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Females Fund Fashion Innovation as Fans
It seems like the enduring trend for both Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter 2010 is fashion retail. There’s been big moves like Balderton selling out of Figleaves for £11.5m and investing $9m in Sarah Curran’s my-wardrobe.com. Michelle Dewberry has found a new partner to grow her Chiconomise.com site and even
I was feeling unusually on the pulse having had the darling of the kitchen, Nigella Lawson, choose to wear my earrings for a forth time (look out for the October edition of Good Housekeeping magazine for the pics!).
The blonde is Katie Eary, the first fashion designer to get funded using the Catwalk Genius funding platform
However Catwalk Genius’ Katie Eary Launch Party soon had me realising who’s sitting pretty and who’s drop dead gorgeous.
Held in The Architecture Foundation in Tooley Street, the blossom of the fashion and tech world came together to raise a cheer for the launch of Katie Eary’s new collection. It’s no ordinary collection either. Aside from having fans like Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Sienna Miller, it’s made history as being the first fan funded collection to launch from Catwalk Genius’ Back A Designer technology.
The concept of Catwalk Genius’ Back a Designer is simple enough that even if you prefer candy floss to cognos you can take part:
- Take a look at the garments designers want to produce
- If you like it, back it by buying a share in it’s production
- When enough people buy shares the collection gets produced
- As the collection sells the fans get their money back
For those with a business mind there’s also the opportunity to become an affiliate and advertise lines on their own websites, earning commissions on sales. That could prove an interesting way for fashion bloggers to get more involved in the fashion industry. To top it all off there are extra perks like advance shopping options and party invites that go with supporting a designer through Catwalk Genius.
“It’s only a small collection,” Catwalk Genius founder Helen Brown told me, “and we’re delighted to see it on it’s way. A big thanks to all our fans.”
Wishing Helen well was a wealth of Female Internet Heroes including Audioboo’s Karen Barber, and Stradbroke Advisor’s Inma Martinez.
And it’s not just ladies that realise how profitable being well dressed can be, as I found out chatting to Ari Helgason. Ari’s first foray into the B2B world of fashion was World On A Hanger, a software system for managing a fashion label more effectively. Ari subsequently took the YCombinator programme and has started a new business called Fabricly which helps business side customers source suppliers and customers globally. He’s currently in the process of relocating the business to New York’s fashion hub and has received an offer for his World On A Hanger business. Ari maintained that there is a wealth of untapped opportunity in supply chain optimisation in the fashion sector and I’m sure his expertise will help many reach greater heights.
Another phenomenon sweeping the internet at the moment are the disruptive commerce models. Read more
Speed-Mentoring with Google, Microsoft, Legal experts & Entrepreneurs
As The NextWomen move away from regular events to a set of more specialised annual networking encounters, it launches the concept of Speed-Mentoring, in association with The NextWomen Mentoring Programme.
The new concept was created by Jana Hlistova for The NextWomen and focuses on quick hit information, to help address key issues and challenges for mentees in their business, supported by a highly experienced team of mentors.
It is the ideal alternative to entrepreneurs who need help or advice in various areas, or for those who don’t know what Mentor would most suit them. Like all NextWomen events, it is also a great opportunity to network with experts and fellow entrepreneurs in a pleasant atmosphere, over sushi and prosecco.
Entrepreneurs have 4 minutes with each of the 15 Mentors, including Maya Moufarek, regional marketing manager at Google, Bindi Karia of Microsoft, entrepreneurs having fund raised or sold businesses, as well as legal experts.
Mentees will rotate from mentor-to-mentor, split across four entrepreneurship pillars:
- Passion
- New business concepts, product and service idea
- Money
- Funding, angel investors vs private equity, cash-flow, exit strategies
- People
- Making connections, opening doors, hiring people, building partnerships and alliances
- Brains
- Planning, strategy, marketing, operations, infrastructure, outsource vs in-house
Date: June 16th, from 6pm to 10pm.
