Damsels In Success has officially launched with a networking platform that is targeted strictly at professional women.
The service positions itself away from the usual range of social networking style clone sites by being more LinkedIn than MySpace and Facebook, with a dose of content chucked in for good measure.
Members are able to connect and discuss topics including job opportunities, entrepreneurship, mentoring, returning to work after parenting, gender issues in the workplace and more. The discussion forum is supplemented by a blog network of around 50 professional women who blog about issues related to…well, professional women. A job board also connects professional women with potential employers.
Suffice to say, being male I am totally unqualified to pass judgment on Damsels In Success. It’s certainly a well designed site with a clever name. Function wise it seemingly offers a variety of content that could make it a compelling site for professional women. I’ll let TechCrunch’s female readers be the ultimate judges in the comments.
Damsels in Success was founded by Harleen Kahlon, a former lawyer and executive recruiter, and is based in New York.
“Suffice to say, being male I am totally unqualified to pass judgment on Damsels In Success.”
Perhaps it’s time for TechCrunch to hire women writers? I mean, as evidenced by this site and many others, we’re not *all* just interested in cute shoes.
To jump on a single aspect of this thing, in spite of the rest — what HR person could practically make use of a sexist resume pool?
At least not in the “professional” or corporate audience this site addresses. But to Jaimee’s point above, maybe TechCrunch could use it to specifically find a female editor…
Women in Power is old news…
)
(they are already in power
Dear damsels, watch out for “Bachelors in Success”…
This type of support group is really need for professionals.
You can not always confide in co workers (due to politics and gossip). Your social friends have their own problems.
Your husband or boyfriend may not fully understand – and your mother (unless she was a professional herself) may not have the complete picture.
Voluntarily hearing and sharing anecdotes and sharing advice without any commitments and without the fear of it backfiring can really get the novice professional through the tough times.
You are not being a burden on anyone. And it is a good way to learn from the mistakes of others before you make them.
Today women get damsels in success and men get the playboy social network…. a bit of contrast there.
oh very good
good luck creating a business with that domain name.
Can men join Damsels In Success?
BTW, apparently this company has no management team or advisory board: http://www.dams...ut/default.aspx But rest assured ladies, both are “Coming Soon”!
“I’ll let TechCrunch’s female readers be the ultimate judges in the comments.”
Total number of female techcrunch readers: 15.
Tim
the contrast of posting this directly after two posts on Playboy’s social network did cross my mind
I’m gutted that both playboy & damsels are non nude sites
If someone tried to launch a Men’s only LinkedIn they would be sued for sexism and lambasted in the media and blogosphere for exclusionary practices… Why is there always a double standard for women? We’re supposed to be aiming for equality, right?
@Nicholas Macias : While it is illegal in many countries to hire based on gender (religion, race etc etc) it is of course not illegal to target specific markets to increase your diversity within an applicant pool. That HR department might get into trouble if they only advertised on a women only network, but if it was part of an advertising campaign across a number of sites there’s nothing wrong with that…
/Martin
techguy,
Make that 16….thousand. Women tend, I’ve read, to comment less, so our presence may be less obvious. That’s true for me…I comment when I have something to say that hasn’t already been said by the babble of regular voices. So, though I’m here everyday, you wouldn’t know that.
Time to have a female writer on TechCrunch.
Duncan,
It’s not a clever name. The last thing women who are successful in business want to be defined by is their gender. At least that’s my experience.
Debbiex
Maybe it’s time you guys hired a female writer.
Interesting concept. My own thought though is that a professional social networking site is only as good as it is vast. Obviously, if I am using it, I am doing so to connect to others. That said, why would I want to only connect to only half of the potential population who could help me? If there is someone that can help me get a step closer to a hiring manager for my dream job, I just don’t care if it is a women or a man.
BTW, though I noticed we weren’t represented in the techgear winner pictures, trust me… there are more than fifteen of us.
I don’t necessarily think that HR departments will be their targeted revenue pool here. HR departments avoid any groups that define their identity based on one aspect, whether that be race, gender, sexual orientation. However if they’re trying to appeal to advertisers wishing to target women who do define themselves as Damsels in Success, then they may be on to something here. I think that truly successful women who could add value to this site would avoid a site that distinctly classifies them.
I agree with Debbie regarding the name. Strong and career driven women would never want to be referred as a Damsel.
“Clever” name–dear God!, it’s more like cute name. Next thing you know the DIS will have shoe ads and a guest appearance by Oprah and Dr. Phil.
