Girls In Tech

We are delighted to announce our 2012 Call for Applications for the Astia Global Entrepreneur Program. Astia maintains an unparalleled success rate for the companies it serves — Astia companies have achieved 23 exits, 2 IPOs and over 60% of companies receive funding within their first year of joining Astia.

About the Program:

The Entrepreneur Program is a unique resource for success – a transformative program designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs who want to become dominant players in their sectors. The format? A comprehensive 6-day workshop, 2-month program of personalized advising from premier experts and the opportunity to start benefiting from the global ecosystem of angels, VCs, corporations, and entrepreneurs that is Astia.

What Makes Astia Different:

Commitment to the journey – your journey. Driven by entrepreneurs, Astia understands that your entrepreneurial needs, questions and challenges do not end after a one-week training module or incubator period concludes. Your need to access high-quality, targeted investors, to readily connect with industry experts and key advisors, and to make the most out of your day with too much to do has pushed Astia to build a program that works toward your success in a timely, targeted and efficient manner. Our Global Entrepreneur Program and global network reflects over a decade of our work with entrepreneurs, their needs and how best to deliver results to advance their success.

Who should apply? Exceptional women-led high growth start-ups who know that success is not just about raising money but about growing a business and thriving even in today’s tough market.

Key Dates:

Call for Applications – 1 December 2011

Deadline for Applications – 4 February 2012

In Person Screening – 22 February 2012

Entrepreneur Program – 19-24 March 2012

Astia will be on-boarding our next class of outstanding high-growth companies in Cambridge, UK.

To apply, please visit: http://www.astia.org/content/view/600/877/

For information regarding Astia, visit: www.astia.org or contact Astia Vice President, Europe simone@astia.org

Qualification Criteria

• An innovative idea in a high-growth sector such as Technology, Life Sciences, Clean Tech, or high-growth Consumer
• A high-growth investment opportunity – at any stage of growth
• An exceptional team and business strategy
• A significant market opportunity
• A defendable competitive advantage
• At least one woman in a leadership role (at C level) or in significant position of equity

About Astia

Astia is a connected global community dedicated to the success of women-led, high-growth ventures.   Astia programming delivers access to networks and opportunities that high-growth entrepreneurs uniquely need to succeed, including connecting entrepreneurs to serial entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, advisors and service providers.

Why Apply 



Developed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, Astia’s Global Entrepreneur Program is about delivering results in every area of an entrepreneur’s business, from initial funding strategy and growth to leadership development. As an Astia company, entrepreneurs will cultivate invaluable relationships with key players, receive introductions to capital in all of its forms (ventures capitalists, angels, strategics, etc) and gain access to expertise and opportunity from around the globe.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, ASTIA, girls in tech, Global Entrepreneurship Program, women in tech
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Astia’s Open Call for Applications: Seeking All Women-Led

Tags: AngelSoft, aol, AOL Ventures, ASTIA, entrepreneur, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, microsoft, Moss Adams, PriceWaterhouseCooprs, Silicon Valley, SVB Financial Group, Tier One Partners
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Girls in Tech NYC is pleased to announce:

The GIT NYC Entrepreneurship and Venture Series Kick-Off with ASTIA

Tickets are available at http://gitnycventure.eventbrite.com/
Copy courtesy of Christine Lemke.
Blog post The Gender Issue sourced from http://nothingventuredblog.com/ by Jalak Jobanputra and I wrote a short piece on VC and Social Media.
Fantastic, ever-present vision and leadership provided by Melek Pulatkonak.
Heart and soul provided by all women pioneers listed here.

The road to raising venture capital is never easy. And as a recent New York Times article, Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley highlights, navigating this opaque and clubby world can pose unique challenges for female entrepreneurs, including lack of visible role models.

So please join Girls in Tech NYC and ASTIA for an evening discussion with high caliber female entrepreneurs who have successfully raised venture capital. Hear tips and experiences from a panel of four women who have taken an idea through the fundraising stage and beyond.

Moderator:

Jalak Jobanputra – Senior Vice President and venture investor at the New York City Investment Fund

Panelists:

Heidi Messer – Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of LinkShare, sold for $425MM. Currently Co-founder of World Evolved.

Stephanie Sarka – Co-founder and SVP Product and Marketing and Executive Director of Overture Europe, Overture was acquired by Yahoo for $1.63B. Currently founder of a stealth social semantic startup.

Jenny Fleiss – Co-founder and President of Rent the Runway, recently funded by Bain Capital and Highland Capital.

Jen Bekman – Founder of 20×200, funded by True Ventures and several prominent technology angels including Caterina Fake, Chris Dixon, Zach Klein, James Joaquin and Scott Heiferman.

Details:

Date and Time: Arrival and reception at 6:30pm, program start at 7pm on Thursday, May 27

Cost: $5 per person to benefit the Girls in Tech organization.

