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Get Inspired Series: There are 100 Sexy Roles Women can take in the Tech Industry
The debate on Women & Technology is on, again! In 1986 on the European Conference on Women, Natural Sciences &Technology, a series of books was produced on the topic of Women Challenge Technology. And still in 2009, the debate is continuing, not less inflammatory and provoking.
The ‘Women in Tech’ panel at Techcrunch UK’s action packed Geek ‘ Rolla was the start of lively debate offline and online, between women bloggers, as Cate Sevilla of Bitch Buzz , entrepreneur Paul Walsh and the incendiary Telegraph journalist Milo Yiannopoulos. He even stated: men_perform_better_in_many_technology_jobs_must_we_apologise_for_that?
In order to change the debate from a “yes, we can” and “no, you cannot”- debate into a “yes, we do”, The NextWomen is starting a series of stories of women in tech, explaining what inspired them to work in the industry. The first woman to tell her story is Founder, CEO and serial entrepreneur Wendy White of Moonfruit.com and Gandi.net.
Who inspired you to get into TECH?
My mum has worked in IT for 30 yrs. She still does at 64. I got a glimpse of how exciting the industry can be and supportive of women’s careers even those with kids. My grandfather wouldn’t send my mother to university, there was limited money and only her brothers were sent. My mum became a nurse. My mother did it because it was the career path she was expected to take as a woman and the only thing my grandfather supported. Eventually she did an IT degree with 2 kids,working full time supported by my dad also a ‘geek’!
How were you educated in TECH?
I had an extremely enthusiastic maths/IT teacher at school, who encouraged me to study computer science at uni rather than natural sciences or something deemed more traditional for girls to study. Perhaps it was the one good thing about being at a girls school, we all believed there was nothing we shouldn’t or couldn’t do. My friends still thought I was a little crazy wanting to study computer science, ‘Isn’t it dull?’
How is your experience in the TECH world?
I’ve worked in manufacturing, finance and tech businesses and I’ve personally found the tech industry the most supportive. I’ve been equally supported by men and women and I love the fast pace, appetite for change and can do attitude of it’s communities.
It would be great to hear the stories that inspired other women to get into tech? Let’s get them out there for young women and men to read and change perception! There are 100’s of sexy roles women can take in the tech industry, the supposedly polar roles of developer and PR manager being only two of them.
@wendytanwhite
(Once upon a time developer, analyst, manager, head of marketing, CEO and now entrepreneur and mother)
The magic number 140 gets its own UK Event
With Twitter being in the news almost every day, it is no surprise that a special event on Twitter is in the making. Its officially called Media140, but for many this magic number is another word for Twitter.
Anyone who wants to be at the forefront of new developments in real time media, can join on May 20th to discuss and debate the future of realtime news at this UK’s first Microblogging and Twitter event. Journalists, bloggers, social media advocates and publishers will share and discuss the effects and impact of Twitter and other social media tools on mainstream media.
It will feature a mixture of case studies and quickfire panel discussions from an eclectic mix of journalists, bloggers, commentators and technologists from The Guardian, BBC, Time and other media companies.
Some of the topics:
- Is microblogging and Twitter really a news ‘game changer’?
- How will microblogging change traditional local news sourcing and distribution?
- Tools of the trade, what works and what doesn’t?
There will be case studies on microblogging, such as: Afganistan, US Elections, Olympics and Iraq.
The Speakers line-up is to be finalized in the coming days, but Jeff Pulver will hold the final keynote. There are a couple of tickets left.
Working 5 to 9-on your online business- Takes off in the UK
There is rise in people who are holding on to a day job and building a business at nights and weekends. Many of them are online businesses – run by women. Last week, ‘Working 5 to 9 – how to start a business in your spare time’ was launched.
More than five million people are working from home after finishing their day job, according to new research published this week, based on a survey carried out by Enterprise Nation, the UK’s largest website for home based business.
Of those 5-9ers questioned, 50% said their business was growing and over 60% expected to be going full time within the next 12 months.
Enterprise Nation Founder Emma Jones: “We were amazed by what we found. Although we knew there had been a tremendous growth in home business, we had no idea that much of this was coming from the 5 – 9 trend.
“What’s particularly significant is that the current economic climate is the impetus behind this trend. For some people it’s about increasing their income to cope with a partner’s redundancy while others felt uncertain about their future career prospects and wanted to make sure they were better placed if they lost their job.
