Live conferences inspire me— I always leave full of knowledge and a bigger spark of energy originally had, moving forward—back to Women 2.0 in San Francisco 2013 to investigate options in the digital world, and how female entrepreneurs get “seed” money from “Angel Investors?”
This event featured one of my favorite inspirational women, Lynda Weinman of Lynda.com. Ms. Weinman, with self-taught computer skills, worked in the film industry as a special effects animator, and became a faculty member at Art Center College of Design, UCLA, American Film Institute, and San Francisco State University multimedia studies program teaching computer graphics, animation, interactive design, and motion graphics. She has also written some books.
Well, wasn’t this just right up my alley… searching for information for an educational, multi-media brand that I wanted to animate in a book series! So excited, I got to meet and chat with Lynda. She is as lovely, and as intelligent as they come. Truly, a businesswoman’s inspiration.
One very important fact that really resonated with me, was that she and her husband did not build their business on investor capital, yet with their own funds. When I met her last year, they had received their first in venture capital at $103 million! Amazing.
The main event was viewing actual ‘new business pitches’ from the top-10 finalists from an annual contest. This winner was chosen by a panel of experts. This had been the second event where I witnessed what a new business needed to be “considered” a new business, and how to present one as such to gain exposure and funding. It was a lot to take in, and gave me yet additional options on developing this new business.
The event also allowed me to meet and lunch with a round table of “Angel Investors” for a Q&A session. It was extremely informative. Bottom line: I left with a different perspective than I arrived with—try to build the business on monies that don’t, at one point, dilute the brand and take control over all the work and effort invested. Keep hold of the reigns, and control of the creative was my observance—and how I was going to do that, I was not sure.
I had direction.
Inspired; I left on cloud-9.
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Note: This Blog is a chronological diary of a start-up-company—The JNP Project’s Journey—reading it from the start, will broaden your understanding of the path we are on, together, and hopefully, positively influence you in some way!
FYI Tip: What do you want to learn today? http://www.lynda.com/
This site, and it’s educational offerings, are well worth the investment.
http://women2.com/ Worth attending on many levels.
Women 2.0 was founded in April 2006 with the vision to make a difference — with 30% of tech workers being women, 10% female founders, 10% female investors, 24% women sourced in news — something had to change. We became passionate about catalyzing this change. We saw how important it was to have more women in technology as leaders, founders, investors. As our passion project – we, the founders, hosted networking events in our own apartments, open to men and women (to complete strangers!). After 5 years of operating Women 2.0 as a “side project” and being pulled by the momentum of the growing community, we have grown Women 2.0 into the leading brand for the next generation of technology leaders. Everyday our work is inspired by the fact that we get to be the change we want to see in the world.
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