September 14th and 15th 2009 saw the San Fransisco Design Centre Concourse play host to the TechCrunch50 Conference 2009.  Curious to find the levels of female representation in the event, a Google search of 'Techcrunch50 2009 women' returned the same single article referenced on many sites.  The article, written for the Los Angeles Times was called TechCrunch50: Women get Short Shrift, and made it clear that whilst women (as ever at tech events) were not well represented in volume, the quality of them is worth recognising.

One such start-up is LearnVest.  Founded by CEO Alexa Von Tobel, the company is:

'..designed to fill the enormous gaping hole between static self-help books and expensive financial advisors.  LearnVest was made for anyone looking for unbiased objective personal finanncial help. However, our core target audience is women, an audience historically ignored and underserved in this topic.'

Whilst the company got a pretty luke warm reception from the panellists, there are numerous people on the TechCrunch site - both male and female - showing interest in the it.  In a global recession this seems a good site not only to watch but also to use.