NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes is a series of magazine-style audio interviews highlighting women entrepreneurs in information technology (IT) careers. NCWIT Heroes are women innovators from startups, small companies, and non-profits, whose ideas and products are changing the way we think, work, play, and communicate. Listen as these successful, creative, and
technical women discuss their lives and their work –
how they first get involved with technology, why they
chose to be entrepreneurs, and what advice they would
give to young people interested in IT or
entrepreneurship. NCWIT Entrepreneurial Toolbox is an
interview series designed to promote fundamental skills
of entrepreneurship. The series interviews both men and
women about a range of topics critical to
entrepreneurial success, such as networking, how to
procure funding, writing a business plan, and the
importance of failure.
The series are sponsored by the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Alliance with support from EMC. Have someone you'd like to
nominate? Drop us a line.
Genevieve created her first company, Sittercity.com, because she recognized a need for an online space where working mothers could go to find reliable caregivers for their children. A similar concept helped her to develop her newest company, Contact Karma, an online company that strives to match the consumer with a vendor that meets their specific needs. The advice that Genevieve has for aspiring entrepreneurs is that it is important to remember "There are no problems, there are just sticky situations waiting for solutions."
Inspired by her love for business and technology, Talia Mashiach was driven to develop Eved, an online meeting and event services marketplace that is revolutionizing the event services industry. Talia has said about entrepreneurs as a group: "We are builders...Giving life to something that didn’t exist is an incredible fulfillment." This passion explains why Eved is such a success.
Interview with Michelle Zatlyn Co-founder and Head of User Experience, CloudFlare
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: March 12, 2012
Most people can hardly find the time to eat or sleep in this fast paced world, let alone find the time to wait for a webpage to download. This time crunch that many people are under these days explains the fact that "for every extra hundred milliseconds it takes a site to load, 2% of that site's visitors will be lost," as stated by Michelle in an interview. This is exactly why she co-founded CloudFlare, a service that decreases bandwidth usage, increases site speed, and stops malicious attacks, making for a faster and safer website.
Celia has a passion for product development and she has said that there is nothing more exciting and rewarding than "creating something out of nothing." Her inspiration resulted in the creation of the incredibly successful online social network WeeWorld, targeted towards teens and tweens, as an outlet for them to express themselves and bond with one another.
Interview with Sandy Jen Co-founder and CTO, Meebo
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: January 16, 2012
Meebo’s Co-founder and CTO, Sandy Jen recently discussed gaining the self-assurance to start a new company: “You may not feel as if you are qualified or confident enough…The biggest insight in this entrepreneurial journey of mine was when I realized that someone I knew who was not super smart, who failed same tests I did, had started a company, I realized I could do that too.”
Interview with Jennifer Pahlka Founder and Executive Director, Code for America
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: January 2, 2012
Code for America’s Founder and Executive Director, Jennifer Pahlka describes her company as “Teach for America or Peace Corps for geeks.” Working in cities across the United States, Code for America is building a network of civic leaders who believe that there is a better way of doing things and want to make a difference using web-based solutions.
Interview with Clara Shih CEO, Hearsay Social and Author, The Facebook Era
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: December 12, 2011
Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Social and author of The Facebook Era, gives the following advice to young entrepreneurs: “Expose yourself to as many new ideas and opportunities as soon as possible. We don’t know what we don’t know, and sometimes it takes a while to find what we’re passionate about. But we can accelerate that process by learning new things and exposing ourselves to as many new things as possible.”
Shanna Tellerman describes herself as an “accidental-entrepreneur” who turned a course project from Carnegie Mellon University into reality in the form of her first tech company, Wildpockets. The company focused on democratizing access to game development by providing a cloud hosted game engine. It was later acquired by Autodesk Cloud Services and Applications, where Shanna currently works as the Product Line Manager.
Niniane Wang began programming in basic on a game counsel from Radio Shack when she was just five years old. Now serving as the CTO of Minted, Niniane has come a long way in her technological pursuits.
As a self-proclaimed “TV-holic,” Stephanie Boyle founded Rogue Paper, Inc. to use mobile applications and technology to help enhance traditional media broadcasts and create an engaging double screen experience for viewers.
Imagine sitting at a table and reaching for the salt, and the person next to you pushing it towards you so that it's within your reach. Now imagine a touchscreen technology that, in the same way, anticipates what you're trying to do even before you touch it. This is Power2B.
