The post Girls Technology Leader Techgirlz Founder Tracey Welson Rossman Listenup Show 038 Startup Entrepreneur Podcast first appeared on mitchellchadrow.com
Techgirlz
Philly Startup Leaders
Chariot Solutions
Women in Tech Summit
0:00so your connector your relationship
0:03builder you put people in contact with
0:05one another that what you would say that
0:07that describes you at
0:08yeah and I guess in oldworld terms i
0:12might be called a yes or matchmaker
0:14oh yes i dunno Yenta I know those great
0:17dish words that’s terrific you’re
0:19listening to the listen up show start-up
0:21entrepreneur podcast on Mitchell shadow
0:23your host today on show 038 friend your
0:30business it’s your family if you’re like
0:32let’s get started what is Tracy going to
0:35talk about tech girls chariot solutions
0:38women in tech summit Philadelphia
0:41startup leaders I’m ready to listen up
0:43so let’s do that
0:44tracy wilson rossman teeth bazemore and
0:47bazemore dot-com he wrote an awesome
0:49article titled the power of sharing your
0:52story so when people ask you
0:54so what do you do what do you tell them
0:57oh that’s funny because my husband will
1:00always say I if i’m going to meetings
1:03like witch hat you have on today who are
1:05you representing uh so I guess you know
1:08my story is that I’ve had a lot of
1:13different interests throughout my career
1:16that have led me down different paths
1:20that have gotten me to where I am today
1:22and each of those experiences have made
1:26me I think a better leader and manager I
1:31and I also think just more creative and
1:34innovative you know my story is really
1:39about allowing people to connect I for
1:45their you know to help dance what their
1:49interests are and I you know I like to
1:53be able to connect people and also
1:57connect ideas to form better solutions
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2:48up now when you you know hostgator
2:50actually sponsors our startup around
2:53what has been the best business advice
2:56that you’ve ever received
2:59hey I’m i think personally you know for
3:04myself I and you discussed the other day
3:09to talk one of the best things
3:12someone told me is it your emotion out
3:17of your decisions on sometimes we allow
3:21our emotions to cloud the way that we’re
3:24thinking I and you know sometimes you
3:28really have to think about what is best
3:31I without you know having any well it is
3:38having given the game but just taking a
3:40you know your biases your emotions out
3:43of the decision and that’s really hard
3:46to do and if you’re making decision that
3:49way to at least acknowledge that there’s
3:51some emotion in there which is driving
3:53even the reaction so so it in terms of
3:57Bob you know thinking with your head as
4:00opposed to your heart is that with with
4:02that be a fair way of summing that up
4:05that’s part of it but also emotion can
4:08be on whether you’re angry at about
4:12something or you know you have an
4:18emotional attachment you may be a
4:20partner
4:22I you know friends with that person
4:26I’m you know sometimes it is just about
4:29business
4:30I so you know understanding your
4:33motivations for your decision-making i
4:35think is really important one of the
4:37reasons why I wanted a happy one is
4:39because of your involvement with text
4:41girls you know I have two young
4:42daughters myself who are entrepreneurs
4:45in their own right and I was really
4:47excited when I saw what your mission was
4:51all about
4:52so maybe you could tell everybody you
4:54know how you started tech girl ‘he’s and
4:57you know where you’re at today with the
4:59organization and some of your goals that
5:02you have in mind going forward and yeah
5:06thank you so much for allowing me to
5:08speak about that i’m in technical came
5:12out of you mind being in the industry
5:15the tech industry for i guess about six
5:21or seven years before that you know I
5:25was in industry that were you know
5:29leaning towards having more women versus
5:32men or were mixed and then you you come
5:35into this industry and it is very
5:38starkly different i’m leaning towards
5:41men and there’s there’s nothing wrong
5:45with that per se
5:46except for the fact that i believe that
5:48women are missing out on a tremendous
5:52opportunities and part of that I believe
5:56is based on not understanding the
5:59opportunities that are in front of you
6:01prob cause of the way that technology
6:05has been sold by the media the idea of
6:11you know girls not being seen as smart
6:14and that value for for you know if they
6:18have donations towards math and science
6:21I you know what’s happening within our
6:23school system there’s so many different
6:25optical better that are in the way of
