Christine

Pocket Protectors Never Looked So Good: Women Who Tech

I just wanted to share news of what may be the largest, longest online conference call ever: the Women Who Tech telesummit on May 12th, 2009. Conference organizers have put together an agenda that includes:

•    Launching Your Own Startup
•    Women and Open Source
•    Breaking Through the Digital Ceiling
•    Tech Marketing in a Recession
•    Social Networks and Diversity Barriers
•    ROI of Social Networking

Panelists will include Joan Blades of MoveOn and Moms Rising, Allison Fine of Personal Democracy Forum, Shireen Mitchell of Digital Sistas, Amy Muller of Get Satisfaction, Lynne D Johnson of Fast Company, Charlene Li, Holly Ross of NTEN, Rashmi Sinha of SlideShare, and Lisa Stone of BlogHer.

For more information, visit womenwhotech.com, and feel free to drop by a live afterparty that evening if you're in Washington, DC, NYC, San Francisco, or London.

Girls Gone Geeky - and Getting Funded

I'm glad to be supporting TWO upcoming events designed for women entrepreneurs. If you're a woman entrepreneur in Silicon Valley - or would like to encourage one - then read on, forward this information, and register.

First, I'll be speaking on how to go after VC funding at She's Geeky, an unconference designed for geeky women (and girls, if you'd like to bring your daughters). According to the organizers, "attendees include women involved in all aspects of technology, including those who like to use geeky tools, not just coders, programmers and engineers. You don’t even have to be from the computer industry. You just have to be a woman who identifies as a geek." She's Geeky is very affordable and is coming up this weekend (January 30 - 31) at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, so register today.

Second, I'm serving as a VC judge for Women 2.0 Pitch 2009, an annual startup competition. Enter your back-of-a-napkin business plan by April 10th and get a chance to win a meeting with legendary investor Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital, along with free space at the Plug and Play Tech Center, legal representation from Pillsbury, and more. Any startup with a woman on the founding team is eligible. Five finalists will be chosen (by judges including yours truly) to pitch live at Pitch Night on May 7th, 2009. Apply to pitch here.

Folks often ask me why women need a 'special conference' to go to. While I agree much of the content at these events could be accessed at any entrepreneurship event, it's refreshing to walk into a room of one's own for a day. As anyone who's attended a freshman orientation or joined a soccer team knows, there's something special about bonding within a peer group. If one of your peer groups happens to be 'geeky women,' here's an opportunity to find them.

Mentoring Women for the Next Y Combinator (10/17 Deadline)

Y Combinator, a technology incubator based in Mountain View and Cambridge, is taking applications through Friday, October 17th 10pm PST for its winter 2009 Mountain View incubator cycle. Former AOL and Yahoo! exec (and current Tech Stars participant) Susan Mernit has galvanized a small group of us who are interested in seeing if we can help increase the percentage of women accepted this time around. So:

If you are a woman who is considering applying to Y Combinator for this cycle and you'd like to have some mentoring and support from an experienced executive before you submit your application, there's a small group of women who are interested in working with you. (Yes, I am one of them.)

To get involved with this group and ideally paired with a mentor, send an email with contact information and information about your proposal to pinkgaragementors@gmail.com; we'll circulate your information among our team and reach back out to you.

If you are mentored, you will receive an hour or more of coaching with a woman exec who has been through a tech incubator program; has been a tech CEO/co-founder, analyst, or VC; or some combination thereof.

At the last Y Combinator Demo Day I attended, there were 3 women in a room of over 100 people. That just seems a bit low to me, and I have no doubt that it reflects the candidate pool. Let's work constructively to get more bright young women to apply.

BlogHer '08 Wrapup, Through Newbie Eyes

Earlier today, I volunteered my stepdaughter Katy to craft a post on her experience at BlogHer '08. Not only because she's a bright, baggage-free 15-year-old, but also because it's healthy for 'we the jaded' to see social media through fresh eyes.

Here's our guest post from Katy (soon to be starting a music blog at Electroqute):

BlogHer '08 was not only my very first BlogHer, but also my very first conference, ever. (I now know where Christine gets all the swag that she's constantly bringing home and handing out to the family). The Westin St. Francis was a beautiful location to have it in, but I spent a lot of time trying not to get lost in the labyrinthine halls.

I wasn't sure what to expect, having never been to a conference, and never really having a blog. But I was lucky - everyone welcomed me with open arms when I told them I was here to learn how to blog. The first day, Friday, Christine actually had a meeting, so I was there alone for the first half of the day. At the ice breaker I met a lot of really awesome people, some of which confided in me that, they too, didn't know anybody.

