
Dynamic Office & Accounting Solutions, Danville, CA USA: Tiffany Stuart, President
Gagen MacDonald, Chicago, IL USA: Maril MacDonald, thought leader and industry pioneer
Going Global, Mobile, AL USA: Mary Anne Thompson, Founder & President
Human Resource Essential, LLC, Tempe, AZ USA: Stephanie Angelo, Founder and CEO
Staging Diva/Six Elements Inc., Toronto, Canada: Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, President, Six Elements Inc.
Suzanne Evans Coaching, LLC, Murrells Inlet, SC USA: Suzanne Evans, Owner & Founder
Vaco Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA USA: France Moreno, Partner
VerticalResponse, San Francisco, CA USA: Janine Popick, CEO and Founder

Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees – Financial Services & Insurance 
iFinance Canada Inc., Toronto, Canada: Ann Kaplan, President & CEO
Mercury West Associates, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom: Katie Small, Owner & Managing Director
Your Equity Source, LLC, Cour DAlenem ID USA: Sandra J. Wach, Vice President

VerticalResponse, San Francisco, CA USA

Best Overall Company of the Year – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees – Business Services 
DRT Strategies, Inc., Arlington, VA USA
MyCorporation, Calabasas, CA USA
Sage Consulting Associates, San Francisco, CA USA
The Omnia Group, Tampa, FL USA
Integrated Archive Systems, Palo Alto, CA USA

Best Overall Company of the Year – Non-Profit or Government 
Athena International, Chicago, IL USA
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA USA
Women Presidents’ Organization, New York, NY USA

Winners will be announced at an awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on November 11.  The complete list is available at the link below.  We wish all the local nominees good luck; and congratulate all those who are nominated!

http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/women/awards/414_2252_21305.cfm

Tags: entrepreneurs, Stevie Awards, Women-Owned Business
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Mashable would like to offers members of Girls in Tech a special discount on tickets for the Mashable Media Summit on Nov. 4 at the TimesCenter.

The Mashable Media Summit is a one-day conference that will bring together bring together thought leaders and influencers to  examine how technology is transforming media, communications and community. Tickets include a full day of discussion with thought leaders on stage, intimate networking sessions as well as breakfast, lunch and a reception. We hope you’ll join us! Use promotion code GITMS11 for a special discount of $100 off the original ticket price: http://mashable.com/media-summit/tickets/

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As I reflected yesterday on the sad news of Steve Jobs’ passing, I thought about his impact on my life. Oddly enough, my first recollection was that I used to disdain Apple products and their fanatics. Just a few years ago, I was a PC person who rejected what I felt was the superfluousness of Apple’s sleek computer design. I thought, “If a computer can type and email a document, who cares how technically advanced or pretty it is?”

That changed about two years ago, when my younger brother demanded an iPhone. (“Everyone else at Palo Alto High School has one!”) I tried to convince him that the Blackberry was better, but he formed an alliance with other family members and I was outvoted. We moved to AT&T and to the iPhone tribe. (If you’re calculating, then yes, I am due for an upgrade; to 4S or not to 4S?)

I lamented over parting with my Blackberry, but within minutes of sliding, swooshing and touching, I had forgotten all about that first mobile love, and found a soulmate in Apple. Now, I have the iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro at my side every day.

Yet while these metal boxes are neat, Steve Jobs didn’t just pioneer products; computers, the Internet and other phones existed before him. Really, he perfected distribution systems: the iPod with its iTunes store or the iPhone with its apps. Jobs gave us platforms.

It’s not actually the cool stainless steel products that I have a hard time envisioning my life without, but rather the instant connection I get through Apple’s products to the people, information and ideas I love. I carry the lightweight iPad in my purse so that I can stop into a cafe to hop on Skype with my family in California if I want. During dinner, I can open up Safari on the iPhone to find out which celebrity was in that movie about which we were talking. And, I’ve learned and engaged with ideas, either my own or those of others, from harmless fun apps, like launching angry birds at pigs, to practical ones, like the book I’m writing on the Manuscript application.

This immense new personal freedom extends to the democratization of ideas that Jobs helped to unleash in both audio and app forms. Instead of fighting fruitlessly against music industry giants to be heard, independent artists gained an audience that could be monetized. Rather than just consuming content, even kids could create it.

The hundreds of products Jobs patented are thus connection points. They’re conduits for us to share and absorb new skills and information. They help make the progress of ideas to action more efficient; just as a new lightbulb turns on, we can email it, tweet it or code it, transforming the intangible into an instant reality.

The best thing is that platforms can be built upon. I hope, and I think Jobs did too, that more great ideas will be grown from the foundation his great ideas so brilliantly delivered.

The 25 Most Influential People on the Web (images.businessweek.com)

Tags: apple, Application, blackberry, computer, Consumer Products, Doreen Bloch, iOS, iphone, iPhone application, iPhone Games, platform, platforms, Steve Jobs
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Event Details:

Date: Thursday, October 13th
Program: 7pm – 9pm
Where: dzine it studio on 26 West 23rd Street, 4th Floor, New York City

Initiating conversations about salary negotiation with the successful women in our network is the first step to acquiring a negotiation muscle.

I saw how tapping one’s network can positively impact a woman’s career after making an introduction to two female friends. One was an executive with great deal of professional experience, and the other was just about to start her professional career and seeking career advice. Let’s call the first friend C and the second E.

The more experienced friend gave friendly advice to E who had just received her first job offer. C encouraged E to negotiate for a better package and to not settle for the first offer. But E countered this advice with a great deal of hesitation. She was afraid she would risk losing the job offer by asking more for herself. She was having trouble seeing herself as deserving more than what was given to her.