6:30girls feeling like they belong in the
6:34industry and technology is so broad now
6:38I
6:39it was just seven years ago but
6:42certainly broader than I it was at that
6:46point I so that’s that that’s the
6:49challenge for tech girls so how have you
6:52been able to sort of a break-in at an
6:55earlier stage whether it be in middle
6:57school or high school before the girls
6:59actually get to college how have you
7:02been able to sort of make a difference
7:05earlier on and empower them from before
7:09reaching you know the college-age work
7:13well I mean we believe that there’s
7:15three different audiences so one of the
7:18things that i like to say that we run
7:19our non-profit like a business and
7:23understanding of who our clients are who
7:27was selling to what their motivations
7:29are I think it’s really important I so
7:33first you know you need the product out
7:36and if one of your in client doesn’t
7:38like it gets but they’re not gonna buy
7:40it
7:41so the first client of course is our
7:44girls and we focus on middle school and
7:47there’s a reason for that
7:49studies have shown that at ninth grade
7:52about my grade girls are self-selecting
7:54out of technology so understanding the
7:58reasons which i gave a little bit before
8:00and you know creating a program that
8:04sort of answer some of those needs
8:07the other thing was also taking a look
8:09within the ecosystem to see what was
8:11missing you know even after we’ve been
8:13in business for six years at this point
8:16we’re still not seeing and we would
8:20welcome to see more competition or
8:23friendly competition to what we have so
8:27you know we’re still creating a product
8:29that is needed and that product we
8:31decided I was the short interactive
8:35workshops that showed all many many
8:39different forms of technology so i like
8:42to call the smaller sport of technology
8:45choices you know technology is not just
8:47about software development there’s
8:50hardware there’s
8:52design there’s no technology as it
8:55relates to different industry so you
8:57know we’re trying to do lots of
9:00different choices
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9:33i was so impressed with this company
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9:37Christopher gamer on our show 28 packet
9:40Mitchell Chad row.com /o 028 but to
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9:50snap yeah you know our you how are you
9:53how many different schools are you in
9:55right now how many people how many girls
9:58are coming into the program at the
10:00middle school level and then how many
10:04are continuing on into the high school
10:06stage
10:08oh we don’t typically work with any
10:11school in fact schools have have sort of
10:14been the hardest you know you think that
10:16that’s where you should be selling to
10:18so to speak but I’m schools have their
10:21own challenges they don’t have time
10:22during the day of school can’t do a
10:26separate program just for girls so and
10:30the other piece of this is at school the
10:33teachers don’t have the skill sets to
10:35teach the type of technology that we’re
10:37putting out there so the other group
10:40that were marketing to our our volunteer
10:43instructors so we’ve been working
10:46outside of school though you know we we
10:49are figuring out ways of working with
10:51them as we’ve been figuring out some of
10:53their issues over the left several years
10:56but we’re actually putting out our
10:59materials so that anybody can use them
11:01and we’re encouraging our volunteer and
11:05stuff
11:05there’s who were those that are in the
11:07ID field and now we’re also seeing high
11:11school and college students use our
11:13material to go back and teach middle
11:15school girls so what are some of the
11:17biggest ways for you to to get your
11:20materials out there you mentioned the IT
11:22professionals but specifically you know
11:25what are your distribution channels how
11:27are you getting the word out how are you
11:30actually disseminating the materials
11:33that you’ve actually created what I’m so
11:36we’re basing this on how open source has
11:40really open source software has have
11:43gotten out into the world so we’re
11:47giving away our materials for free
11:51I anybody can use them you have a little
11:54chat row with with two daughters one in
11:57high school and one in middle school
11:59how do i find out more about not only
12:02the materials but actually how to get
12:04them and then as far as instructors are
12:06volunteers that you’re working with
12:08where we’re in the community that i’m
12:11actually at right now how do i how do I
12:13reach out and get involved with them for
12:17tech girls so I’m you know they are our
12:23biggest strength is in the Philadelphia
