Girls In Tech

As Girls In Tech we often find ourselves in a position when we need to balance our femininity with male qualities we are “expected” to have. For me personally, fund raising meetings are a culmination of these conflicts, especially considering the minority of female entrepreneurs. This video is a result of turning my personal conflict into a humorous video sketch, with 15 tips for women entrepreneurs on how to raise VC money, in style. The video was quickly picked up by CenterNetworks, and created a live discussion on Twitter. While some (mostly men) failed to see the humor and even took the video as an offense, I didn’t mind to be in the middle of controversy, as long as it helps to bring awareness to the gender issue in the boardroom.

How to Raise Money From VCs… In Style…

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.