Girls In Tech

We are excited to finally announce our official Los Angeles launch party. Come and join us as we kick off our LA launch on Thursday, December 4th at 7:30PM at the Causecast Headquarters in Santa Monica, CA.

The tech scene in Los Angeles is thriving and growing in a robust manner and Girls  in Tech is excited to be a part of that growth. We are thrilled to be partnering with the following companies for this event, Causecast, Stardoll, Converdge, GamerVixens, and Women & Wine. We will be doing a little mixing, a little mingling, and celebrating the women and companies in Los Angeles that are making a difference in the world of technology and innovation. 

Please RSVP for this event at robyn@girlsintech.net.

Looking forward to it!

Robyn

Executive Director, Girls in Tech LA

The worlds of Web 1.0 and 2.0 will be coming together on Thursday, December, 11th, 2008 for the Digital Family Reunion ‘08 Holiday Party. It will be a wonderful blend of Southern California technology and business communities with attendees from all the major industries, media, entertainment, finance, publishing, education, venture funding, and many more. This event will be about creating a platform for the different tech generations and companies in these different industries to come together to ignite new relationships and rekindle old ones. As well as, forecasting and kicking off 2009 with new possibilities in all these industries.

Girls in Tech is excited to be a part of this event. We will have an opportunity be on the Host Committee, as well as, showcase Girls in Tech on site. Most important, all Girls in Tech members will have an opportunity to come to the event with a discounted rate for tickets. You can purchase tickets at www.digitalfamilyreunion.net and use the discount code (DFR09). Can’t wait!

Digital Family Reunion ‘08 Holiday Party

Skirball Cultural Center

Thursday, December 11, 2008 

5:00pm - 10:00pm

2701 Sepulveda Blvd.

Los Angeles California 90049 (view map) 

In the last few weeks I have posted about what is innovative in many fields. Or it’s been about keeping up with what is making news in the fields of tech and innovation. It may be a simple thought, but how about change being innovative and leading to innovation?

Last week in Long Beach, CA was the Women’s Conference event. 14′000 women from all over California and of all ages attended this conference. I, unfortunately, was not able to attend, but watched their live webcast! The mission is to empower women to be ‘Architects of Change’. This is a very powerful message and mission and very powerful people, both men and women, from many different industries spoke at this event. The Women’s Conference was actually established in 1985, however since 2004 with the leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, the event has now become the largest conference in the nation.  Over the years high-profile people like Oprah Winfrey, Queen Rania, Thomas Friedman, and many more have spoken at the conference. 

The mere idea of women being ‘Architects of Change’ is innovative in of itself. I am not saying women over the centuries have not been architects of change, but in this country, that has not always been the case. With that, the more women that understand they can be architects of change empowers them to want to be innovative and make change possible. 

Speaking about change, I cannot help to mention our up-coming election. We all know one of the candidates is all about change. Obama not only wants to make and inspire change, but he embodies change because of his background. Having him as President would be very innovative for this country in many ways. (One week left until we all have to get out and vote!)

One last thing I want to mention about change is the internet. Born out of the idea of being a world wide information management system, has now become an industry where some of the most exciting advances in innovation are created. Something that was once, and still is with some groups of people, not embraced because it virtually (no pun intended) changed the way we communicate and do business. Now it’s thriving as one of the most exciting areas of innovation.

I think change is a good thing and very innovative :).

After watching the stock market today, you can’t help but to feel a bit of panic. Although, it did recover quite a bit towards the end of the closing bell, regardless this year-to-date the market has dropped almost 40%. 

Silicon Valley has never been a place to throw in the towel. Although VC firms like Sequoia Capital are ’sounding the alarm’ for what could be the worst economic downturn in years. However, when we think back to the 2000 dot com crash, not the same situation, but it certainly applies, what occurred was a reality check and it helped weed out the not-so-smart ideas and that was good. Years after 9/11, technology start-ups and innovations from existing companies like Apple helped pull the country back to life. 

So, when all the news across Silicon Valley is that VC investment is falling off, investment money drying up, is this really the case? Not necessarily. You see, the cost of starting up a tech company has dropped tremendously. Whereas a few years ago it might have taken $1 million to launch a company, now it may cost $100,000. It will be easier for wealthy individuals, angel investors to fund companies. 

Obviously, the country needs to make sure there is money to build new technologies and start companies. Yes, we do need $700 billion to make sure the economy is functioning. However, that’s about now, how about our future? A very small portion of that money could go a long way in creating breakthroughs and companies to renew the country. David Ewing Duncan, contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio, wrote a great article regarding this matter - Investing In Our Future - and that’s what we need to do.

Thank you for coming out to the Cutting Room last night to celebrate Girls in Tech launch our launch in the New York tech community.  A very well attended event and the support was AMAZING! It was a fun night brimming with energy. Opening a forum for women in technology can connect and exchange ideas is quite fascinating. Collaborating with existing and established tech communities like nextNY was the icing on the cake. It makes me happy to witness the magic. We accomplished our goal for the evening: secure a spot in the Girls in Tech in New York.

We had a handful of VC firms present like Astia, First Round Capital, Firstmark Capital, Silverwood Partners and Third Securities LLC. There was an exciting exchange of ideas for programs and events focused specifically for women tech startups so watch for future announcements on these opportunities. We hope to make this happen very soon!

New York tech community leaders and influencers present included Natali Del Conte from CNET, Sarah Austin from Pop 17, David Rose and Nate Westheimer from Rose Tech Ventures, Charles from Iminlikewithyou.com, Gary Sharma from Gary’s Guide and Jonathan Sarno from Facebook Developer Garage (NYC) and David Blumenstein from The Hatchery to name a few. Thank you for representing! We’re looking forward to hosting partner events and programs that will strengthen New York’s tech community. One of the workshops planned is focused on the future women in tech entrepreneurs. The goal is to help inspire and encourage young women in tech to pursue an entrepreneur career path.  Challenge young community members to think of startup ideas NOW vs. 10 years from now.  By offering information, tools and access to a responsive community we hope to see more startups run and owned by women. Rose Tech Ventures will be providing our venue for our first workshop. Details coming soon!

Many thanks to the media! Dan Frommer, Alley Insider; Kelly Samardak, MediaPost; Kenyatta Cheese, Rocketboom; Kyle Monson, PC Magazine and many others were present to celebrate!

So BIG thank yous to all the members and our supporters from Like The Spice Gallery and the Cutting Room. To those I miss to mention, your support is recognized. For ideas on programs and events or would like to learn more about the future events and programs that we have planned please write jessica@girlsintech.net.  To keep uptodate on all annoucements make sure to register here See you soon!!!