Talented Women: Please Do NOT Quit

The following is an excerpt from my new book, Feminine Feminism.

Five years ago, a good friend of mine hanged herself.

I had coffee with her the day before.

She was married to a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur who ran a couple of major companies and had a brilliant career. She did not work. But on the surface, they had everything.

I knew both of them well. It was a deeply disturbing incident that shook us all up.

Five years have passed. I have observed society around us closely. And today, I am writing this with a certain amount of lingering sadness.

One of the greatest defeats of the feminist movement in America has been the phenomenon that women in the thirties are quitting the workforce in large numbers. Many of them are highly educated, and just as they acquire sufficient experience to take on more substantial roles, the body clock sets off an alarm.
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Feminine Feminism: New Entrepreneur Journeys Book

The feminist movement has suffered some major setbacks. One of the greatest is talented women in their thirties dropping out of the workforce in large numbers. In the latest volume of her Entrepreneur Journeys book series – Feminine Feminism (Amazon Kindle) – Silicon Valley entrepreneur and writer Sramana Mitra presents the struggles and triumphs of successful women entrepreneurs who have chosen to make the most of their many talents. Through this collection of essays and interviews, she illustrates how entrepreneurship may be the answer for many women looking for a flexible way to balance a fulfilling career while raising children.

As the founder of the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) global virtual incubator, Sramana Mitra strives towards 1M/1M’s audacious goal of helping 1 million entrepreneurs globally to each reach $1 million in annual revenue by 2020. With Feminine Feminism, she aims to inspire women to explore the path of entrepreneurship as part of their pursuit of work – life balance. This series of complex, emotional, intimate, and candid perspectives from a great collection of female role models fall under such headings as:

• Talented Women, Please Do NOT Quit
• Five Mompreneurs Say You CAN Do It All

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Balancing Act: How A Working Mom Built Steals.com

Working mothers are constantly struggling to strike a balance between spending time with their kids and making the most of their professional skills or supporting their families financially. Jana Francis, co-founder of Steals.com, has achieved this balance, and for her, the most rewarding part is that her employees are able to strike a balance as well.

The motivation for Steals.com came to Jana Francis right after she had a daughter, her third child, when she had to head back to work in the sales management team for a dot-com startup at the end of her maternity leave. She realized she was a smart, capable woman who could come up with a way to earn money from home. Once she started thinking along those lines, the ideas started to flow.
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1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2013: Mad Marketeer

Online marketing has become hugely popular and effective in recent years with the rise in social media activity and mobile access. However, for small non-profit organizations that have few resources, navigating the labyrinth of marketing activities and following an effective marketing strategy is tough and often expensive. In 2007, Katharine Coles, a veteran marketing professional, founded a company that strives to provide professional but affordable marketing solutions to the non-profit segment.

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Trend Spotting: Love and Startups

There was a time in Silicon Valley when VCs did not like the idea of funding couples. Nonetheless, Cisco and 3Com – two legendary Valley startups – were founded by entrepreneur couples. These days, the startup world seems to nurture a lot more romance… Sometimes he is the CEO, sometimes she. Sometimes they switch roles. To have a baby. Or a few babies. Or not. In any case, the bias against entrepreneur couples needs to be over. Entrepreneurship is a passionate affair. A powerful aphrodisiac. Better acknowledge that phenomenon.

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Women Entrepreneurs: May Be, Baby!

Over the years, I have spoken with many women entrepreneurs who had various questions around balance and flexibility. The most critical question comes up when these entrepreneurs face the have a child vs. start a company question.

One of the best conversations I ever had on the subject was with Sara Sutton Fell, founder of Flexjobs. >>>

1M/1M Video: Girl Power In Silicon Valley

This comic strip raises the question of gender bias in Silicon Valley. Ironically, I AM a woman entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, and in my experience, when I have been rejected by VCs, there was, often, good reason for it. Please view the comic strip, and weigh in with your thoughts.

You can subscribe to the YouTube Channel here.

1Mby1M Deal Radar: Camp Bow Wow, Boulder

What do the Champagne houses Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, and Bollinger; the printer of the Declaration of Independence; and the German steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG have in common? At one time, all were run by widows who took over the business after their husband died. It’s a path that many women have followed across the centuries, back through the Industrial Revolution, medieval Europe, the Roman and Sumerian empires, and perhaps even further. Today’s Deal Radar is the story of one woman entrepreneur, Heidi Ganahl, who found herself in a somewhat different situation: Her husband was killed in a small plane crash just as they were getting started on a business together. Ganahl went on to carry out their idea and found Camp Bow Wow, a dog boarding service, and Home Buddies, its in-home pet care component. >>>