All tagged Entrepreneurs
A veteran of Silicon Valley for 25 years, Rachel Chalmers is certainly at home in the world of tech—though her first home is continents away. As the Head of Corporate Services at AlchemistX, the Corporate Services division of Alchemist Accelerator, some of the world’s most innovative companies rely on her insights when charting their paths. Listen as she discusses how enterprises can stay curious, how to fight burnout, and what she means by saying she prefers gardening over strip-mining.
Shireen Mitchell is well aware of the issues facing minority women in the tech industry. Founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women, she fights to protect women from unrelenting sexism and harassment online. In part 2 of our time with Shireen, hear her insights on topics from ineffective social media abuse policies and diversity hiring practices to the marks of true allyship and the prevalence of disinformation.
Born and raised in 1980s Harlem, Shireen Mitchell is an award-winning woman of color in tech. Her story is filled with overcoming a number of challenges—the same ones she helps other women overcome. And she’s not done. In this first of two episodes, you’ll hear Shireen share candid insights on what women are still facing in tech today, revisit the early days of building BBS boards, and recall stories from her childhood that positioned her to be where she is today.
After leaving a career in tech to focus on being a mom, Hint Water’s Kara Goldin probably didn’t envision starting a new company just a few years later—especially in an industry she had no experience with. But as always, her curiosity and willingness to take risks won out. And it worked. In this episode, Kara recalls her early career adventures in NYC, what prompted her move to Silicon Valley in the 90s, and why being curious and trusting your gut can often be more valuable than straight experience.
When Heidi Williams entered the tech world in the 90s, she was mostly focused on developing the latest offerings from a major software company. If only things would’ve remained that simple. In this episode, Heidi recounts her experiences learning the industry’s business side in the most difficult circumstances, what it’s like to have a flagship product killed off practically overnight, and tips on navigating through substantial changes in a tech company.
While the ability to send data across the earth in seconds has completely changed our civilization, it’s also had some profound consequences that are nowhere near being settled. In this second of two episodes, Bob Alberti continues an enlightening conversation about the progression of the internet he himself had a key role in shaping and where it stands today. Listen as Bob discusses the difficulties of data security and combatting disinformation and closes by offering a helpful bit of career advice.
Ever wonder what the internet was like before it was, you know, the internet? It was actually more similar to today than you may think. Chat rooms, emails, multiplayer network games, search queries—those all existed in the 1970s. And Bob Alberti was right there in the middle of it all, helping to craft it into the version we all use now. In the first of two episodes, hear Bob talk about what computer tech was like during the earliest internet days, and how Minnesota was home to the original Silicon Valley.
Lack of diversity and representation has always been an issue in the world of tech—which led Michigan-based entrepreneur Jenifer Daniels to create Colorstock, a hub for original stock photos featuring people of color. Jenifer discusses launching her business and how its immediate success eventually created some unforeseen dilemmas. She also offers advice and encouragement to women and people of color entering any industry still struggling with inclusivity.
What if your plan for 2020 included launching a new (very cool) Audience Intelligence platform, just as the world unexpectedly changed under a pandemic? In this Season 4 opening episode, we welcome back Rand Fishkin, founder of Moz and co-founder of the new SparkToro, to discuss how SparkToro found innovative ways to not only launch a new product during 2020 but also help people and other businesses on a variety of levels in the process. Bonus: hear Rand’s top 3 ideas for what marketers should be doing right now during this crisis.
We honor Women's History Month in our newest clips episode. On the lookout for inspiration and strength during this uncertain time, this episode shares clips from 9 of our women and non-binary guests, sharing their experiences entering the workforce, times they’ve encountered bias, and their moments of uncertainty as well as resolve.
Listen in on this compilation of stories from the five brilliant black women in tech who have been guests on the podcast. We have welcomed scientists, developers, founders, researchers, and authors. In this, our first clips show, hear our favorite cuts from Jacqueline Harper, Sian Morson, Dr. Tiffani Bright, Paula Buchanan, and Dr. Roshawnna Novellus.
April Wensel has a powerful message for engineers about how to improve your own lives as well as the lives of your coworkers and the users you serve. April is the founder of Compassionate Coding, an organization that teaches emotional intelligence to software dev teams. If you’re already nodding, you’ll love this episode. If you don’t think it’s a problem, just listen to April’s perspective. She tells us two reasons why people resist becoming more compassionate—and one thing she sees that gives her hope.
Dr. Roshawnna Novellus is the founder and CEO of EnrichHER, a platform that allows investors to lend directly to any woman-led business across the country. EnrichHER is built off of Roshawnna’s desire to equip women with the financing, confidence, and community support they need as business-owners. Hear how Roshawnna fights the biases that surround women in a way that earns her this empowering song for her episode title.
John Levisay joins us as CEO of Bluprint, the “Maker’s subscription service,” an educational library for crafters and hobbyists of all kinds. His own career has been a creative journey in itself, from GE and eBay to founding and later selling Craftsy, to continuing on as CEO of its current iteration, Bluprint. He describes the flourishing startup scene in Denver and tells us how to create a culture of creativity and safety that brings out the brightest ideas from your team.
Elisa Camahort Page was in the trenches as blogging and social influence unfolded in the early ‘00s. As one of the co-founders of women’s media company BlogHer, one of the first places for women to spread their wings online, Elisa shares what makes for an ideal team of founders and advice for how to reach the next level in your career.
Our next guest is considered one of the leading customer analytics and digital measurement experts in the world. Gary Angel tells us about his first brush with data analytics in the days of direct mail marketing, to pulling the industry away from measuring website “hits,” to the intensity of being an entrepreneur. Gary Angel is currently the CEO and Founder of Digital Mortar, which provides collection and measurement of the customer journey in retail stores.
Rand Fishkin has dramatically opened up the field of SEO for the average marketer as the founder of Moz. Now he tells Melinda about co-founding SparkToro (in beta now) and his recent book shedding light on what it’s really like to be a founder. Plus, enjoy Rand’s candor as he describes what he believes makes for a healthy corporate environment (hint: see the title of this episode).
Joe Meyer has a long history in tech as an entrepreneur and big thinker. Joe shares with us his perspective on the New York tech scene, and why it just may be better to be in tech in NYC than in Silicon Valley (gasp!). Joe tells about the inspiration for starting ExecThread, the job sharing platform specifically for successful execs looking for those hard-to-find executive positions, and how it opened his eyes to matters of diversity and privilege.
Philip Rosedale, virtual world entrepreneur and all-around “Starman,” joins the podcast to discuss the biggest themes at the intersection of humanity and technology. He describes building the virtual world “Second Life” and what he believes the future holds for expansive virtual environments and 3D interactions.
From creating an award-winning agency, to recognizing a clear opportunity in sex tech (including naming it) and creating Make Love, Not Porn, Cindy has been at the cutting edge of culture for more than a few decades now, and she's here to share that experience with us.