As founder & CEO of Wildfire, Victoria led the company to profitability in just one year and has built the company to tens of thousands of customers, over 100 employees, and five offices worldwide. Clients include major brands and agencies including Facebook, Pepsi, Unilever, Sony, AT&T, Ogilvy, Publicis and Digitas.
Gillian Muessig, aka "SEOMom," is the President and Co-Founder of SEOmoz, providers of the world's most popular search marketing applications. SEOmoz.org serves a community of 300,000 search marketers around the world.
Once upon a time known as "Queen" of Twitter, Twitter's own mom-at-home to tech CEO Cinderella Story is CEO/Founder of www.oneforty.com and co-author of Twitter for Dummies. You can read her story in the Boston Globe, on Xconomy.com or watch her Mixergy interview.
Cathy Edwards is the CTO and co-founder at Chomp, a search engine for mobile apps. She created Chomp's proprietary algorithm that understands the function of each app, allowing you to search for apps based on what they do rather than just what they're called.
Inspired by a love of fashion and the excitement of a New York sample sale, Alexandra Wilkis Wilson founded Gilt Groupe to share her love and excitement with a larger online audience.
Bettina Hein believes there's a recipe for successful entrepreneurship, and in this interview she shares it. Ingredients include chutzpah and persverance.
Interview with Alicia Morga Founder of GottaFeeling, Consorte Media
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: February 21, 2011
Stanford, Goldman Sachs, Hummer Winblad: Alicia Morga may look like your typical success story, but don't let that fool you. This driven woman has worked her way up the ladder from extremely humble beginnings. Now, as an entrepreneur, she's figured out the difference between how to survive and how to thrive.
VMware introduced a totally innovative idea: a virtualization layer between hardware and software that allowed different operating systems to run on the same machine. When the company went public in 2007, it was Silicon Valley's biggest IPO since Google.
Says founder Diane Greene, "When you need to work on a passion and vision you are sometimes left with no option but to do it yourself. If you see something that really excites you, then set about doing it and doing it right."
Sarah Allen is a serial innovator with a history of developing leading-edge products, such as After Effects, Shockwave, Flash video, and OpenLaszlo. She has a habit of recognizing great and timely ideas, finding talented teams, and creating compelling software.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy has worked at companies large and small in their early stages, including Google, News Corp., Amazon, Polyvore, and Yodlee. But before she got into the tech industry, she did the taxes for her father, a doctor. In this interview she gives some great advice about the energy and intensity she thinks are vital to being a successful entrepreneur, as well as the importance of knowing how to sell, and how to be self-aware.
A decade ago Leila Boujnane was in medical school in France, studying to become a doctor. If you'd told her then that she would be involved with technology, she would have laughed and would have said you didn't know what you were talking about.
Like many women, Amanda Steinberg came to a tech career through a back door. But when she realized that it interested her and she was good at it, she used it to kick-start her career as an entrepreneur.
Interview with Saman Dias Co-founder, AIM Computer Training
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: October 28, 2010
Saman Dias is a person who "sees windows, not walls." She thinks her success as an entrepreneur has been due in part to an unwillingness to take no for an answer, and her ability to always find a way to get from A to Z.
Asra Rasheed describes herself as a very "creative entrepreneur ... I like to draw and sketch things out." As the daughter of two entrepreneurial parents, she credits her success to her upbringing and being surrounded by people willing to take risks.
Interview with Dr.Marcie Black Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Bandgap Engineering
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: August 23, 2010
The mission statement on Bandgap Engineering's website says nearly everything you might want to know about what drives its co-founder and CTO, Marcie Black: "Our motivations are many and varied. We want to mitigate the impact of humans on climate change and ease the global political tensions caused by competition for scarce fossil fuels. As parents we are inspired to leave the world a better place for our children and their children. As entrepreneurs we love the thrill of a startup and think our technology represents a very, very good business opportunity. As scientists and engineers we are motivated to tackle difficult and very meaningful technical challenges."