Venue: DogPatch Labs, 36 East 12th Street (between Broadway and University)

Partners:

Girls in Tech would like to thank:

Christine Lemke, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, is COO and Co-Founder of Sense Networks. Most recently, at Microsoft, she was the XBOX World Wide Program Manager in charge of development programs encompassing four global regions and twenty markets. Prior to her work at Microsoft, Lemke was the President and co-founder of Channel Velocity and currently serves as an advisor. Prior to that, Lemke was the first employee and Director of Product Management at Returns Online, Inc., a venture-backed reverse-logistics technology firm. In addition, Lemke has held roles at 3i Group, Paris, where she analyzed the Internet, Software, and Advanced Technologies markets, and at SAP AG, Germany, on the Global Execution Acceleration Team. Lemke holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of Washington.

Jalak Jobanputra, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, is currently Senior Vice President at the New York City Investment Fund (NYCIF) where she oversees technology and digital media venture investments, Jalak spearheaded the formation of NYCSeed in 2008, a seed fund dedicated to funding early stage tech entrepreneurs in NYC, and sits on its Investment Committee. Prior to NYCIF, she was a Principal at New Venture Partners, a $300 million early stage venture fund. From 1999-2003, Jalak was at Intel Capital in Silicon Valley. In 1997, she was on the launch team of online financial research startup Horsesmouth, and began her career in media, telecom and tech investment banking at Lehman and Broadview in NYC and London.

Jalak has invested in North America, India, Europe, Africa, East Asia and Latin America. She is also active in supporting education reform and social entrepreneurship and serves on boards of Achievement First Bushwick Charter School (Brooklyn) and Echoing Green, and has consulted for the Big Picture and Fenway charter schools in New England as well as Jobs for the Future. She spent four months setting up microfinance programs and training women entrepreneurs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after receiving her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 1999. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Communications from the Annenberg School and a BSE in Finance from the Wharton School.

Melek Pulatkonak, Entrepreneurship Series Lead, Melek Pulatkonak is the President & COO of Hakia, a semantic search technology company. Since 2004, Melek has been dedicated to semantic search and can’t wait to see how its successful implementation will change our lives. Most recently, she was the Associate Partner of Star Venture Group (SVG), a VC firm with investments in the U.S. and Turkey. Prior to her work at SVG, she was the Advisor to the Chairman of the Istanbul Stock Exchange. Prior to that, she was a Research Associate at the New York Stock Exchange where some of her academic work was published. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.Sc. degree from London School of Economics and Political Science. In her play time, Melek co-organizes TEDxEast and TEDxGotham, leads the International Committee at the Columbia Business School Alumni Club and is building the Turkish Women’s International Network.

Tags: ASTIA, Christine Lemke, DogPatch Labs, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fundraising, gender, Heidi Messer, Jalak Jobanputra, Jen Bekman, Jenny Fleiss, Melek Pulatkonak, New York City Investment Fund, Polaris Ventures, role model, social media, Stephanie Sarka, VC, Venture, venture capital
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 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
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Doing it Right is an unparalleled resource for success – a transformative program designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs who want to become dominant players in their sectors. And last year, it expanded across the world.

The format? A comprehensive 6-day workshop, 2 month program of personalized coaching from premier experts and the opportunity to start benefiting from theglobal ecosystem of Angels, VCs, corporations, and entrepreneurs that is Astia.

Who should apply? Exceptional women-led high growth start-ups who know that success is not just about raising money but about growing a business and thriving even in today’s tough market.

Doing it Right is about…

Seizing opportunities to engage with Angel and Venture Capital.

Taking advantage of alternative sources of funding

Crafting an investor pitch to get the wallet from the investor’s pocket

Building defensible financial plans for maximum growth.

Developing a winning valuation and term sheet strategy

Drafting a blueprint for taking and defending significant market share

Bootstrapping to success through customer sales and strategy

Attracting the right team

Apply today if you have…

An innovative idea in either the Technology, Life Sciences or Clean Tech sectors

A high-growth investment opportunity

An exceptional team and business strategy

A significant market opportunity

A defendable competitive advantage

At least one woman in a leadership role (at C level) or in significant position of equity and influence

Tags: ASTIA, Bangalore, Doing it Right, girls in tech, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco
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*Written by Monica Morse, Board Member, Astia and Mom’s Rising

Jack Welch’s comments in the Wall Street Journal that there is “no such thing as work-life balance” was tough to hear, but I think it was honest. The question is what are we going to do about it for this century, our generation and the generations behind us?

More interesting than Jack Welch’s comments was the report that came out last week that more gender diversity in the executive suite is correlated to better financial performance. What’s more our economy now depends on the millions of women who work outside the home, and the vast majority of these women are mothers. In fact, women make up half of the workforce and obtain more than 50% of college degrees, yet they account for less than 3% of the F500 CEOs and 6% of the top earners. The myth is that women opt-out but here are some more facts about working women:

Fact: 82% of women college graduates are working

Fact: Professional, highly educated women who can afford to “opt out” account for only about 10 % of working women aged 25 to 44

Fact: 66% of Married and Single women with children under the age of 6 work

Fact: 70% of American families with children have both adults in the workforce

This participation is DESPITE the fact that on a variety of basic family friendly policies—including parental leave, family sick leave, early childhood education, national childcare standards, afterschool programs, and health care that’s not tied to a single all-consuming job—the U.S. lags behind almost every developed nation. How far behind? The U.S is one of only 4 countries that doesn’t offer paid leave to new mothers — the others are Papua New Guinea , Swaziland , and Lesotho.

With this information in mind, a big question comes forward: Why have so many workplaces failed to catch up to 21st Century realities when there are win-win solutions available? The answer: Too many employers don’t understand the benefits of having family-friendly policies like flexible work options and paid family leave which can simultaneously increase productivity, as well as attract and retain high quality employees.

I just signed on to an open letter urging the top CEOs to immediately address work-life issues in a way that helps both families and their fiscal bottom line. I hope you will too:

http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1878/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1926

The more signatures, the more effective we’ll be – so tell your friends, tell your family, tell your co-workers. Together we can make work-life balance better for every mom.

*References: Wall Street Journal, Astia

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, ASTIA, girls in tech, Jack Welch, Monica Morse, Mothers, Wall Street Journal, women in tech, Work life balance, WSJ
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Doing it Right is an unparalleled resource for success — a transformative program designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs who want to become dominant players in their sectors. And last year, it expanded across the world. The format? A comprehensive 6-day workshop, 2 month program of personalized coaching from premier experts and the opportunity to start benefiting from the global ecosystem of angels, VCs, corporations, and entrepreneurs that is Astia. Who should apply? Exceptional women-led high growth start-ups who know that success is not just about raising money but about growing a business and thriving even in today’s tough market.

-Seizing opportunities to engage with Angel and Venture Investors
-Taking advantage of alternative sources of funding
-Crafting an investor pitch to get the wallet from the investor’s pocket
-Building defensible financial plans for maximum growth
-Developing a winning valuation and term sheet strategy
-Drafting a blueprint for taking and defending significant market share
-Bootstrapping to success through effective customer sales and maximization
-Attracting the right team

Qualified companies from the Doing it Right Program will participate in this flagship event in the investment community’s calendar. Throughout 2010 there will also be targeted forums in New York, London and Bangalore.

Astia is a global not-for-profit organization built on a community of experts whose goal is to ensure the success of women in high-growth start-ups. In 2009, Astia’s Doing it Right programs have expanded with Astia pioneering leadership for women entrepreneurs globally, providing unprecedented access to funding and expertise for our clients.

Angelsoft; Cisco; Fenwick & West; Greenberg Traurig; Iron Creative; Microsoft; Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.; Morrison & Foerster; Moss Adams; Osborne Clarke; PayCycle; Reed Smith; Square 1 Bank; SVB Financial; UK Trade & Investment

Alloy Ventures, Apex Venture Partners, Asset Management, CalPERS, Cisco, Garage Technology Ventures, Hamilton Lane, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Levensohn Venture Partners, Milk Street Ventures, Prolog Ventures

“Astia has an extraordinary success rate which attests to the hidden opportunity presented by women-led companies.”
- Mitchell Kertzman, Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, ASTIA, Bangalore, Doing it Right Program, girls in tech, London, New York, San Francisco
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Please join Astia’s Doing it Right Program
New York City – April 20-22, 2009

Doing it Right is a program where exceptional entrepreneurs enhance their company’s ability to attract funding and cultivate invaluable resources. Through candid discussions led by local investors and seasoned entrepreneurs, it will increase participants’ understanding of the current state of venture capital and angel investment.

Entrepreneurs will gain important skills and insight when Doing it Right – developing an effective fundraising strategy, negotiating savvy term sheets, navigating the due diligence process, and leading a successful company. it is current, fresh and relevant.

All entrepreneurs in a high growth market looking to raise capital should attend!

Dates & Location
April 6: Application Deadline
April 20-22: Doing it Right NYC Program**
April 23: NYC Company Screening Day
June 4: NYC Investor Forum

Cooley Godward Kronish LLP | 1114 Ave of the Americas #45 | New York, NY 10036

**Single day passes are available. Attendance on all three days is mandatory for access to the NYC Company Screening on April 23rd and presentation at the NYC Investor Forum on June 4th

Attend the Program
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR A ONE-DAY PROGRAM PASS!
- $200 Day-Only Passes ($175 for Girls In Tech Members)

CLICK HERE TO APPLY NOW! — Deadline April 6th
- $125 Application Fee
- $1,200 Participation Fee per company (3 days + NYC Company Screening Day + 1yr relationship to Astia)
- Shares in consideration of services if selected to present

For further information on qualification criteria, pricing & benefits, please click here

Useful Links
Apply to the Program
Program Overview
Program Details & Schedule
Qualification Criteria

About Astia
Astia is a community of experts committed to building women leaders and accelerating the funding and growth of high-potential, high growth, women-led startups. Astia is a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. For more information visit our Homepage, or contact jen@astia.org.

Tags: ASTIA, girls in tech
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