Women Entrepreneurs Pitch Their Companies at Stanford
Mark Hendrickson
33 comments »
Women 2.0 held its second pitch event today on the kempt grounds of the Stanford Golf Course Grill. It was a chance for five private tech companies with at least 50% female ownership to compete for a prize suite of business services collectively worth $15,000, plus a chance to meet with Esther Dyson.
The five finalists - Koollage, Gaiagy, Skillshop, Webvet, and Passive Devices - were chosen by 20 professional investors out of a pool of over 125 submissions. They each had 10 minutes to pitch their companies to attendees and a panel of 9 judges, after which the judges picked an overall winner and the crowd voted for a People’s Choice winner.
Koollage took home the main prize with its mashup service that focuses on delivering content to mobile devices, and the iPhone in particular. Users can create widgets called “pods” that mix different types of digital media such as video, images, and search results. These pods will be marketed primarily to bloggers who want to get their content and related media onto mobile devices. A freemium pricing scheme will provide two options: a free version with a revenue split on ads, and a paid version with no imposed advertising. Tumblr is said to be the closest non-mobile competitor.
People’s Choice winner Gaiagy will give building owners (both individuals and businesses) personal recommendations for how they can most economically make their operations more “green”. The site will focus on three primary areas: space heating and cooling, water heating, and lighting, with a beta version of the lighting tool slated for launch at the end of the summer. Gaiagy will not only recommend building products that can be bought directly online, but it will also rate and refer the installers who are needed for many eco-friendly upgrades. A second version of the service with recommendation tools for 6 products will be launched by 2009.
Of the three other presenting companies, WebVet was the most promising web service. The site aims to be “WebMD for pets” - a place where people can find professionally produced and organized information about animal health issues. The company will license content from industry experts as well as employ 25 writers. While people often use WebMD for self-diagnosis, Webvet wants to avoid the fate of attracting visitors only when their pets are sick, so it will provide additional content relevant to pet ownership such as human interest stories and breaking news.
In the new world economy, does gender matter? If anything the Internet has brought on a level playing field.
the only one that looks usefull is koollage (i have no pets)
This “2.0″ thing is just getting so out of hand…
Marion Freijsen, a woman entrepreneur, is one of the founders of Efactor (http://www.efactor.com).
Entrepreneurship is giving women more career freedom than they have seen in the past. Women have always been the more communicable gender, perhaps this is why the internet is a powerful means for women owned startups.
The winner of “best startup” at Startup Camp last weekend in SF was http://www.chictopia.com, which had a team that consisted of all women. Does anyone know if they were present at women2.0?
Koollage is the great one here..
Stephanie’s comment doesn’t make any sense. “Women have always been the more communicable gender, perhaps this is why the internet is a powerful means for women owned startups.”
Couldn’t you say something just as stupid about men? For example, “Men have always been the more technological gender…the more mathematical gender…”
I love women! What ever makes them happy makes me happy.
most of these startups are just a page with descriptions?
I think this is sexist, in this day and age women are very much equal so why is there a need for an event like this?
A huge round of applause to Shaherose, Angie and the Women 2.0 team, volunteers and judges. The gals put a huge amount of work into the conference and it really showed.
So…are women being kept from pitching their companies in the more mainstream venues? Are they being locked out and forbiden to pitch to venture capitalists anywhere?
No?
Then why the need for (dah dah dah daaaah…) WOMEN 2.0?
I demand MEN 2.0 by government equalization rights of anti sexual discrimination order law!
Lol I have no pets either.. so i think WebMD has not future…
Koollage also the most sound one-line pitch:
‘A social “mini” blogging and “micro”media platform for the mobile generation.’
Nothing fancy, just keeping it simple and focused. Always a good way to start.
Interesting…women 2.0. What if we had Men 2.0?, what then?
“Gaiagy” ??? What king of name is that… And the logo looks out of MS Paint…
Should’ve been called White Women 2.0
To all those of you who think you’re clever making the “what about Men 2.0?” comments, please give it a rest. In an ideal world where everyone starts out on equal footing, sure, there would be no need for such efforts to promote startups by those who do not traditionally launch them. (Ie: Women.)
Unfortunately, that world does not exist (yet.) There is still a lot of sexism in the business world (I know I notice a lot of it and I’m not a woman, so I probably miss a lot of subtler stuff) and you wouldn’t have to read Techcrunch for long to see that for better or worse (hint: it’s worse), most startups are launched by males with all-male management teams, funded by testosterone-infused VCs.
So what’s the problem with an event like Women 2.0 that highlights those who go against the grain and launch their ideas despite the odds?
Having said that… Gaiagy was really disappointing. I agree with LP that the name leaves much to be desired and the logo (and site) look unprofessional. Worse still, I work in the building industry and headed there to bookmark the site, but when I got there no links were even clickable…
@5 it wasn’t an all-women team. Their CTO was a guy.
@Daniel Smith - I couldn’t have said it better! Thanks!!
re: snyggast
White women? The day was diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, and yeah, gender too. Take a look at Shirley Lin’s pictures from the day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/s.....994184371/
@5 and 20
Thanks for your interest in Chictopia!
Some clarifications:
1. Chictopia did not participate in Women 2.0.
2. Chictopia’s CTO is a woman, not a man. Here is her blog: http://www.chictopia.com/user/blog/corinney
3. Chictopia is not an all-women team, we are three girls and one boy.
For those of you who are interested in reading more about Chictopia’s progress, here is our company’s official blog:
http://www.chictopia.com/user/blog/CheriChictopia
Hope to see more of you on Chictopia, we are a fashion destination site connecting style seekers to trend setters. We are here to change the way you dress!
http://www.chictopia.com
Isn’t completely obvious that as soon as they put the criteria “women” as the common denominator, they have failed.
When are these people going to see the hypocrisy.
It’s almost as bad as the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir. What the hell does being gay have to do with singing songs? Just give them all a pine chip they can wear on their shoulders. Engrave it with the words “we’re poor sports”.
All a conference like this does is make you a member of something subjective and exclusionary, a bad combination for anyone determined to achieve acceptance. No one outside your group can attend without feeling self-conscious, because you have made an issue of a non-issue, and so everyone feels ridiculous to even show up with good intentions.
@24 Men weren’t excluded. Women2.0 is one of the least biased women’s groups that I’ve had the pleasure of working with. They’re all about results and encouraging women to take the leap into entrepreneurship instead of waiting on the sidelines.
@25
Exactly were did I say that men were excluded, goofball? I said it was subjective and exclusionary. The title of their conference frikking says that. Are you delusional too in addition to having a sloppy intellect?
I attended the event and had fun. I just wished that wifi was available like at other techie conferences.
I really congratulate Koollage people, but is there any possiblility they consider to add an option for health/wellness… on the main menu?
This could be a way out for this ‘issue’ to come throught with new IT technologies and people needs and requests.
You can earn more at http://www.turismo-salud.com, we need investors on IT to find sollutions for making this business easier. It is really a world wide trend.
Best regards, Margarida, also a women enterpreneur from Catalonia.
@9
Koollage is certainly more than a 1-page description - welcome you to check out our website - it is in very early beta but you can certainly glean what we are about. Our new and improved look and offering will be out very soon..
WebVet sounds like a good idea. http://www.PetWave.com launched a few weeks ago and is doing the same thing, but some additional features.