Interview with Krista Marks General Manager, Disney Online Kerpoof Studios
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: August 2, 2010
"When I went to college, I didn't even know about technology or pursuing a career in technology," says Krista. "Fortunately when I got to orientation for college, I sat next to a student who said she was going to major in electrical engineering. 'What is that?' I said. And she said, 'I know that if you really like math and physics, it's the best major to have. I said, 'Oh my god, those are my two favorite things! I would like every student to be aware of the available opportunities when they're choosing a career. I did end up there and loved technology. In fact, from that point on I really wanted to be involved in designing technology. I spent the first eleven years designing custom electronics, and got to work around the world."
Interview with Katie Hall Chief Technology Officer, WiTricity
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: July 16, 2010
WiTricity is working on transferring electric power over distance, without wires. This groundbreaking technology, first invented at MIT, could soon power cell phones, game controllers, laptop computers, mobile robots, even electric vehicles, without ever plugging in a cord.
Interview with Julia Hartz Co-Founder & President, Eventbrite
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: July 12, 2010
Julia is a reformed Television Network Executive and comes to Eventbrite by way of FX Networks and MTV. "I'm an entrepreneur because I think I can change an industry. I also love helping to build something that people want. Being an entrepreneur, for me, I feel like I'm part owner in a movement and there is just something inherently satisfying about working on something you feel such ownership and passion about."
Margaret Burd was working at Lucent in 2000 when the tech bubble burst, and she was forced to lay off herself and her entire department. Since she and her team members were "really cookin' along" at the time, doing high-quality, innovative work, she decided she'd just start a company and hire them back.
Having been one herself, Pooja Nath understands the problems of students studying for assignments or exams. They have specific questions with a lot of context that search engines can't address because the returns are too many and too general. So Pooja built a prototype for Piazzza, an online forum in which students can share knowledge.
Interview with ML Mackey CEO and Co-founder, Beacon Interactive Systems
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: May 10, 2010
Explaining why she became an entrepreneur, ML Mackey says, "My partner and I like to do things, we like to make things happen, we like create things and be around smart creative people and we want to make an impact with what we are doing. It seemed like starting a company was a great combination for all these things."
Data is abundant on the web, and information is free. But meaning is what matters, and uncovering it requires a good deal more than counting keyword mentions across the social web. Crimson Hexagon's technology – based on groundbreaking work conducted at Harvard University’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science – distills meaning about brands, products, services, markets and competitors from the online conversation.
Interview with Gail Goodman President, Chair, and CEO, Constant Contact
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: March 16, 2010
Gail Goodman joined Constant Contact in 1999, when the company had six employees. Today it has 625 employees, with more than 300,000 customers worldwide.
Interview with Beth Marcus Former Founder and CTO, Zeemote
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: January 22, 2010
Beth Marcus has been
Founder and CEO of several successful startups, most notably EXOS, Inc., which
was venture-backed and sold to Microsoft in 1996.Since then she has been involved in 14
start-ups in a variety of fields as a founder, investor, or advisor.
Like many entrepreneurs, Emily Olson saw a niche, got an idea, and ran with it. Foodzie uses technology to share great food from smaller producers with a larger audience.
Women are quite multi-faceted creatures", says Elisa Camahort Page -- women are interested in technology, the economy, parenthood, politics, and much, much more. That's why the BlogHer network comprises 2,500 women writing about a broad range of "verticals", attracting more than 14 million unique visitors per month.
Entrepreneurs are "people who would be just dreadful employees", says Ellen Siminoff. For those who go the entrepreneurship route, however, the appeal is in "the idea and the people and the excitement of creating something."
Interview with Lisa Rau Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Confluence
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: April 27, 2009
Lisa Rau wanted to create something rewarding, something of her own, something of value when she created Confluence. As she discusses here, entrepreneurship is scary but incredibly satisfying: "with the risks come the rewards."
"It was entirely an accident" that Rashmi Sinha became an entrepreneur, she says. After backing into technology and entrepreneurship, however, she advises that it's important to decide what interests you, and then follow your interests.
Carol Realini is an imaginative pioneer whose foresight and business acumen have changed the landscape of technology, and whose global vision is providing hope and a future for people in developing countries.
Interview with Mena Trott Co-founder and President, Six Apart
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: March 24, 2009
When Mena and Ben Trott started Six Apart in 2001, starting an Internet-based business in a stagnant, post-9/11, post-Internet-bubble economy seemed like a big gamble. But their success can be credited to some fundamental entrepreneurial tenets: Know your business model. Be passionate. Aspire to sustainability. Be open to new ideas.