As a professional woman, I think that the name is awful, and I don’t want to dilute my time with yet “another” networking site–even one trying to appeal to the girl in me. It begs the question, am I more girl than professional?
Good luck to them. And yes, telecrunch should hire women writers. (Make that 17 women readers.)
I think we’re seeing an evolution of social networking sites getting more and more focused. While I agree that you don’t want to cut out 50% of the people you could connect with, it’s also possible that because of shared interests/concerns it will be easier to network with people who have more in common with you. That’s true whether the networking site focuses on women in business, B2B issues, lawyers or what have you. These more focused sites aren’t going to replace the general play sites like LinkedIn et al. unless they prove to be more useful to the people using them.
Yeah, running this post right after the playboy post is a great bit of irony … now i’m just trying to figure out whether it was intentional.
After visiting Zivity yesterday, where the “models,” are naked, every day women who will be called “Sweethearts,” I cringed at Damsels in Success. While the idea of a social networking site for professional women is just as valid as a social networking site for mid-lifers- teebeedee.com, or any other group – moms, dog walkers or musicians etc., the difference is that marketers still haven’t figured out that things don’t have to be dumbed down or cutesy to win over a greater than average percentage of women in the market. Pairing the word Damsel with the world Success misses the mark. It’s unfortunate because the name alone will likely keep many women away from what could be an interesting forum.
Speaking in gross generality here, after having run a women’s networking group, have talked to numerous women business leaders on this very topic (even have arranged events with this as the topic) and have had personal interest in this as a concept: women are often just bad about building “old girl” networks as men do. Watch two men who just meet on a golf course and by the end of the day they’ll be swapping business leads. They figure one is competition but using each other to move forward is more beneficial to both. Women often mean well but too frequently put themselves as a competitor to everyone instead of building the ties that propel them forward. I’m guilty too! I’ve seen this even in myself.
[[That being said, women bring great qualities to the negotiating table that often lack in men. ]]
Note that I’m saying OFTEN and in GENERAL. There are downright hardcore take no prisoners women in business and nurturing men in business as well.
I hate this name. I think it’s stupid. I prefer the “Ladies who Launch” because it’s funny and it’s a jab at the useless ladies who lunch.
I just want to network for business. I don’t care if it’s with men or women. Just people who share a commonality with my needs and hopefully I can help them is all I’m after.
I’m disappointed that Duncan feels “totally unqualified to pass judgment” on Damsels in Success. The fear of appearing sexist should not outweigh his ability to analyze the concept and interface of this site–both of which he’s done sparingly. If, according to Martin, the gender double standard is so problematic, why can’t a male writer comment on a female site?
I find it infuriating that our “double standard” has forced men to censor their opinions. Yet, when women chide about a network like Playboy’s, we are considered empowered.
I think DIS’s forums and stories will become the focus of the site–with reflective content and advertising to follow. The initial topics open the dialogue to “cornerstones” of the female professional experience: ambition, marriage, family, glass ceilings, and harassment. To me, that is plenty of content to engage any user (male or female) that may stumble across the site–whether sent from Cosmo or TechCrunch.
I think this site is great idea. And I love the name also, but maybe that’s because I’m in my 30s (and the site does appear to be targeting my age group). This idea expressed above that it doesn’t make sense to network with just women is really misguided. There is a lot of value to that because women understand each other. And there’s no reason women shouldn’t network with men on sites like LinkedIn — it just makes sense to use a site that is about women’s needs also since a woman can probably get some interesting relationships out of it.
The site is beautifully designed, easy to use, and well crafted to appeal to at least some of the target audience. As evidenced by this very thread, professional women are a diverse bunch, some will be repulsed by something as simple as the name, others will feel right at home.
Personally, I am not interested in the networking aspect – my specialization is about as geeky as they come, nobody searches resumes for what I do, and I already know the other women in my field. I’m not interested in making friends per se, but I like the idea of the stable of writers acting as a catalyst for the rest of the community. I have subscribed to the RSS feed, we’ll see what comes out of it.
In an abstract sense, I’d like to see a female TechCrunch editor come onboard too – but not so that she can write about all the ‘girly’ sites. If that is the best thing a girl could hope for coming into TechCrunch, you’ll be looking for a long time.
I feel the need to chime in here if nothing else to express my dismay at the idea that women wouldn’t read tech crunch. Maybe we just wait to comment until we have something really relevant to say, and not just to “me too” a post or another comment.