There’s also the added attraction that building a business at night and weekends from a spare room is low risk and low cost, allowing people to increase sales, confidence and cashflow, whilst holding onto a salary.
The survey also highlighted that 72% have considered giving up their day jobs to spend more time on their home business. When asked what would make them leave their job, 42% said it was the only way they could grow their business while 32% said it would be when they could afford to. Read more
Startup Interview: Eco Concierge Helps to Make Lives Greener
Sustainability specialist and lifestyle manager, Kirsten Jack, has set up and launched ECOCONCIERGE. Recently she has been awarded a place on the LEAD sustainability 2009 programme.
1. How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
I came up with the idea because I noticed that a lot of people are very well intentioned, but also very busy and don’t always know where to start when it comes to making their lives greener. Working in sustainability and environment world, I often get asked about the how’s and why’s of ethical options, from organic food to solar energy to realistic alternatives to car use.
These personal observations made me want to look into the idea further. I found a recent government (DEFRA) publication showing that 80% of people in the UK want to be greener but only 18% are actually living in that way already, which I found an amazing statistic – that’s 62% of the population who wish they were doing more!
I also found a report from the National Consumer Council saying that the main barrier to people making more ethical choices is having enough time to make it a priority. All this made me think Eco Concierge was an ‘of the moment’ service.
2. How did you form your team?
The business partnerships I have now include lifestyle managers, experts in particular aspects of sustainability, an advisory board and many high level supplier partnerships across the eco- sector. My extensive eco supplier list includes Ecotricity, Abel and Cole and City Car Club, to name a few.
Some were contacts I already had, others I’ve established by directly contacting people and organisations who share the values of the brand and the vision of helping individuals find their own way to be greener.
3. How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
Getting the business to this point has involved a very high investment in time, because it is such an innovative idea and because the potential range of support offered to clients is very broad. I wanted to make sure that the quality of service was high, and that took time.
I invested that time by working round the clock, fitting Eco Concierge around bringing up my son, now 18 months. My husband became sadly used to being an Eco Concierge widow for a while! Other than time, the business hasn’t so far required a significant amount of financial capital, so I have covered that myself using personal savings.
4. What makes you different from other players in your sector?
There aren’t any other direct players in the sector at the moment. There are some similar services, that offer coaching or that offer practical support with one area of lifestyle greening, but so far Eco Concierge is the only service that offers practical support and advice for people to green their lives – across their whole lifestyle and whole impact. Read more
An Insiders View on Raising Capital: The Route to Nasdaq
With all the news about the status of the VC market and the Angel investment, one almost forget that there is such a thing of raising money through the public stock market. SpringBoard Enterprises, which is know for its successful Venture Capital Forum, is organizing The Route to NASDAQ seminar series.
Intended to be A Practical Seminar Series for Women Entrepreneurs – an Insider’s View on Raising Capital is for women business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who are interested in learning more about accessing capital to start or grow their businesses.
Experts invited as panelists or participants are accountants, attorneys, bankers, and business development professionals as well as other members of the investment and entrepreneurial communities, will give attendees inside information about what is involved in raising capital to grow their business, what lenders and investors look for in a business investment, and what resources are available in the community to assist businesses in preparing for, securing and utilizing appropriate sources of financing.
The second Equity Matters: The Route to NASDAQ seminar will take place in San Francisco, California on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at The University of Wharton West.
As The NextWomen is a partner of the Series, we can offer a discount of 15% to register via THIS LINK. (instead of 100 USD now 85 USD).
Richard Branson lets you Pitch your Business in the Air
Via the PSFK website, we were pointed to a new initiative of Richard Branson, called PitchTV: Video Pitches in the Air!
If you want the chance to pitch your business idea directly to people who could make your ambition a reality – then Richard will help you out. Once a month he will pick out a selection of the best video pitches of entrepreneurs that are uploaded to his blog, and then let everyone vote for their favourite. Each month the five most popular video pitches will make it on to the PitchTV show which will premiere on Virgin Atlantic’s in-flight entertainment – to be seen by top business professionals from around the world.
Rules: video pitches are no more than 2 minutes long and under 100MB, and Richard has a warning:
“Remember that your video will be seen by the general public and Virgin takes no responsibility for its protection. You should be willing to put your idea in to the public arena, but you may want to take steps to protect it beforehand with patents or trade marks.”