Interview with Anu Shukla Founder & CEO, Offerpal Media, Inc
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: February 7, 2009
Anu Shukla and her co-founder Mitch Liu brainstormed the idea for Offerpal in response to a good cause: helping friends donate to a favorite cause by participating in offers. They built an application to connect clicks with causes, made it vailable to a variety
of other applications, and watched as the idea took off.
Interview with Dina Kaplan Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, blip.tv
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: December 22, 2008
blip.tv wants to provide a great service for great shows. A new class of entertainment is emerging that is being made by the people without the support of billion-dollar multinationals. blip.tv's mission is to support people by taking care of all the problems a budding videoblogger, podcaster or Internet TV producer tends to run into. They take care of the servers, the software, the workflow, the advertising and the distribution, leaving clients free to focus on creativity.
Interview with Lena West CEO, xynoMedia Technology
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: November 17, 2008
From blogging to Facebook, Lena West, CEO of xynoMedia, helps hi-growth companies make sense of everything they're hearing about social media and the best ways to use these online outlets to their advantage.
Jessica is a remarkable social entrepreneur who is Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of www.kiva.org -- the first peer-to-peer micro-lending website. Kiva connects lenders with entrepreneurs from the developing world, empowering them to rise out of poverty.
Interview with Lee Kennedy CEO and Co-Founder, Tricalyx, Inc.
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: September 17, 2008
Lee's got some great advice for getting kids interested in IT and entrepreneurship. In fact, you might want your kids to listen to this interview.
Shellye Archambeau offers three great pieces of advice for entrepreneurs: only do what you're passionate about, create an informal network of advisors, and test your ideas before you launch.
Interview with Jean Kovacs Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Sterling Commerce
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: August 19, 2008
Jean Kovacs is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances for Sterling Commerce, responsible for driving global strategic alliances, including the AT&T strategic relationship, and all corporate marketing and communications.
Interview with Audrey MacLean Co-Founder & VP, Network Equipment Technologies; Co-founder & CEO, Adaptive
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: July 30, 2008
Audrey MacLean has a unique track record for entrepreneurial success as a founder, CEO, seed investor, and board member.
When Kristin McDonnell and theLimeLife team thought about what they wanted our cell phones to be able to do for us, more fun and more help were at the top of the list: more games and downloadable content like recipes, horoscopes, and lifestyle tips; less blood, bullets, and galactic aliens.
NOTE: We are deeply saddened by Jeanette's tragic death in a small plane crash on Friday, February 1, 2008. She was a true technology pioneer and we hope her life will continue to inspire others. For Jeanette Symons, motherhood proved to be good for business. Her kids helped her come up with the idea for her award-winning social networking site, imbee.com.
Interview with Anousheh Ansari Chairman and Co-founder, Prodea Systems, Inc.
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: October 12, 2007
On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer.
Marketta Silvera is an accomplished visionary, entrepreneur, and chief executive in the voice technology, Internet and telecommunications industries.
Interview with Judy Estrin President and CEO, Packet Design, LLC
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: September 13, 2007
For Judy Estrin, an interest in science and technology is in the blood: her older sister is an MD; her younger sister is a professor of computer science; and her parents both have PhDs in electrical engineering.
Interview with Ping Fu Chair, President, and CEO, Geomagic
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: August 24, 2007
With clients that include prosthetic limb manufacturers, NASCAR teams, the Cleveland Clinic, and even the Statue of Liberty, Ping Fu and Geomagic are poised to change the way we process the world -- not to mention the way our shoes fit.
Interview with Heidi Roizen Managing Director, Mobius Venture Capital
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: August 15, 2007
Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Heidi spent the first part of her career founding and growing tech companies. Now she enjoys helping entrepreneurs build companies as a coach instead of a player.
Gillian Caldwell is the Executive Director of WITNESS, which uses the power of video to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses. A film-maker and an attorney, she has always believed in the power of images to change people's minds.
Interview with Selina Tobaccowala Senior VP of Product and Technology, Ticketmaster Europe
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: July 30, 2007
When Selina Tobaccowala co-founded a little web company called Evite as a junior at Stanford, she was one of just 18 women majoring in computer science.
