Melissa Miranda: The Secret Pregnant Founder

melissamiranda:

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Pregnant. That was my big secret when I was pitching (and winning :)) at Women 2.0 a year ago. Not only am I a female founder, I’ve also led my startup while becoming a mom at the same time.

I wish we didn’t have to have this debate so I could be working instead of writing my story. I…

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The call ended. There was silence, then frustration, then sadness.

We went back to other investment firms that we had also received term sheets from prior to committing to Benchmark, but after Benchmark pulled out, the news spread and we had the scarlet letter, or maybe the scarlet zero. We were hosed.

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"Silicon Valley is definitely a place of meritocracy, but if on top of it, if you don’t happen to look like the 10 other people in the room, that’s not always bad,” Ms. Gouw Ranzetta said."

"What I love about those types of women in Silicon Valley is their ability to come into a boardroom and lay down the law, and also go shopping on the weekend for new Louboutins. And they’re being authentic. It’s not like this typical stereotype that you can’t be in fashion or anything girly if you’re going to be an entrepreneur and be in the boys club. You can do both."
– Brit Morin, in our in-person conversation

"Like all gold-rushing douchebags of any era, he’s not starting a company because he believes in it. You can tell because there’s no great idea there, rather it’s a collection of buzzwords and phrases like “We’re the (fill in the blank) of (fill in the blank). With badges."

Silicon Valley’s Harsh Economic Reality

There’s a reason why I follow this one particular NonSociety/TMI girl.

meghanasha:

My father woke me up this morning in a frenzy urging me to read the Harold Tribune’s article about an economic slowdown in Silicon Valley. He (like many others) doesn’t understand my web business, but would like to protect his daughter from any financial turmoil on the horizon. “We’re going into a recession, Meghan” he tells me over VoIP from Singapore. I quickly calculate that it will take us 2 years to get out of it and he counters my argument with straight facts that there is a worldwide recession brewing and it may take much longer for us to get back on our feet. Judging from my personal stock performance, (I’m not going to lie) it’s pretty BAD, my stocks are getting killed in the market. I pride myself on investing like Peter Lynch, buying into companies that I’m familiar with and sticking with them long term. But, at this point, how long is too long to hold on to a company that may never see its original numbers? This question also translates to companies in the startup community, I’ve seen so many new startups pop up in the past few months, some with funding, others (like ours) bootstrapping in hopes that their concept will translate to the rest of the world. When it comes to companies, particularly startups when do you call it quits, what are the signals to keep going?

“The economy is tanking and people are arguing whether they should go to Demo or TechCrunch,” two technology conferences that coincided last month. “Few companies sound like they are breaking new ground. It’s like, here is ‘Twitter for dogs.’ And people still think they are going to get rich by being a blogger. It seems to me like the industry is still in denial.” Abrams said. This week’s events are not only affecting Wall Street firms (in my opinion, hedge funds will never be make money at the same rate as they have in the past three years). This particular quote in the Harold Tribune on Thursday keeps running through my head. Are we on the verge of a second tech bubble? Are we all living in a delusional state similar to the one I lived through in 1998? I don’t have the answer, I don’t think anyone really has the answer. In short, I’m scared, but often fear gives us the courage to muscle through adversity in times like these…Right???