Girls In Tech

Women today are starting businesses at a rate of 1.5 times the national average. And an estimated 8.1 million companies in the U.S are owned and operated by women, but they contribute less than four percent of business revenues annually*. CreateWorth provides a bi-weekly forum that includes personal experiences from sixth-time entrepreneur and DailyWorth founder and CEO, Amanda Steinberg, and encourages women to master business-building fundamentals, from creating the right model to raising capital and marketing and sales.

After founding DailyWorth in 2009 to help women become smarter money managers and build real net worth, Steinberg recognized the need to support fellow female entrepreneurs by offering a financial leg up: “Many of the resources available to female entrepreneurs focus on idea cultivation, with limited information on how to actually grow businesses and become profitable. With CreateWorth, our mission is to help women take a bigger piece of the revenue pie and offer advice, tips, and camaraderie to fellow and future entrepreneurs.”

Upcoming CreateWorth topics include “How to Build Your Pipeline,” “Conversion Marketing,” and Q&A’s with successful entrepreneurs.

On Monday, February 13^th at 1:00 p.m. ET, Steinberg and Help a Reporter Out (HARO) Founder, Peter Shankman will present a teleseminar: “How to Fund Your Business – Should You Bootstrap or Raise Capital?” They will host a probing, timely debate about how to start or grow a business in 2012: specifically whether to pursue funding yourself or seek to raise outside capital. Shankman bootstrapped his niche press-to-expert community, HARO, into a multi-million dollar business before it was sold to Vocus in 2010. For more information and to register, visit: http://createworth-shankman.eventbrite.com/

DailyWorth has grown to a vibrant community of more than 250,000 engaged and active subscribers and has raised over $3 million in angel and venture capital. To sign-up and receive CreateWorth every Tuesday and Thursday, visit: http://dailyworth.com/createworth.

*Source: American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Business Report.

What led you to get involved with the career you are in now?
I knew I wanted to work in a fast paced environment but I wasn’t actually sure which. I had a lot of interests so it took some weeding out. I found that I kept being drawn into stories about technology and realized the fact that I spent all of my free time and money on travel meant I probably should look there. I did a ton of research, looked at the market, built a plan to build a service I wanted and tested to see if the market needed. I joined forces with my Cofounder Zach Smith in May of 2010 to build http://www.gtrot.com.

Who has had the biggest influence on your career?
My parents were both entrepreneurs and have always been supportive of me. Seeing companies built from scratch growing up always interested me. I always knew I wanted to start my own business but I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to be. I joined American Express after I graduated to work on new product launches and customer acquisition. Pretty quickly I realized I was a better fit for a smaller company but the economy was pretty shaky. My parents gave me some great advice “Stay on your current path until you find another one.” I saw a lot of friends and colleagues laid off and although I wanted to explore other options, I was patient.  I saved money, got paid to learn and built some great relationships at American Express. Once I had the plans for gtrot in place and money to live on, I took the leap. My family and friend’s support to leave a great job for the unknown made the transition all the easier.

What would you say, is the most important tool you use on a day to day basis?
I’m completely dependent on technology. I travel a lot for business so my phone and laptop are absolute musts. In terms of software, beyond the great suite of Google products-Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar – I’m a huge fan of Dropbox. It’s so nice to be able to share big files with my team no matter where I am.

What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started your career?
Don’t be afraid to try out a lot of things in order to find the right one. It’s completely okay to test-drive ideas and industries. My friends heard a lot of my different ideas for how to impact green tech, contribute to the film community and make fashion easier to find. I put big ideas out there, started vetting them and realized what did and didn’t work for me. In the end, I found the one that stuck and I’m so happy I put in the effort to chase it.