Venue: The CUBE, Studio 5, 155 Commercial Street, London, E1 6BJ
Female Internet Hero: Audio Interview with Dina Kaplan of Blip.tv
As part of our Female Internet Heroes series, and in conjunction with NCWIT (the National Center for Women & Information Technology), The NextWomen will be publishing audio interviews highlighting a diverse group of women innovators from small companies, larger corporations, and non-profits, whose ideas and products are changing the way we think, work, play, and communicate. Listen as these women discuss how they first became involved with tech, why they chose to be entrepreneurs and what advice they would give to young people interested in IT or entrepreneurship.
Dina Kaplan, Co-Founder of Blip.tv
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Listen to the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Interview with Dina Kaplan. |
Dina Kaplan
Dina Kaplan is the co-founder of blip.tv, overseeing business operations for the company, including media partnerships, advertising and sponsorship deals, distribution deals, PR, marketing and investor relations.
Blip.tv is the double Webby-award winning video sharing site focused on shows. It enables independent producers to create their own TV shows for the Internet, from scripted sitcoms and dramas, to journalists covering the war in Baghdad. In writing about online video sites, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal recently wrote:
“My favorite is blip.tv.”
In 2008 Business 2.0 named blip.tv in a cover story as one of “25 start-ups to watch.”
Before blip.tv Read more
The NextWomen Announce their 2010 Pitching Day
Join female entrepreneurs, managers and consultants of the Web at The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day, Tuesday 16th March 2010, in group Workshops and 1:1 Clinics to learn the art & science of pitching skills for convincing investors, customers and partners to do business with you.
 cc: flickr flyfshrmn98 |
The event, which consists of two morning workshops run in tandem, followed by an afternoon 1:1 business clinic in which entrepreneurs can tackle any business dilemma – large or small – with a selection of industry experts, allows entrepreneurs to optimise their pitching skills with a day designed to their own specific needs.
BOOK NOW
Tickets start from £75 for early bird – workshop only – and go up to £150 for full day tickets (morning Workshop + afternoon 1:1 Clinic).
Entrepreneurs can pick from one of two workshops:
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Workshop Option 1 – When, Where and How to Pitch to Investors
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How to find the Fastest Route to Funding
Learn how to:
- Choose the right financing approach for your business
- Pitch to different types of investors
- Make sure potential investors take note of your business plan
- Retain a majority stake of your business
For more information visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page
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Workshop Option 2 – The Art & Science of Pitching to Customers and Partners
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What your Body is Saying Behind your Back
Learn:
- The power to influence, present and communicate your value proposition
- How we influence and communicate our business ideas to other people
- How to influence people more effectively by developing and extending your range of non-verbal skills
- How to read and adapt your style to achieve the greatest impact.
- The art & science of non verbal communication
For more information visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page
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1:1 Business Clinic
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Building on knowledge gained in the previous workshops, entrepreneurs will get in-depth 1:1 help and support on issues of their choice, tailored exactly to their needs through the use of exercises and advice from an expert of their choice.
For more information on the experts in attendance, possible topics for help and how it works, visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page.
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DETAILS
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| Date: | Tuesday 16th March 2010 |
| Location: | Sun Microsystems, Regis House, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN |
| Workshops: | £75 Early bird – Before March 1st (Includes drinks and refreshments) |
| £100 Full price – After March 1st (Includes drinks and refreshments) | |
| Full Day: | £150 (Includes workshop, 1:1 time with 2 experts, lunch, two snacks and drinks) |
Female Entrepreneurs Learn Top Business Strategies for 2010
This is a guest post by Misae Richwoods, a previous Golden Web Award winner and consultant to start ups, SMEs and the independent professionals market via MRMedia Group
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Sun Microsystem’s headquarters sit in London city, a stone’s throw from the river Thames and in sight of London Bridge. Although Sun were a pioneer in Workstation computers and brought to the world numerous gems like Java and OpenOffice, Sun are also the owners of a system that has powered the web revolution – MySQL. Not only does MySQL run Google, the world’s biggest search engine, it also powers Yahoo!, its rival and YouTube, BBC News and Facebook are also users. It’s free, open source and has a reputation for being the fastest and most stable database you can use without paying the huge premiums that Oracle’s systems cost. In the words of Facebook COO, Owen Van Natta:
“MySQL has been a revolution for young entrepreneurs”.