I was surprised as to the level of depth and complexity of blogging, how complicated it is and how much thought people put into it. The first session I went to was FAQs for beginning bloggers, where I met even more people who had never blogged before! It was really fun, and I learned a lot about different platforms and blogging etiquette. Then came the second session, on DIY syndication, where I learned about the different social bookmarking sites, and how to use them best to your advantage. That was also a very fun one. The writing workshop, however, bored me sightly. I'm sure other people found it interesting, but it just didn't hold my attention. Once that was done, that was it for day one of BlogHer. Well, there was also a party at RubySkye...but it was for 21+ only, so we went shoe shopping instead.

Saturday also had 3 sessions, the first of which was really interesting, about Building Traffic via Content and Community. The next two sessions were kind of dull, but of course I got more free stuff. =] The final event was a sojourn across the street for a closing party sponsored by Macy's - which was really, really cool! They closed off the departments for handbags, shoes, furniture, and lingerie. In handbags they had cheese and crackers and champagne, with some white jasmine sparkling tea for people like me, underage, or the pregnant women. Al the rest of the departments had assorted tiny treats, most of which were delicious. Free makeovers, too. =]

With this formal introduction into the world of blogging, I'm excited to start reading people's blogs. There's a lot of diversity in the types of women who blog. I also think it will be really fun to start a blog, but I also realize it might take me a while to get good at it, and I may not necessarily have much time for it. I'll try though, and it'll be fun finding the blogs of the women that I met this past weekend.

Now Christine gets to edit my post, because my blogging skills are pretty much nonexistent.

-- Katy Newton

Blog Monetization Redux: Dump Google AdWords, and Sell Product

This afternoon's lesson from BlogHer '08: Monetization happens, but you have to be strategic, and you probably need to sell directly. Take a look at these blog mavens for concrete examples:

The e-commerce on Kristen Hammond's blog is a natural fit to her blogging. Hammond's Mommy Needs a Cocktail t-shirts are funny, relevant even to non-blog readers, and happends to be the name of the blog. Other tees came about organically. Hammond has also found that she gets an instant reaction when she uses Twitter. But don't spam your audience, or folks will unfollow you. Use it properly - and sparingly - and you'll get attention when you release a new product or publish a new post. Notably, even name brand retailers like Zappos and Whole Foods are actively pursuing Twitter strategies.

Dana Loesch approached monetization by creating her own ad network. The local St. Louis blogger community realized that a lot of businesses were interested in reaching out to local readers, so they set up their own blog network and are now getting a $2 CPM. This is better than the generic CPMs that Loesch was seeing elsewhere, and is evidence that bloggers need to be very targeted when joining an ad network. Not every blog will make money with Google AdWords, or every ad network is different. When you do choose (or create!) an ad network, these are the models you're likely to consider. Think about which would work best with your audience:

• CPM = Cost per thousand page impressions
• CPC = Cost per click
• CPA = Cost per action such as a form, purchase, etc.

Stephanie Agresta recommends working with affiliate programs such as LinkShare, Commission Junction, and Performics (bought by Google). Amazon, of course, has its own Amazon Associates program. It's free to log into these programs, so an easy way to start is to register and select your five favorite products. There's a good chance that your loyal audience members also has an affinity for those products. Get your own coupon codes issued if you can, since your audience is more likely to go through you for a purchase if they feel special about it.

Agresta notes that text links are the highest-converting creative, so if you're comfortable selling links (I won't judge you if that's your thing), she suggests that you check out Social Spark. She also recommends SEOMOZ, Search Marketing Gurus, and the Google Webmaster Guidelines as go-to resources for getting the basics of SEO/SEM down.

BlogHer08, What a Difference Three Years Makes

As I sit in on the BlogHer '08 panel entitled "Pursuing Your Passion Never Gets Old", I'm struck by how much the bloghersphere has changed in the scarce three years since the first BlogHer gathering. Then, it was a room full of techies, early adopters, and activists, with vehement discussion around establishing a voice for women in the blogosphere.

Today, I'm listening to Maggie Mason (whose bangs look lovely), Melissa Summers, Evany Thomas, and Sarah Brown talk about how they manage to maintain an interest in their aging blogs, keeping their content fresh and managing their changing relationships within their audience.

