Black Lives Matter

We are back after a long hiatus. Apologies to anyone who missed us!

If like many people, you are not sure what you can do, here are some meaningful things you can do to help fight inequalities and inequities.

- Read and educate yourself. Some of it will be uncomfortable and painful, but seek to know with an open mind.

- Check your own biases. Think about your interactions in the last six months. Are all your interactions contained within a homogeneous population? If so, do an honest introspection - do you have unconscious biases? How can you start breaking them down?

- If your first reaction to #blacklivesmatter is to respond with #alllivesmatter, pause for a minute, and think about why #blacklivesmatter makes you feel so threatened. Would you respond the same way, if someone said #kidslivesmatter or #veteranslivesmatter? If not, why does #blacklivesmatter make you so uncomfortable?

- If you are in a position to make hiring decisions, always ensure that your applicant pool has diversity. If you are always getting a homogenous group of candidates, check what is causing it.

- Talk to your children about race. Teach them about privilege. This is a great confrontational video to introduce the discussion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K5fbQ1-zps

- Donate to causes that help reduce inequalities.

- Lastly, to be silent is to be complicit. Speak your truth. Use your platforms to spread awareness. Some of these discussions are awkward, uncomfortable, and painful. Then so is getting killed for your skin color. So be brave for your fellow human beings.

News/Article Roundup - 11/17/2019

VC funding for startups with at least one female founder more than doubled in 2018

Bumble founder tells Tyler women how to build companies around solving problems

Fisher Investments founder’s crude comments about women led to an unusual request

Companies With a Female Founder Are Exiting More Quickly Than Male-Founded Startups

Founder of women's organization stepping down to run for Congress

100 Women in Finance's Carol Kim on Empowering Women to Achieve Their Professional Potential

How one female founder deals with imposter syndrome?

3D Leadership Group co-founder named Woman of Fire

How to do your New Year Planning.

It's that time of the year. In addition to egg nogs, rum cakes, and pumpkins spice lattes, the season of hopes also brings with it the inexplicable energy to start over. To turn a new leaf, and plan anew for your future.

Here is a round-up of some useful resources on the internet to help with the planning of the new you.

How to Plan Your Ideal Year

A Planning Hack To Help With Your New Year's Resolution

4 Things You Need to Do to Plan For The New Year Before January

New Year Planning: The Secret to an Epic Year

New Year, New You: Five-Step Plan For Keeping Your 2019 Resolutions On Track

News/Article Round up - 11/1/2019

She climbed Everest nine times and set a world record – so why doesn’t she have sponsors?

Why We Need to Rethink "Women in Tech"

The Trillion-Dollar Opportunity in Supporting Female Entrepreneurs

How to De-Stress Over the Holidays

In the know: Women in the news 10/28 - 11/1

What women want in the IT workplace: 6 key factors for hiring and retention

Women’s entrepreneurship program doubles in size

News/ Articles Roundup 10/28/2019

Dealing with FOMO? Women Founder Magazine to the rescue.

California and the AB5 mess

Serena Williams invests in crypto-currency tax start-up

Personal Branding Trends that you need to know about

Venture Funding for female founders falls

All about SAFE notes

Finding a co-founder - questions to ask

Richest Self made women in Tech

Old, but Gold - Tax Considerations for start-ups

Book Recommendations - Don't buy them! Check if your library has e-books on Libby.

No time to read books? Then check these podcasts out

https://www.businessinsider.com/women-owned-business-month-october-tips-strategies

Valuation for your start-up

A collection of useful articles

https://cp.ventures/blog/how-do-you-value-a-startup/ - the VC perspective

https://seedcamp.com/resources/how-does-an-early-stage-investor-value-a-startup/

https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-calculate-the-value-of-your-early-stage-startup--cms-65

https://medium.com/parisoma-blog/valuation-for-startups-9-methods-explained-53771c86590e

https://hackernoon.com/how-to-value-your-startup-when-raising-series-seed-equity-4ddaf1e5c716

Starting a business

Starting a business is a monumental decision. Once you have made the decision to start a business, here are some things you should do:

- Identify the purpose of the business. What does success mean to you?

- How much money are you willing to put in? If you are quitting a job, how long will your finances stretch if you do not make any money in 3, 6, 9, 12 months? Make sure you understand the financial impact.

- Find a name that matches the business's purpose and vision. Make sure you can find a website domain (google domains or GoDaddy)

- Create social media handles based on where your audience hangout - Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Blog, Twitter, Pinterest. Engage with your customers consistently.

- Order business cards

- Find complementary businesses and set up some referral bonuses

- Create a website. Go for something simple and cheap initially and understand what content works before you spend a ton of money.

- Do the work.