Women in the Entrepreneurial World
Women in the Entrepreneurial World
Women have a history of being involved with startups as founders, investors, marketing professionals or product managers. In recent years, the number of startups founded by women has increased. However, most startups fail before reaching their first birthday. Only 10% of venture capital funding goes towards female-owned companies. According to entrepreneur Alexander Djerassi, The following are some examples of successful women entrepreneurs:
1. Marissa Mayer is the COO of Yahoo! The company was ranked as one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies in 2011. Mayer has been recognized for her innovative leadership style. She hired more than 100 new employees, all women, which helped increase diversity at Yahoo.
2. Christine Tsai is CEO of Bumblebee Robotics. Ms Tsai created the company after she experienced difficulty finding a job. Her company designs robots for home cleaning and lawn care.
3. Jessica Livingston is the co-founder of XPRIZE. Livingston started this nonprofit organization. This organization offers large monetary prizes for solving unsolved problems. Before joining XPRIZE, Livingston worked on improving NASA’s Mars Rover Navigation software.
4. Angela Chang is the founder of Gilt City. This online clothing retailer opened its doors in December 2009. Gilt City focuses on providing an excellent customer service experience. It offers free shipping, returns, and exchanges within 14 days of purchase.
5. Julie Duffy is the founder of ShopRunner. According to a Forbes article, Duffy is committed to making the world a better place through her work. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she founded several small businesses, including a website development firm.
6. Michelle Phan is the creator of Tester Queen. This YouTube beauty channel has over 2 million subscribers. Phan launched her channel because she wanted to share makeup tutorials with others with similar interests. As of August 2015, it became the number 1 beauty channel on YouTube only five months later.
7. Jennifer Berdnik is the founder of Zulu Social Club. She uses this social media site to connect students from different colleges worldwide. Users can join groups based on their hobbies and interests.
8. Amy Jo Kim is the president of Unicef USA. She is also the author of numerous books about children’s rights, including “Where Are My Kids?” and “No More Tears: A Book of Hope and Encouragement.”
9. Susan J. Fogel owns and operates Women Grow. This nonprofit helps promote entrepreneurship among minority women. Her primary goal is to help provide these young women with education, training, and employment opportunities.
10. Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and the author of Lean In. She was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2013 due to her dedication and contributions to the gender balance in business and politics.
11. Danielle Fong is the founder of Zulily.com. She left her position as a chief operating officer at Amazon.com to launch her e-commerce fashion startup.
12. Noreen Malone runs her own consulting business called Mind Over Manners. She specializes in helping people improve communication skills, emotional intelligence and confidence.
According to entrepreneur Alexander Djerassi, women have done amazing things when entering the entrepreneurial world. They may be working hard, but they are proving themselves every day. There is no doubt that they will make many more achievements.