Maybe, if you are lucky, it is Richard Branson himself – as potential investor- who will watch the video’s
Cherry Rance of Achiever Plus on Women in Business
This YouTube clip shows Cherry Rance, Marketing Manager for Achiever Plus Business Solutions, talking about women in business. With nearly twenty years’ experience of marketing within the IT industry, including marketing roles at Remedy and BMC Software, Cherry talks about women’s expectations of themselves. The short clip discusses the ability of women to rise up the business ladder, citing women’s own low expectations of themselves as their only hindrance to success. With the right skills and self belief, she argues that anyone can succeed – irrelevant of their gender. Indeed she states: ‘Being female has absolutely nothing to do with it’.
What are your thoughts?
Trendwatchers of the Year reveal Trends to Watch in the Online World in 2009
Many successful companies have been founded on the back of a new social trend so trend-watching should be part of any aspiring entrepreneur’s remit. The Trendwatcher of the Year award (TWOTY09) in Amsterdam, organized by Andrea Wiegman of Second Sights, gave an insight into what trendwatchers think will be the next big thing. Kees Elands and Renee Maas of TrendsActive outlined some of their predictions for future developments in the online world.
- Social Networking: They expect social networking to collapse into many niche social networking groups, possibly based around particular interests, and closed networks (See SoundCloud for an example of a closed network industry-specific social network).
- Less is more: Many people are currently using online tools like Twitter simply because the tools are there. In the future they will become more selective in how they spend time on various services and will expect them to serve a clearly useful purpose. Stricter criteria will lead to a higher demand for filters of information, word-of-mouth being the filter currently in vogue for Internet-based businesses.
- Internet generations: Baby boomers will start spending much more time online but most social networking sites are not set up with them in mind. So there could be some serious money to be made in services which cater to them.
The upcoming talent award winner Anna Sulimma’s top trend is the changing role of men and women in the workplace and the home. She thinks that people want to have a home again, not just a career. This will lead to men (and women) working less and spending more time on childcare. In Germany 3.8 million men are expected to be involved in childcare by 2020. In general there will be more emphasis on working flexibly in order to have a life as well as a job.
Irene Koel of Bloei, which won the trend implementation agency of the year, make extensive drawings and illustrations of trends. Being an entrepreneur herself (Bloei creates its own products as well as developing concepts for other companies) and works with many startups. She finds startups great fun to work with but they often have trouble seeing beyond the minutiae of the product and are not used to thinking big. Her own team is a mix of creatives and operational staff since you need both in order to get things done. The same is probably true of successful startup teams.
Her advice to any new entrepreneur is to initially work from home, possibly hanging on to a day job of some kind, and spend very little money until you are sure that your concept will work. She recalls how, for the first nine months of her company’s existence, they had meetings in hotel lobbies in order to avoid inviting clients to Bloei’s (then non-existent) office.
Time For a Little Monkey Business in the Boardroom?
Is it Time for a little Monkey Business in the Boardroom?
An article in the Times last week stated: ‘If women want to reach the top in a man’s world, they may have to decide between femininity and success.’ The point was that a recent study into the behaviour of chimpanzee courtship had shown female apes that made themselves desirable to the male of the species were provided for – our ape relatives were effectively exchanging ‘meat for sex’.
Three decades after women burnt their bras for equality; there is a school of thought that suggests women should abandon the celebration of their feminine wiles in favour of diminishing male/female differences. The article suggests that instead of being it all – ‘glamorous, desirable and feminine’ – women should, for progressive reasons, be more conservative in the boardroom. By having a ‘more unisex working wardrobe for women in macho workplaces’ perhaps women would achieve more in the boardroom. Read more
Prado Museum Googlemaps their Masterpieces
Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights - Prado Online Gallery
The Prado museum in Madrid and Google Earth have come together to produce the first ever googlemapped art collection.
By satellite imagery and aerial photography Google Earth allows you to view anywhere on Earth from the comfort of your own sofa. The Prado museum houses major masterpieces of European art including The Annunciation by Fra Angelico; The Decent from the Cross by Rogier van der Weyden, and The Three Graces by Rubens.
The marriage of the two – technology and art – means that fourteen of the museums masterpieces can now be seen online and in finite detail. The resolution of the images is so high that canvases can be visually scanned in far more detail than the naked eye could ever afford. Indeed the clarity is so, that a photograph from your standard 10 megapixel camera just wouldn’t compare to the 14 gigapixels at which the images have been painstakingly built up from. Read more
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