But, what’s all this got to do with The Next Women?
Not only did Sun Microsystems generously host their 2010 Strategy event, they underlined it with their own story, the power of “blue ocean planning” – a focus technique taught to delegates during The NextWomen strategy workshop. Mapping out industries to reveal contrarian opportunities shows where innovation can be applied to make a new business model.
Everyone on Wordpress owes it’s low cost to a ‘Blue Ocean’
In the world of databases, Oracle’s high end systems had been dominant for many years. MySQL went in the opposite direction to Microsoft, focussing on low cost of ownership whilst still providing a quality product. In doing so they created massive value in customer eyes and opened up a new “blue ocean” of opportunity – the affordable web database. Everyone running a WordPress blog owes it’s low cost to MySQL’s innovation.
The all-involving hands on strategy workshop delivered by Natalie Turner (@natalieturner1), gave an enlightening method of aligning our companys’ growth strategy with innovation to exploit industry openings. Sure, we could all work harder and be better, but that’s certainly not the reason I or the other female entrepreneurs present started their own companies. If working harder and being better at the same thing is what you excel at, being a highly skilled professional may be the most rewarding way for you to use your time. Those who succeed as an entrepreneur are those bringing pastures new to the world. The hard work for us is training the brain to spot the opportunity rather than being a chip off the old block!
Judy Piatkus – A veritable Don King of fresh ideas and speaker at our next Kitchen Dinner, February 24th 2010 Read more
Startup Interview: Sonia Hully of The First Exclusive Dating Site, Love Definitely
If you have a read through the archive of our posts over the last year, you will find many articles related to online dating. From mysinglefriend, where friends compile profiles; to the original online dating site, Match, to dating for the rich and beautiful on Seventy-Thirty and toyboys on toyboywarehouse, and even finding a founding business partner through FounderDating, you wouldn’t believe there were any variations left. Yet here, Sonia Hully, founder of Love Definitely talks about producing the first exclusive dating site, getting her website built and her plans for the coming year.
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How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
About a year ago, I was looking for a new venture.
Having worked in capital markets for 7 years, 3 years in the film industry followed by a bit of property development, I developed a taste for new challenges and working for myself. Two years ago I tried online dating myself and realised there were no sites for eligible bachelors. That’s how my idea took place. It took me about two months to find the right developers and programmer to build my site. I didn’t want to build something from a template as I wanted a differentiated site with a feeling of quality. Six months later, in June 2009, Love Definitely was launched.
How did you form your team?
I am lucky to be well connected from my previous jobs. Apart from two shareholders, a few interns and me it is a one woman show at the moment. I take regular advice from my friends entrepreneurs, lawyers etc… and I am actually starting to build an advisory board. The site, PR and other usual administrative duties are outsourced. I have also just negotiated a deal with McCann Erickson, a leading advertising agency, to manage my account. They will be developing my campaign for 2010. It is very exciting.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
I have done quite well over the past few years, I was working in property development and decided to leave in 2008 before the crash. I founded most of the company myself with the help of two friends who also advise me on the financial side of the business. Since starting we have invested £55 000 into the business and launched an invite only membership section of the site called the Lounge.
The income is coming from registration fees even though it was free until very recently. It is £20 per month, £40 for 3 months and £60 for 6 months. I don’t believe in having advertising on a site especially a high end site. I always find it confusing when you have too many adverts on a page. I like the site to be simple and elegant.
As I was mentioning I have also a newer membership called the Lounge, by invitation only. This one will be more expensive eventually but at the moment it is free for the people invited.
What differentiates you from other players in your sector?
The idea is to be exclusive, elegant and fun for the eligible single. There can still be a stigma about online dating and that is where I am hoping to break the ice.
I also realised that many of us find it difficult to write about ourselves, really enjoy meeting friends of friends, but lack time and prefer like-minded crowds to mass gatherings.