This has me wondering...now that every age, interest, and technical sophistication is present, and the feminine voice is loud and clear in social content, what's it like to start a blog? As it happens, I'm here with my 15-year-old stepdaughter Katy. Katy doesn't yet have a blog, but she has had a great time steeping in Web 2.0 this summer via her community management internship with Amy Muller at Get Satisfaction. (Disclosure note: I have a relationship with Get Satisfaction.) Katy's planning to start a blog - probably about music - and as she reads over my shoulder, she's discovering that during a break today, I'm going to make her write a few lines about what BlogHer looks like through newbie eyes.

Do Women Care More About Social Networks?

Interesting snippet of the day: Auren Hoffman recently blogged about the growing imbalance between male and female participation in social networks. To boil it down, the most popular social networking sites - Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Plaxo, and Hi5 - are roughly 60:40 female:male. Auren theorizes that the sole exception, LinkedIn (61% male) has the reverse skew because it is highly transactional, unlike the other networks. I can see his point.

Web 2.0 Maintains Rate of Women's Participation

Environment: The sold-out Web 2.0 Summit held in San Francisco this month, hosted by O'Reilly Media and CMP Technology.

Silicon Valley Summit Skews Low on Women

Environment: The Deal and Tech Confidential's 2006 Silicon Valley Summit.

DEMOfall Increases Women's Participation by 25%

Environment: DEMOfall 2006, my favorite product launch conference, due to tremendous company selection and hosting by Chris Shipley.

Growing Numbers of Women at FOO Camp

Environment: FOO Camp, hosted by Tim O'Reilly at the gorgeous O'Reilly Media campus in Sebastopol.

Forbes Says: "Don't Marry Career Women!"

Through an entirely roundabout path - an e-mail from a woman that I don't know, but who is also on the Google Group for my pal Chris O'Brien's kiddie blog - I received a link and rant on a new Forbes article by Michael Noer entitled "Don't Marry Career Women." Go ahead and read it. Here's an excerpt: "Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career."

Caterina Fake and Meg Hourihan Share Flickr, Blogger Lore

Did you know that two of Web 2.0's biggest success stories - Flickr and Blogger - were never meant to be? Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr, and Meg Hourihan, co-founder of Pyra Labs and Blogger, shared tantalizing tales of hard work and serendipity with Marnie Webb of NetSquared at the recent BlogHer conference:

Facing Challenges of Multiple Identity

The concept of identity has been increasingly topical in the technology space. But as individuals, do we have the self-awareness and maturity of behavioral psychology necessary to take advantage of this smarter infrastructure? Maria Niles of fizz moderated an extremely dynamic discussion of race, gender, sexuality, and identity at BlogHer 2006:

Making Room for Men at BlogHer

Environment: Blogging extravaganza BlogHer 2006.

Political Blogging for Fun, Change, and Disreputability

As Lisa Williams said today at BlogHer 2006, "bloggers are all self-publishers, and are disreputable for that very reason." Williams herded a gaggle of those disreputable political bloggers today, and revealed the very individual face that bloggers have brought to both global and local politics:

BlogHer Ad Network Launches

The BlogHer ad network launched this month, with the release of BlogHerAds. (Keep an eye on Lisa Stone's blog for the launch of the full site next week.) Here's a closer look at this effort towards an economically viable market model for blogging:

Men Like Mashups

Environment: Mashup Camp 2, hosted by the ever-fabulous David Berlind and Doug Gold at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Video Babes at Vloggercon

Environment: Vloggercon in San Francisco. 

The Women Come Out for NetSquared

Environment: The NetSquared Conference in San Jose, sponsored by CompuMentor and TechSoup.

Audrey MacLean on Best Practices for Angel Investing

Renowned angel investor Audrey MacLean explored the nuances of angel investing with the audience at yesterday's Women's Angel Colloquium. MacLean, a founder of both Network Equipment Technologies and Adaptive, revealed that her role as private investor was an accidental byproduct of her career in the computer industry.

Susan Wojcicki on the Secrets of Google's Success

There was a brief glimpse into Google's early days at the First Annual Women's Angel Colloquium in San Francisco, hosted by the Women's Technology Cluster. Susan Wojcicki, the VP of Product Management from Google, shared lessons learned, along with the odd idiosyncracy:

Wireless VentureChicks

Environment: The Wireless Ventures 2006 conference in San Jose, hosted by Dow Jones/VentureWire.

Identity Women

Environment: The Internet Identity Workshop in Mountain View, organized by Kaliya Hamlin, Doc Searls, and Phil Windley.

Venture Chicks at the NVCA

Environment: The 2006 NVCA Annual Conference in San Francisco, sponsored by the National Venture Capital Association.