As for the woman’s professional networking site – I can see positives and negatives as a professional woman and mother working in the tech industry. I can see where I might be able to relate to some of the women in the network, but at the same time I do feel that a professional is a professional – whether a woman, man, mother or father. At the end of the day the ability for DIS to provide good quality relevant content, and not just more of the same “working woman” stuff that can be found everywhere, will be the key to their success.
The idea is really great and the site is visually appealing, however they have a ton of user experience and UI issues that are hard to overlook… hopefully they’ll figure out these problems soon. It looks like they probably just spent more time focusing on the graphic design and less UI – a common issue for women when launching a website (and yes, I’m a woman).
A couple of things that really rubbed me the wrong way when signing up were the “required” age and education fields… at a certain point I would hope that our success and experience would speak for itself and these should be optional. I’ve known many very successful people who dropped out of high school, or never attended college. This feels very discriminitory to me if someone is simply signing up, not looking for a job on the network. Also, I really don’t know why age is relevant – I didn’t have to input my age on Linkedin.
I’ll take a stab at a mini-review. Also up on
http://www.deve...In+Success.aspx
Features:
————
Nice looking site. I definitely see the LinkedIn angle, w/ the Jobs section being so prominent. Then again, the site is about women & business.
The “stories” feature is neat, since they’re not just random blog posts, but instead posted as answers to specific questions, giving the site owners a chance to encourage users to contribute, steer the content, & keep it aligned w/ the theme.
The forums are run by up to 50 “damsels,” and only they can start threads, although anyone can comment on an existing thread. There’s also an advice/ask the expert area, where the expert blogs about community-submitted questions and people can comment.
Three main downsides that I see:
The Name
————
Obviously the name is getting mixed/negative reviews here, and it’s probably alienating some percentage of their target community.
Profile section
—————–
The actual profile section feels a bit watered down, but I suspect that’s because the site is still pretty new. I’m sure they’ll flesh it out as the community grows. And maybe I’ve been looking at too many “fancy” social networks these days.
Restricted User Generated Content
——————————————–
Maybe I missed it, but it doesn’t seem like ordinary members can initiate a new topic or line of thought anywhere (other than by thread hijacking, or by sending in a question to the Advice area & hoping it gets blogged about). You can only respond or comment on existing questions, posts, and topics created by either the site owners or the up-to-50 official “damsels.”
If I wanted to ask the community a new question (e.g. “What other social networks would you recommend for women in business?”), I wouldn’t be able to.
I can see how “steering” content can help encourage participation, strengthen a theme, and reduce off-topic threads, but I still think community members should be allowed to start threads to ask something new, otherwise they may go elsewhere if they don’t see their particular question. Even a “General Discussion” type forum would help.
I assume this was a deliberate design decision by the site, and I’d be interested in learning more about the rationale. And again, I may be missing something.
Technology
————–
From a technology angle, it’s written in ASP.NET — something you don’t see very often for startups. I’m glad to see .NET being used, as Rails & PHP (or at least Rails) often get all the love.
Monetization
—————-
Since jobs are featured so prominently, my guess that the site will eventually offer some sort of fee-based “enhanced” job posting. I’ve seen loads of blogs & communities allowing me to post a 30-day job ad for $75-$300, so perhaps there’s some money to be made in the niche job site market. Revenue could also be gained from advertising, but that’s pretty much a given.
Overall
———
Yes there are already too many social networks in general, but this particular niche doesn’t feel overly crowded to me, and the site is different enough (name, steered content, revenu from job postings) that it might rise above the tide.
This site seems great for women who are rocking the success ladder in the 9-5 world. It’s a nice looking site looking and I love the bios of the women… it’s also just always fantastic to see women out there making a difference!
The only negative for me is that Damsel in Success seems much more geared to the corporate ladies and less toward entrepreneurs, like me.
If you’re an entrepreneur or freelancer I recommend checking out Ladies Who Launch (www.ladieswholaunch.com). The LWL network really addresses the unique challenges of women who are out there making it happen on their own.
Interesting post and comments. I’m a serious fan of DamselsInSuccess, albeit a new one. Have you read those posts?!? Many of them are borderline brilliant — I’ve never read anything so smart for professional women (in print or online). I’m a banker in my 30s living in the painfully anonymous and cliquey NYC, so the thought of connecting with other women really appeals to me. I welcome a site like this. And the name is completely memorable and a spunky play on words. I find it interesting that people are commenting on the name more than the actual content… Sounds a lot like the trap women fall in to, where their body parts attract more attention than their brains, stature, ambition, or general ooh-ra. All in all, I’m sold on Damsels, and wouldn’t mind being a Damsel IN SUCCESS myself. Thanks for the introduction, TechCrunch.