Starting with a good idea and a group of four kitchen-table employees, and funded entirely by revenues from clients (without any outside investment), Elizabeth Charnock has guided Cataphora into a profitable company with three consecutive years of at least 100% growth in revenue, customers, and employee head count.
Eileen Gittins wanted to create a beautifully designed and produced photo essay book, something that looked like a book you'd buy at the bookstore, but she only needed 40 copies. This turned out to be remarkably painful, expensive, and time-consuming, and she thought that was just wrong. So she founded Blurb.
Donna Auguste has had an interest in technology and engineering since she was just a girl. She used to take apart household appliances just to see how they worked.
Elaine Wherry is co-founder of meebo.com, which provides free, web-based instant messaging to all of the major network services.
Interview with Helen Greiner Co-founder and Chairman of the Board, iRobot Corp.
Entrepreneurial Heroes
Date: June 11, 2007
Helen Greiner is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of iRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba® Vacuuming Robot (over 2M units sold) and the iRobot PackBot® Tactical Mobile Robot, which deactivates mines in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lucy Sanders is start-up CEO and Co-founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology. She is a former VP at AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Bell Labs, and Avaya Labs, and holds six patents.
Interview with Maria Cirino CoFounder & Managing Director, .406 Ventures
Entrepreneurial Toolbox
Date: April 5, 2010
The name for .406 Ventures comes from baseball. "Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox batted a .406 average in 1941, which hasn't been beaten since. Williams had taken the time over the years to analyze where, within the strike zone, he could hit best; we thought that kind of measured selectivity was a great metaphor for this business."
As a founding partner
and editorial director in Guidewire Group, Chris Shipley
consults with emerging technology companies in the U.S. and Europe to
identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market."What I look for in an
early stage company - what appeals to me - is this intersection of a great
idea, a real market need, a smart business model, and a passionate team."
Interview with Yoky Matsuoka Torode Family Endowed Career Development Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington
Entrepreneurial Toolbox
Date: November 2, 2009
"If we give young girls or anyone else a sense of
purpose for what they are doing," says Yoky Matsuoka, "they will
become more interested in doing it well."
In the flood of new
and competing technology, companies often lack a strategy to on-board new solutions. Rather than be reactive, get mired in, or simply ignore new technology, Charlene Li's Altimeter Group helps companies architect a streamlined approach.
Where law and the internet and innovation and open source collide, there you'll find Mitchell Baker.
Interview with Tina Sharkey Chairman and Global President, BabyCenter LLC
Entrepreneurial Toolbox
Date: May 4, 2009
Tina Sharkey talks about the difference between vertical (BabyCenter) and horizontal (Facebook) social connections, why authenticity in social media matters, and how you can use social media to "think out loud" and leverage your business.
Interview with Ann Winblad Co-founder and Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Entrepreneurial Toolbox
Date: April 8, 2009
Ann Winblad gives us the Silicon Valley skinny on investing, growing a business, inspiration, and how venture capital is the backbone for the U.S. economy.
Interview with Krista Marks General Manager, Disney Online Kerpoof Studios
Entrepreneurial Toolbox
Date: March 3, 2009
In this interview, Krista Marks shares her experience and knowledge in winning National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. Every federal agency with a large external R&D budget, including the NSF, makes a portion available to small businesses through SBIR grants. Krista was CEO of Kerpoof, LLC when it applied to the NSF and won two SBIR awards. Her company received the grants to develop its website, Kerpoof.com, and the innovative software that powers it.
David Cohen, Co-founder and Executive Director of TechStars, explains how the TechStars program identifies entrepreneurial talent, nurtures success, and crams a ton of mentoring and business essentials into just a few months over the summer.
The "failure is not an option" mantra among entrepreneurs is "just wrong," according to Brad Feld. An early-stage investor and entrepreneur for more than 20 years, Brad says that experiencing and recognizing failure is an essential component of entrepreneurial success. Listen to this interview to find out how Brad characterizes an "unforgivable failure" and what lessons he believes you can learn from a failed start-up.
Heidi Roizen has achieved success as an entrepreneur, a corporate executive, a corporate director and venture capitalist. She has held positions of leadership within a number of industry organizations, and is a recognized and popular spokesperson for the technology industry and entrepreneurial community.In this Entrepreneurial Toolbox interview she talks about how networking is a key component of launching a company, and how people can build successful networks.
