Other Heroes
Tech Insights is a new series where we speak to experts in the DWEN community about hot technology topics.
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Yifan Zhang tells us about the early days of her tech startup, which has been funded and supported by Techstars, Startup Chile and Resolute.VC.
One of the most common questions I get asked about my startup GymPact is, “How did you come up with that?” I take pride in hearing that because to me it means we’re doing something so innovative that people can’t imagine even thinking up the idea. After all, GymPact gives cash rewards to those who meet their exercise goals – paid by the non-exercisers!
Three years ago, I was a senior at Harvard College. I had just written a paper for my behavioral economics class on loss aversion, which says people hate losing money 2.5x more than they like gaining the same amount. I could not stop thinking about this idea, and I wondered if this stronger motivator of loss could impact hard-to-change behaviors like exercise. (yes, this is what I spent senior spring doing).
We meet the Co-Founder of Two Chicks, a company producing a range of liquid egg white products which has grown to a million pound business, despite the recession.
Anna Richey and her business partner Alla Ouvarova, 31, launched Two Chicks in 2007 with the aim of catering for increasingly health conscious UK consumers.
Hugely popular in Los Angeles, liquid egg whites did not exist in the UK in retail prior to the launch of Two Chicks. Together, Anna and Alla built and grew a whole new UK market in liquid egg and today the range of egg whites and egg white omelette mixes is sold in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Whole Foods and Selfridges.
The NextWomen Tech Theme.
Amy Sheng is Co-Founder of CellScope, a venture-backed mobile health startup creating a suite of optical attachments for smartphones to enable remote diagnoses.
Its first product is the CellScope Oto, a smartphone otoscope for capturing diagnostic quality ear images and videos to diagnose ear infections.
CellScope spun out of a bioengineering lab at UC Berkeley creating mobile microscopes for disease diagnosis in the developing world.
Amy previously led a team to develop an automated hematology analyzer with automated classification of white blood cells that was cleared by the FDA. She has an MS and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Berkeley-Haas. She can be followed on Twitter @amysheng.
Amy was named in Inc Magazine's 10 Women to Watch in Tech in 2013.
The winner of The NextWomen Pitch Event tells her story about leaving the legal sector to fulfil her ambition to start her own business with her brother.
In a past life I was a commercial lawyer, advising clients ranging from startups to multinational corporations on commercial, contract, advertising and IP issues. I enjoyed the work, loved my boss but in terms of my vision for the future, as the months ticked by I found that I never aspired to be a partner in that organisation.
And, if you don’t aspire to be the top dog in the place you work then my view is that you are probably in the wrong place.
Rebekah Monk, Founder at Bathrooms.com, talks to Lexi Mills about how she grew what started as a side project to a £5m turnover business.
Bathrooms.com is a consumer website that sells bathroom products; built on the ethos that good design should also be affordable.
The business began has a side project when Rebekah Monk had her first child, however it grew sharply to such a scale that her husband, Ian Monk, had to leave his full time position to help manage it. Since then, the business has grown to more than 50 employees in the UK and China and has a turnover in excess of £5 million that is expected to more than double over the next 18 months.
Lexi spoke with Rebekah about the tactics she used to scale the business; what she thinks were the key success drivers for her company; and how she dealt with the challenges of raising funding and international expansion.
Tech Insights is a new series where we speak to experts in the DWEN community about hot technology topics. Forthcoming articles will cover Social Media and Data Management & Security. Click here to read the first article about doing business in the Cloud.
This second article in the series shares the knowledge of Mobility experts and entrepreneurs Joana Picq and Susan Feldman.
The mobile tech revolution not only increases productivity by enabling the next generation workforce to securely work from anywhere, anytime and on any device, but it allows consumers to make purchases on-the-go. Joana and Susan have both been harnessing the full power of the mobile revolution to grow their businesses.
Carin Luna-Ostaseski fulfilled a personal dream when she launched her own brand of Scotch, , which she funded using Kickstarter. If you've ever wondered how to create a successful campaign on this popular funding platform, look no further than her comprehensive guide.
SIA Scotch Whisky was successfully funded in November exceeding my goal of $39,000 for production of my first run. Many friends and strangers asked me how I did it? Well, here you go….
First off, I should say, my situation is quite unique. There are very few projects on Kickstarter for spirits brands. The challenge here is most people are used to pre-ordering a product they are funding, and they receive the product as a reward for their contribution.
Dina Yuen, Founder, Asian-Fusion.com shares the five entrepreneurial lessons her father couldn't teach her, and which she learned the hard way.
I grew up in a family of three girl siblings, no brothers, and that’s exactly the way my Asian parents wanted it.
Defying millennia of beliefs and thought processes, my parents were and are a fascinating balance of modern progressives and traditionalists. They strongly believe in the nuclear family, providing a profound sense of love, commitment and closeness that in today’s generation may seem foreign or stifling. To me, my parents are the greatest blessing in my life. They gave openly of their love and constantly reinforced that we girls could and should achieve greatness and to never be intimidated by men.
Without my father’s encouragement to shadow his every step at his office during my pre-teen years, I may never have brought to fruition the innate entrepreneur in me.
The very idea that I could create something of value, that I could be my own boss, that I could build a huge company-these were instilled early on.
The NextWomen and Astia are hosting the Global Pitch Competition in collaboration with the 2013 We Own It Summit June 27-28 in London.
In this interview Heather Boggini of PSDNetwork asks Simone for an overview of the pitch competition including who should apply; what to expect; and how each applicant and finalist benefits from the competition.
Upcoming Events
27 Jun 2013 - 08:00 - 28 Jun 2013 - 17:00London, UK
Featured Female Hero