Nice looking site and good content, except for that mesh-like background design. It’s terrible and distracting. Get rid of it!
I happen to think this is a fantastic site and as a successful woman I am thrilled that there is finally a site and a network for professional woman that is not focused on dating, shoes, or what your favorite rock band is…I also happen to love the name. HR departments thrive to tap specific groups and organizations that have a focus and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that and I am sure most corporate companies will find this useful. I’m almost jelous I didn’t think of this first! So nice to see something that really is fresh and new…nice work Damsel!
I never comment on these things but two of you have mentioned LadiwsWhoLaunch and I just had to write. Their interface is one of the worst I’ve ever seen and I’ve heard that their classes leave a lot to be desired for women who are not complete beginners. I think they provide a great service to women who want to start a spa or salon (they only tend to profile women in the usual industries) but they are certainly not a far reaching site for professional women or even entrepreneurs. I do like their name, though, and I think the Damsels name is in the same camp. It’s a play on Damsels in Distress, I gather, just like Ladies is a play on Ladies Who Lunch. Not sure why someone above thinks Ladies is more clever since they both turn an existing negative phrase about women on its head. They are both great names and both are great sites overall (though Ladies is not a site that I use to advance my entrepreneurial skills, but I know many do).
I also must comment on Ladies Who Launch (LWL). I find it disastrously uninteresting, for corporate women or entrepreneurs. Granted, like I said in my previous comment, I’m an investment banker so not really an entrepreneur, but many of my friends are new entrepreneurs. I think they’ll dig the advice some of the Damsels ladies give… like the women who started shoe companies, clothing lines, freelance careers, or literary agencies. Yes, I think Damsels should better round out their 50 ladies in the Forum, but from my count, they haven’t uploaded all 50 yet (aren’t they still in beta?), so they’re probably working on it. Anyway, the Damsels site is much more engaging than that boring LWL site.
@J I guess my negative reaction to the name was the word “damsels”. It is clever, and that wouldn’t stop me from using the site. LWL profiles very interesting women including Nina Zagat who founded the Zagat surveys.
In technology, first of all there just aren’t that many women, period. I’ve no idea what the stats are but given that I’ve been inside a lot of different companies on projects and my volunteer efforts, I’d take a stab and say that it’s ~25% and mostly in HR, marketing, sales and graphic/web design. The executives and engineers – maybe 5%?
I’m a member of Diablo Valley Women in Business, EBIG Women’s Leadership SIG, Silicon Valley WITI (Women in Technology International), WIC (Women in Consulting) and regularly attend women’s events such as Bay Area Business Women and others in an effort to reach out to more women since I see mainly men at work.
The site has appeal. If it can work. I simply have my doubts that until women learn how to give as much as they need in return, we will still lag behind the old boy’s network. Women in general just don’t help each other enough in the corporate world.
Carly Fiorna was notorious for never speaking on topics that had anything to do with her being a woman in her role as CEO of HP. Not on women’s leadership, she shied away from women’s conferences, women in technology etc. (We know because we asked her to speak to our women’s tech group and her handlers told us). Her talks were more on business itself because she didn’t want to be seen as first a woman. I understood her position, even if it disappointed me. After she was pushed out, she said that she regretted not doing more to advance women in upper management and engaging in talks etc. – networking.
We’ll see. It would be great if this site succeeds, so I’m going to go sign up now
And @BEN – Yay ASP.NET !!!
Why all the fuss about the name? Clever names that take a word/phrase offensive to women and flip them are pretty popular in the women’s space – 85Broads and LadiesWhoLaunch are two others. Has not hurt their success and I doubt it will hurt the success of this site. I think the women who are complaining need to reconsider why they’re so bothered – if you’re truly a modern woman, a positive name that is derivative of a negative outdated idea shouldn’t bother you so much that you can’t see that entire site is about women’s empowerment. In any case, a name that inspires this much discussion and reaction is certainly very memorable! And that never hurt…
I actually lead the new Ladies Who Launch – Silicon Valley chapter and felt compelled to comment here based on the remarks from J. Sebastian and Alley Cat.
First of all, let me set the record straight, LWL and Damsels in Success are not competitors. We look at the launch of this wonderful network as a huge positive and encourage every woman to find a group or many groups that they love, whether LWL or Damsels doesn’t matter, we’re on the same team.
