Girls In Tech

Girls in Tech is a proud supporter of the “Boom Boom! Revolution,” which recently launched its Boom Boom! App, allowing iPhone and iPod touch users to easily share the acts of kindness experienced in everyday life. The “Everyday Boom Boom!” (EBB!) is any underground act of guerilla goodness performed by an individual. The Boom Boom! App allows users a platform to acknowledge and celebrate these acts of kindness   while on-the-go.

The Boom Boom! App expands on the online kindness community where “Agents of Altruism” post about their experiences with acts of kindness cards and their everyday encounters with guerilla goodness. After downloading the app, the next time you witness random acts of kindness or are the recipient of someone else’s guerilla goodness, just snap a picture, tell the story of what happened and upload it to the Everyday Boom Boom! stream. This “Good Stream” allows users to stay informed of what’s happening in the world, contribute the good they witness or instigate and be a part of the conversation that’s celebrating what’s right with the world.

To download the free Boom Boom! App and join the uprising of guerilla goodness™, visit: Free app.
To learn more about the physical kindness cards decks, Boom Boom! Cards, visit: Kindness cards decks.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, Boom Boom App, girls in tech, iphone, Kindness, Philanthropy, Social Entrepreneurship, women in tech
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The Intersection Event, a one-day conference that will provide a select group of participants intimate access to people who are using creativity in business innovation to profoundly change the world, today announced the speakers for its inaugural event, set for Saturday, January 14, 2012 at Pixar Studios in Emeryville, CA. During this unparalleled day-long experience, some of the most respected innovators in the world converge with leading social change agents to tackle some of the greatest issues of our time.

“The Intersection reflects a change in how philanthropy is being delivered to the world,” said Randy Haykin, founder of The Intersection Event. “Rather than following the old model of charitable giving, we will explore new social entrepreneur model where the best of business innovation meets and accelerates social change.

The Intersection Event will forge an “intersection” of ideas and commentary between leading innovators from academia, entrepreneurship, technology and entertainment with the goal of uncovering new ideas, tools, and “intersections” that can be applied to attendees’ personal or professional projects and inspiring the birth of new social impact projects. Speakers will spend the day prior to the event, January 13, 2012, together as a group, considering topics that will be shared with the audience at The Intersection Event.

Headlining this year’s gathering are: actress and UNICEF ambassador, Susan Sarandon, technology expert and CTO of Walt Disney, Greg Brandeau; the entrepreneurial founder of AOL, Steve Case; passionate leader and VP of Google, Marissa Mayer; global change agent and President of Ashoka, Diana Wells; social activist and SVP of Word Vision International, Dr. Chris Pitt; computer scientist and President of Pixar Animation Studios, Dr. Ed Catmull; Executive Director and Founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), Paul Rieckhoff; design connoisseur and CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown; business strategy authority and director of Deloitte Center for the Edge, John Hagel III; education expert and professor at Harvard Business School, Linda Hill; young entrepreneur and Chief Executive Partner of Ashoka Changemakers, Benjamin Wald; innovation facilitator and Chief Solver of KILN, Gregg Fraley; collaboration specialist and author of The Medici Effect, Frans Johansson; teacher, minister and third generation yogi, Guru Singh; and moderator Randy Haykin who is a professor at UC Berkley and UC Cambridge, as well as founder of Haykin Capital, The Intersection Event and The Gratitude Network.

The Intersection Event will be the first of its kind to utilize a format that includes a pre-event for speakers to strategize on the topics to be discussed at the conference, as well as a one-day conference with proceeds from the event being donated to The Gratitude Network, a new foundation that supports social entrepreneurship.

Future announcements about The Intersection Event will be made regarding other guests and event updates.  To learn more about The Intersection Event or The Gratitude Fund, visit www.intersectionevent.com.

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, girls in tech, Intersection Event, Philanthropy, Social Entrepreneurship, women in tech
Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco | 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 »