Startup Idea to Help Women Return to the Workforce

As I am thinking through the solutions needed to help older engineers reconfigure their careers [Ref. A Startup Idea To Help Older, Laid-off Engineers], I am also thinking about a related issue: older women trying to get back into the workforce.

I know too many talented women who are now in their forties and fifties, and some even in their sixties, looking to start working again. Their travails are gut wrenching. The ten-, twenty-year gaps in their resumes stare back at them like menacing, identity-destroying demons.
>>>

Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship: Janet Kosloff, CEO of InCrowd (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

You know I don’t buy into the men saying that there’s a bias against women entrepreneurs in the industry. Janet doesn’t either. Here’s an opportunity to learn from her success in building solid revenues, and a profitable business.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

Janet Kosloff: I was born and raised on Long Island in New York. My father owned a diner in Queens. He was from Brooklyn. My mother was from a small town in Central Pennsylvania. I had a fairly typical upbringing. I went to college at the State University of New York and I studied Nursing. I started my career as a nurse not necessarily because I had a passion for nursing. It was more so because I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life. My family guided me into that career for the reason that I had an affinity for science. >>>

Women Entrepreneurs – The Myth, The Minefield, The Movement

On March 31st, I gave a talk at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View for the Women Who Code group.  In it, I addressed many of the myths about being a female entrepreneur that are currently circulating in the industry. For example:

• There’s a bias against women in Silicon Valley
• You CAN and SHOULD try to DO IT ALL
• VC rejection equals sexism
• VCs hit on women

And many others.

Here’s a recording of the session. I do believe those of you who are navigating these issues would find this useful.

>>>

299th Roundtable Recording On March 24, 2016: With DFJ Venture’s Heidi Roizen

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here:

Roundtable Recap: March 24 – How to Build a Unicorn From Scratch – and Walk Away with Nothing

During this week’s roundtable, we had as our guest Heidi Roizen, Operating Partner at DFJ Venture, who discussed her important article, “How to Build a Unicorn From Scratch – and Walk Away with Nothing,” and imparted crucial lessons to entrepreneurs on how to look at terms in a venture financing situation.

Free-U
As for the pitches, first up, K. Raviteja from Hyderabad, India, pitched Free-U, a marketplace for financing. The concept is raw and needs a lot of work yet.
>>>

10 Women Leaders Running Bootstrapped Companies

As I was writing the previous post, 10 Women Leaders Of VC-Funded Companies, I noticed that six out of the 10 companies I included on the list followed aBootstrap First, Raise Money Later strategy.

My point of view is that as long as you follow this strategy, your chances of raising money is always going to be higher, whether you are a man or a woman.
>>>

10 Women Leaders of VC-Funded Companies

As I wrote in my recent article, 10 Must Read Posts on Women and Entrepreneurship, I am concerned that the public discourse on feminism is veering in a victim-oriented direction, something I don’t care for.

As a follow-up to that post, I would like to introduce you to ten women who have raised venture capital as a founder CEO, a co-founder, or a non-founder CEO. In each case, I have linked to a detailed interview discussion I have had with the person, so that you can really dive into the points of view of these successful women.
>>>

290th Roundtable Recording On Jan. 21, 2016: With Steals.com Founder Jana Francis

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording here: