Women 2.0 recently talked with Halle Tecco, founder of health startup seed accelerator Rock Health, about picking partners and the post-business school task of selecting participating startups. The non-profit program selected from 350 applicant ideas for its first class and gives startups $20K grants, mentorship, curriculum, and operational support.
W2: You’ve just set up shop in San Francisco with 11 very active in-house startups. Why health?
HT: Working at Apple’s App Store and covering health and medical apps confirmed for me that the medical space could use some of the creativity found in other technology segments. I sat next to the woman covering games and realized how motivated the developers were by the chance to build products they love. I wanted to see those same talented developers working on ideas to improve health. more
On the eve of LearnVest’s announcement that the New York-based startup has just raised an additional round of financing, Women 2.0 wanted to share a conversation with founder Alexa von Tobel about setting large organizational goals and seeking funding to grow. This conversation was shot at TED Women after von Tobel had taken funding from Accel Partners, and she describes her idea for providing personal finance guidance that can be more personalized than one-size-fits-all books for people without the resources for financial advisors. Among her goals? Keeping people in their 20s and 30s from ever getting into debt and educating more than 10 million women over the next few years.
“You should all become entrepreneurs, but not because it’s easy.” When Women 2.0 heard Michelle Zatlyn’s advice based on her experience co-founding website protection service CloudFlare, we were excited to share her straightforward words. Other points Zatlyn emphasizes include the importance of creating a service that actually solves a problem and surrounding yourself with people who will support you even if your undertaking isn’t an immediate success.
The conversation was recorded and shared by FounderLY (Founder Like You), a new Women 2.0 partner that aims to capture and crowdsource videos of technologists as they launch organizations. Visitors to theIn Conversation channel and FounderLY will see more questions and answers with female founders in upcoming weeks, and please send your thoughts on other entrepreneurs you’d like to see included.
Thursday night promises a great near-water practice at the edge of Golden Gate Park led by SF instructor Mark Morford. The benefit Vinyasa class will raise proceeds for the Art of Yoga Project, a cause that’s especially front of mind for me for its important work serving at-risk teen girls in the local juvenile justice program. A $20 contribution will get you into the outdoor class, and happy hour drinks will follow at 7. It’s all in the name of a great time for you to help young gals.
In looking to highlight the best entrepreneurship stories from around the world, we’d be remiss not to include great anecdotes and tips from our slightly southern neighbors in Palo Alto. We’ll be sharing some of our favorite eCorner videos in our In Conversation video catalogue for aspiring entrepreneurs. Posting the advice of Tina Seelig, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, seemed like a natural place to start; her video chats and written work are intended to accelerate high-tech entrepreneurship education.
Here she shares how to teach creativity–or otherwise convincing smart people to “jump off of perfectly good cliffs” and “take on problems that no one knows the answer to.” (Sounds a bit like the motivation behind Founder Labs, doesn’t it?) And while you may have heard “problems as opportunities” discussed before, it probably didn’t include words of wisdom from a neuroscientist/businesswoman using technology to solve the world’s problems.
As though Utah’s Canyons resort couldn’t get lovelier, imagine it filled (again) with connectors, bloggers and tweeting ma’s. Enter EVO, a Park City conference I’m bummed to miss this summer (but you shouldn’t). The social and Internet fun will kick off with Ignite EVO and brief talks by the likes of Social Butterfly Guy and Think Maya. Mountain parties and education to follow–go @evoconf go.
As I plot a few weeks away from San Francisco (gasp), I wanted a Lonely Planet alternative and have found a good one in a book by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson, founder of TangoDiva. Fly Solo: The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone describes destinations that pass a test of being safe, having decent public transportation and a social center, being friendly, and hosting with a decent climate. It’s Barcelona cultural recommendations are spot on, and I especially liked the sections about Reykjavík (soak in geothermal waters, then have a shot of Black Death at the ice bar) and Cartagena (speedboats, snorkeling and Old City treks). I wish the tone reflected less of a fashionista/adventurer dichotomy–mentions of “leave the Jimmy Choos at home” and “leave the Birkin at home and schlep the backpack (a cute one)” are tiring. But I’m glad the companion exists.
Part motivator and part story showcase, the new ILearnedToProgram project has earned nearly 500,000 pageviews from developers, students and general Internet users in its first weeks of existence. By inviting people to share their experiences and finish the sentence “I learned to program…”, it’s capturing and sharing the work of featured programmers, a third of whom are women.
The decision to overrepresent females (who are still the vast minority of computer science students and professionals) was a deliberate one, says creator Benjamin Chun, a CS teacher in San Francisco. He wanted girls to feel that they have a place—and adult role models—in the field. The project ultimately highlights the diversity of the industry by providing a shareable space for people to reflect on their own introductions to coding.
Visitors see one-sentence tales about the initial allure of programming, which range from empowerment to self-education and escape. Chun’s response? “I learned to program by reading comments in an HTML file.”
The Dark Room will play host to a new set of PianoFight sketches every Monday through April 25th, and you’d best catch the original female-driven comedy show while it runs. I still talk ad nauseam about the troupe’s recent performance of Dora the Explorer taking to the Tenderloin and expect equally good things with their new work (which is to address what would happen if the popular 5-Hour Energy product were re-imagined in a 72-Hour form and the meaning of “dick bloat”).
Since ForePlays’ November 2009 debut, the PianoFight troupe has performed everywhere from SketchFetch to WomenROCK and the Actors Theatre. Like their other great work, “Spring EGGstravaganza” is produced, written and directed by Ruth Grossinger, Nicole Hammersla, Kate Jones, Jessica Mele and Emma Rose Shelton. You’ll thank them.
Now that I’ve drank approximately 86 Smartwaters at Wanderlust Miami (and learned that I should be adding a little salt and lemon to my agua for hydration in the sun), I wanted to share a few other ideas from naturopathic physician Dr. Paul Gannon. The resident nutrition expert at The Standard, he has a series of videos about clean cooking and offered these considerations for gals:
Soy can impede iron absorption. Watch how much you get, especially if you have anemia and are trying to build your iron stores back up.
Raw veggies rock.
White rice has a high glycemic index and can be part of the reason that some people don’t sleep well after eating sushi. more
Women 2.0 recently talked with Halle Tecco, founder of health startup seed accelerator Rock Health, about picking partners and the post-business school task of selecting participating startups. The non-profit program selected from 350 applicant ideas for its first class and gives startups $20K grants, mentorship, curriculum, and operational support.
