I checked out an inspiring panel on Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Fearless Women Entrepreneurs Monday at SXSWi. There are only 13 women CEO’s in the USA’s 500 most publicly traded companies. Starting a business is taking a big step and the women in the room were eager to discuss how to overcome barriers and share tactics that have helped transform them from entrepreneurs to business leaders.  So, what are these barriers? The number one unanimous obstacle was fear.  Despite the panel name, these women were definitely not fearless.  Fear can shut down your ambitions and close you off to possibility or you can take another approach to it.  One woman indicated that her “aha” moment came when she accepted that she can and will be afraid but that it isn’t going to stop her.  As Emerson famously quotes “Do the thing we fear, and death of... Read more

My SXSW assignment this year to cover the women in business track started off with a bang at the “Sausage Fest” panel.  A big theme this year is the lack of women (or the lack of support women receive) in tech related careers.  There were two men in the entire room (brave souls) and probably 75 rather strong women including one in the front row who was knitting.  I didn’t know how this was going to turn out. Let’s start with the facts before discussing controversial gender issues.  Only 11% of startups have female founders and only 8% of all venture capital goes to women-owned companies.  The industry has a big ratio problem.  That is what Alexia Tsotsis, writer for TechCrunch and Rachel Sklar, Editor-at-Large of mediaite.com thought they wanted to talk about – five months ago. As we started the discussion, Alexia said it has dawned on her... Read more