Don’t get me wrong — E is hardworking, highly qualified, and someone I greatly admire as a person. I could see she deserves more, but she couldn’t. Like many women, she didn’t know how to negotiate, or that she could even negotiate. Gently prodded by C, E decided to work up the courage to ask for a better term. She later happily reported that the negotiation worked out in her favor.

Three things dawned on me from watching this conversation unfold:

1. Negotiation is a learned skill that improves with practice. C has a great deal of negotiation experience from both sides of the table and was thus able to give great, practical advice to E. Learning to negotiate is a skill that women may need to focus greater effort at developing than men, who in general seem to have a natural propensity to negotiate. According to authors Linda Babcock and Sara Laschaver “Women Don’t Ask”, men initiate negotiations four times as often as women.

With more women entering the workforce, entrepreneurship, and leadership ranks, it’s high time that more women raised their hands and asked for what they want. It’s time for women to develop and flex their negotiation muscles.

2. We need to talk more about initiating negotiation. Watching C provide guidance to E made me wish to facilitate more opportunities for women to connect and learn from each other on this topic. Furthermore, it is imperative that we have informed discussions about salary negotiation as part of the larger, on-going discussion around wealth creation for women and closing the gender pay gap.

3. Women who successfully master the art of negotiating earn more money and are more successful in their careers. Another study cited by Babcock and Laschaver calculated that women who consistently negotiate their salary increases earn at least $1 million more during their careers than women who don’t.

A crucial step in learning to negotiate is to learn from the women in our own networks who successfully asked for what they want and got their worth in the workplace.

This is the thought process behind the panel discussion I’m moderating with wimlink in New York City on Thursday, October 13. At this event, three talented women leaders in fields as diverse as executive coaching, law, and digital media will share their wealth of experience and insight on how to get your worth in the workplace. Featured speakers are

1. Julia McNamara, founder of Helix Career Management and certified executive coach

2. Carla Varriale, partner of law firm Havkins Rosenfeld Ritzert and Varriale, LLP

3. Bethany Hillman, VP of Operations at TVGenesis

Click here to read the full bios of each panelist and register for this event.

Whether you are starting a job search, a new job, or salary negotiation, this session will provide you with tips, inspiration, and guidance to take your career to the next level.

Learn to flex your negotiation muscle. Learn from the rich experiences of women leaders. Be richly rewarded for the value you bring to the table.

Written by:

Jamie Lee
Operations Manager
Tipping Point Partners
@jieunjamie

Tags: event, negotiation, networking, New York City, women
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• 360 Degree Photos: The app provides a virtual window into Jetsetter’s hand-selected, verified hotels and resorts around the world via immersive, 360-degree images. Jetsetter’s engineering team custom-designed a camera to shoot dozens of high resolution photos which are stitched together to form immersive 360-degree images.  The result is a visual feast that enables travelers to experience the feel of a destination without leaving home.
• Gyroscope Feature: Jetsetter utilizes iPhone and iPod touch’s gyroscope to map the orientation of the device to Jetsetter’s 360 degree photos.  When gyroscope enabled, the iPhone or iPod touch becomes a window into a destination by allowing users to pan around the images on multiple planes.
• Travel tools: Jetsetter has developed a suite of travel tools to assist members before and during their vacation.

• Get directions to any location: The app will translate directions in the native language so users can recruit a local to point them in the right direction of their hotel, the airport, nearby hospital or bathroom. Translations are currently available in Spanish, German, Chinese, French, Italian, Greek, and Thai.
• Offline mode: No longer within a WiFi or cellular network? No problem! All of Jetsetter’s travel tools are available offline. Access destination maps, Jetsetter itinerary, and Jetsetter member support number in offline mode.

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Big Data has quickly become a critical element in determining business strategy. Those who best leverage data will win. Who’s winning, and how? Who’s innovating, and where are the opportunities? These are some of the questions we’ll be asking and answering at the New York edition Strata, the big data conference from O’Reilly Media. A full week of data-focused conversations, training, and strategy is on tap the week of September 19-23, 2011 in New York City, including:

Strata Jumpstart – September 19, 2011 A crash course on how to manage the data deluge that’s transforming traditional business practices across the board-in finance, marketing, sales, legal, privacy/security, operations, and HR. Join us for an intense, day-long deep dive.

Strata Summit – September 20-21, 2011 Two days of executive-level interviews, plenaries, and essential high-level strategies for thriving in “the harsh light of data,” delivered by the battle-tested business and technology pioneers who are leading the way.  Strata Summit is for executives, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers.

Strata Conference – September 22-23, 2011 Strata Conference covers the latest and best tools and technologies for this new discipline, along the entire data supply chain-from gathering, cleaning, analyzing, and storing data to communicating data intelligence effectively. With hardcore technical sessions, case studies, and provocative reports from the leading edge, Strata Conference showcases the people, tools, and technologies that make data work.  Strata Conference is for developers, data scientists, data analysts, and other data professionals.

Register for a Super Pass now, which gives you access to the whole week of conference and evening events, at a reduced rate. Girls in Tech readers get an extra 30% discount. Use discount code GIT

See you there! Follow me @MsSonicFlare

Tags: 24notion, analysts, conference, data, data prof, Developers, girls in tech new york, gitpdx, gitportland, gitweet, ivo, Ivo Lukas, mssonicflare, nyc, o'reilly media, strata, strataconf, technology, women leaders
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