Secondly, being in tech myself, I must agree with some of the comments about the current LWL site however, the completely new website should be launching in September (Micheal
. LWL currently has a powerful off-line presence, and should not be judged simply by the site.
All of the LWL chapters are totally different. While some areas may be more focused on traditional businesses, our Silicon Valley chapter is definitely not. Our group is wildly innovative and filled with successful women who are mostly tech focused and many of whom are NOT doing this for their first time.
Women do not simply join our Incubators to initially launch their companies, but rather to launch any project or take their existing business to the next level. Our workshops provide a very valuable think tank environment for existing companies who are searching for that next big idea.
J. Sebatian, Alley Cat (or any other ladies), I am extending an invitation to you to join us for our next meeting and discover for yourself what LWL is REALLY about. Here’s the info:
LWL-Silicon Valley Monthly Meeting
Date: Thursday, August 30th
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm
Location: 644 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, CA – http://www.inhershoespa.com
RSVP to hazelgrace@ladieswholaunch.com no later then Wednesday, August 29th
See you there!
These comments are awesome! More women comments here than in any other thread I have seen and for the most part they are of substance. I wish the guys would take the time and write solid comments like the ladies here are doing, maybe we need a womens version on TC or at least get some ladies to write over here!
I agree, lady TC writers could add a great perspective.
the last woman who wrote on TC unfortunately got more user comments on her looks than her writing
http://www.crun...otes.com/?p=326
Okay, okay, point taken. I have NEVER been to LWL, but some of my friends have. I’m sure its a great organization. But from an online presence, I just don’t really like the website or a lot of the content. But I’ll check it out in September and revise my opinion then. Didn’t mean to generate such controversy! Back to being an Excel monkey…
“Suffice to say, being male I am totally unqualified to pass judgment on Damsels In Success.”
Since when is Duncan a man?
I hate this kind of thing. Like “Pink” magazine, the Inc. magazine for women. BARF
niche networking sites like this can work and be useful, heres one strictly for female honda enthusiasts http://www.honda-girls.com
The aversion that some women have to all things girly and feminine is perplexing. What’s wrong with acknowledging that we’re women at the same time as acknowledging that we’re successful? I don’t think names like Pink, or LadiesWhoLaunch, or DamselsInSuccess are the least bit offensive or barf-inducing. Can someone explain to me what this is about? And, please, no oversimplified replies that state the obvious — obviously, some women don’t like being associated with feminine things in a business context because it makes them feel like lightweights or something. It also comes a bit from a chip on the shoulder related to having to assimilate in order to be successful, ie, be a man in a man’s world. But, I’d just like to hear one of the women who has had this reaction *justify* it as fair and explain why it doesn’t come from some kind of inherent insecurity about being a woman.
@VS I think your request to “*justify*” one’s feelings is suspect – no one can really answer your question and win. They’ll look like they’re either complaining or whining. The word Damsels first hit me as amusing but slightly derogatory. My mind leapt from “damsels in distress” (oh save me big strong man) to a more dainty “how do you like that now little lady?”
I just want to network, man or woman. If women can gather and build something beneficial then great. I just think that having a “Big Burly Man Networking Group” or “Cutthroat Backdating Male Executive Group” name is not necessary.
cool site. like the idea — pretty intimate setting for prof networking. sometimes it makes sense to network with women, sometimes going to linked in or some trade org works, too. don’t know why everyone thinks site somehow precludes non-gendered networking? think everyone’s taking it all too seriously — ever heard of overthinking something. nice place for women. pretty novel. (founder’s hot, too!)
@ price Ugh.
Personally, I think its a great idea. There are a number of social networks (both off and online) that lend support and guidance. If DIS can build a ground swell, good for them. The professional women’s market, be it for career or entreprenuerial types, is far from tapped.
As far as women at TechCrunch, I think Heather (CEO) certainly qualifies. Sure, the editors are all men but I’m sure she exerts a little influence from time to time.
As far as a general techcrunch comment, thanks for continuing to bring so many different stories to readers. Reading about porn, facebook, and DIS in one day is an interesting ride.
Can I go out on a limb and ask if anyone knows a good place to find these damsels in success if you are a guy? Online dating sites certainly have not boded well for me personally in my goal of finding an ambitious woman. I mean, this is what dating has been reduced to:
http://www.auto..._from_your.html
I am just looking for an equal…