In that respect I decided to involve a friend to help users register and write their profile. If you wish, he can even set you up for a blind date which is innovative in the world of online dating and makes it really fun. The Lounge, which is the premium membership section of our site, is by invitation only and has a calendar of events organised by the members themselves or by Love Definitely and other exclusive event organisations.
What was your biggest challenge during the development process and how can other start-ups learn from that?
I still consider the business as being in the development stage. Read more
MOTIVATING Mum to Launch Nationwide Mentoring Initiative for Businessmums
It was only last month that we featured an interview with Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You – a venture geared towards mothers – highlighting the massive draw the internet has for women. In the same vein, a mentoring scheme to support businessmums across the UK is to be launched on March 15, 2010 by Allison Price, founder of Motivating Mum. This exciting new initiative will enable mums already in business, as well as those wanting to start up, to obtain affordable support and advice to help them achieve their dreams.
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Launched three years ago, Motivating Mum was set up by Allison Price, professional life coach, mumpreneur and mother of one, for mums who needed help with the everyday challenges they faced. It now helps mumpreneurs across the UK succeed in achieving their business dreams through the provision of support and advice.
Increasing Numberss of Mumpreneurs
An increasing number of mothers are setting up their own businesses, however many of them lack knowledge and/or experience and face difficult challenges right from the start. The Motivating Mum mentoring service will connect mums needing professional guidance to mums who are experts in their field. It will cover all areas of business from law and accountancy to marketing and PR, in addition to getting ideas off the ground.
The Who’s Who of Business-mums
High profile business-mums already signed up as mentors for the launch include Laura Tenison, MD at JoJo Maman Bebe, Rachel Jones, inventor of Totseat and Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel.
When talking about the launch, founder Alli Price said: Read more
Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton Hope Their Social Enterprise, Diagnosis, Will Help Improve the NHS
Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton
In 2009 NHS junior doctors, Claire Lemer and Emma Stanton, edited a book called “Clinical Leadership: Bridging the divide” (Quay Books), which documents the increasing appetite amongst junior doctors to learn about healthcare policy and management, alongside treating the patient sitting in front of them. Despite this passion, Claire and Emma have found that many junior doctors lacked the opportunity to put this energy back into improving the healthcare system.
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‘As individuals, these doctors felt they lacked the power to make change happen. When these agents for change tried to improve things, too often there was little recognition, encouragement or support from the system.’
To fill this void, in December 2009, Claire and Emma set up a social enterprise called Diagnosis. In January 2010, they secured their first six-month contract for a strategic review of a national healthcare charitable foundation. Diagnosis positions itself as a healthcare consultancy for organisations such as the NHS, Department of Health and arms length bodies such as the Health Foundation. Rather than employ staff, Diagnosis invites high potential junior doctors, medical students and allied health professionals into a virtual talent pool. Individuals are paid a daily rate to contribute towards a portfolio of projects that can be carried out alongside clinical and other professional commitments.
The Nature of Embryonic Organisations
As with all embryonic organisations, Diagnosis is currently operating on a shoestring. They are exploiting Read more
Expert Interview: Opportunistic Female Entrepreneur Georgia Hall On Mixed Marketing Strategies
In a rapidly growing Digital world we shouldn’t forget the powerful marketing tools provided to us by offline mediums. People still walk past buses, sit on tubes, read the paper and watch television. Here, self-proclaimed ‘opportunistic entrepreneur’ Georgia Hall, formerly of Zinc Digital Agency, Yo! Sushi and now Searcys, highlights how on- and offline marketing strategies are not mutually exclusive, and how her first child was the catalyst she needed to make a very dynamic career move.
I am definitely an opportunistic entrepreneur, I like to take an existing project on and then really make it work.
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When you started Zinc in 1996 did you ever think the business would grow to over 100 staff and have clients such as Virgin, Microsoft and Vodafone?
When I first started Zinc, I set it up in partnership with one of the UK’s leading direct marketing agencies, Evans Hunt Scott, who had clients including Microsoft, BMW, Tesco etc. So my brief was to introduce their clients to digital media and the business plan was to organically grow the business. Within the first 6 months it became very apparent that the business was on a fast moving curve, in tandem with the digital revolution beginning back in 1996, and yes I absolutely knew that the company would be successful with such a great business backing and access to a great portfolio of world class clients.
You originally studied fashion before running advertising campaigns for the likes of Max Factor, joining Tower Records as Marketing Director and finally selling touch-screen music kiosks with Ken Frakes. Where did the idea for Zinc eventually come from? Were you fuelled by a desire to be an entrepreneur or by the online revolution you could see ahead of you?
I was fuelled by the desire to push this new medium into a major interest. My first job ever after completing my fashion degree in Newcastle was as a designer for a trend prediction company in New York. I have always wanted to do new things, work in untried areas and work on projects that are ground breaking.
I first met Ken Frakes when I was Marketing Director for Tower Records, I was his client and he came to see me with an idea to launch interactive multimedia kiosk systems into retail stores. He was working, as a designer, with multimedia designers and an IT company who had a range of touch-screens. This was back in 1993 and it was so exciting, internet and email was still only an academic communication tool and the concept of showing video, audio and information on a touch-screen to the mass market via the internet had not been conceived at all.
I started talking to all the record companies I knew about this idea and they all expressed a huge commercial interest. I joined forces with Ken and we set up some prototype kiosks in Tower Records, soon after Coca Cola, HMV and other major corporates wanted to trial this technology. I resigned from my day job at Tower Records to market and launch digital media and was then asked by Terry Hunt, the chairman of Evans Hunt Scott, to set up a digital agency for him which I named Zinc.
Did you have an extensive online and/or technical background before setting up Zinc – an interactive consultancy – or were you a forward thinker who could see the need?
I am simply a marketing person who can identify a gap in the market and likes to work on new concepts and challenges. Digital growth over the last 15 years is one of the most exciting communication revolutions we have ever experienced and I am very proud to have been one of the innovators.
Considering you had only just had a child, did you think twice about entering the world of start-ups or did the agency Evans Hunter Scott provide you with financial security and support you required? Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Katie Lips of Virtual Gift Store, Little World Gifts
Since Apple first announced the iPhone on January 9th 2007 they have grown in popularity. With users growing into their millions, the race to build the best app has increased in momentum, after the announcement in June 2007 that the iPhone would support third-party web applications. Here Katie Lips, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of the recently launched Little World Gifts, talks about her fascination with the web, delivering virtual gifts and the desire to create something infectious.
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Tell us about yourself?
In June 2009 I began work on Little World Gifts – a new venture in an exciting time in the evolution of mobile and its convergence with the web. I’ve been working with mobile for a while; recently as a consultant to brands; devising iPhone and mobile 2.0 strategies. I have been watching, and often write and speak about the App Store phenomenon and its effect on the rest of the mobile industry. So I’ve been involved in mobile for many years and previously cofounded Treasuremytext.com a popular SMS archiving service as early as 2004. Prior to that I was fascinated in all things web and began my career in digital agencies.
What is Little World Gifts and how did you come up with the idea?
Little World Gifts is a mobile virtual goods startup. We’re aiming to redefine digital gifts by making them mobile, 3D, interactive, and well, just way more gorgeous than what has gone before. Little World Gifts has just launched its first app on iPhone which for the first time brings interactive 3D mobile virtual gifts to users. The business delivers Gift Stores full of exciting content to users on iPhone and Facebook, and offers a compelling platform for brands to deliver branded virtual gifts to mobile and web users.
Do you have any direct competitors?
There are several very interesting players in the online and mobile virtual goods space; companies we watch closely. For example companies like Zynga and Playfish delivering social games on the web, whilst not direct competitors, are very interesting to us in terms of monetizing social gaming on third party platforms. They also show just what can be done if you can get it right in the virtual goods space. In terms of mobile, we are absolutely the first to deliver 3D virtual gifts on mobile, but of course there are other players exploring location based and reward based mobile content business models. It’s a young, multifaceted, and rapidly developing market.
Who is your product aimed at? Read more
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