12:25region but we are national because
12:28anybody can use the materials so the
12:30first thing you would do is go to girls
12:32with a Z dot or and then you would look
12:36under run your own texture and then you
12:42would just do a short sign in form and
12:44then you would have access to all of our
12:4640 workshop that we called tech shops we
12:51also give you a playbook which let you
12:56know how you can operate one so you may
12:59not have the skill set to teach a class
13:01but you have skill sets to organize the
13:04class I’m you may have access you know
13:08your your daughter so you have access to
13:12find girls who might be interested
13:15I we can offer from a technical
13:18standpoint if
13:19you don’t have somebody who can teach
13:21you know we can help find a volunteer
13:24I’m we do have launcher database it
13:27doesn’t cover for every part of the
13:28country button fell off your region we
13:32do have a good amount of people who want
13:36to help your daughter in the
13:37Philadelphia area because that that’s
13:39where that’s where it just so happens
13:41that i’m located in the tri-state area
13:43and how many volunteers do you actually
13:46have in the in the database and and how
13:48many at any given time how many middle
13:50school or high school children how do
13:53you keep track of that since they’re
13:55coming to the website how do you keep
13:57track of the number of students whose
14:01whose teaching the class how many
14:02students to a class how are you how are
14:05you keeping track of all those numbers
14:07so you know me are keeping track the
14:13best that we can part of our challenges
14:15is that sometimes people run classes and
14:18they don’t report back to us so you know
14:21working through these are these are
14:23business challenges so we know that
14:26we’re not capturing all of our data I we
14:29are working towards a better system to
14:32do that we also don’t named of an
14:39inflammation of children who are under
14:42the age of 13 because of laws we do keep
14:46the information about the parents so the
14:51parents are actually signing up and
14:53that’s the third that’s the third part
14:54of Honor the people that were selling to
14:57because in the end it’s the parents who
15:01are the ones that help make the
15:02decisions about are they going to be
15:05able to get the girls to an event I you
15:08know they’re the ones that we’re keeping
15:10in touch with I so you know we’ve worked
15:14with over the last six years
15:17we’re getting up to probably about 7,500
15:21girls I which is pretty amazing you know
15:24that is and it is that regionally is
15:27that mostly here in the Philadelphia
15:29tri-state area
15:30or is that you know throughout the u.s.
15:34it’s not the US but I I would you know
15:39if I had to guesstimate right now we
15:41would say probably about seventy percent
15:42earning area but as we’re going out more
15:46more you know that that’s going to
15:48dissipate I but we you know we do a lot
15:53of our experimentation to speak within
15:56our region
15:57I you know in terms of volunteers
16:01I you know we we’ve been getting so many
16:05volunteers to come in
16:07it’s pretty amazing I and we’re really
16:10really fortunate and it just shows that
16:12the developer and IT community is really
16:17committed to getting diversity into the
16:21system and reaching out at a lower level
16:24so you know that’s one of the other
16:27pieces of why were able to do our work
16:29because we have such a committed
16:32community I and there’s also this
16:35understanding that you know they need to
16:37get back so that it’s really really
16:40lovely thing but we also have to make
16:44sure that we’re creating an atmosphere
16:46and creating materials that make it easy
16:50for our volunteers to engage I so that’s
16:54something else that we’ve that I think
16:56we’ve put a lot of time and effort into
16:58thinking about is you know how do we
17:01work with these people who are giving
17:03their time and effort I so we’re
17:06constantly refining our program from
17:08that standpoint
17:09ya know i’m actually on your site right
17:12now and you have a nice little button
17:14there you know for for donations so you
17:17know given the fact that that and also
17:18you have your your 2016 annual report
17:21which I’m kind of going through right
17:24now as I’m speaking with you and I i
17:26like the logo and I like the way it’s
17:28kind of laid out on your site so what
17:30kind of donations are you getting and
17:32how are you you know obviously you
17:34indicated you know that you’re running
17:36this like a business so tell us a little
17:38bit about whether it be revenues that
17:41are coming in
17:42whether you know donations that are
17:44coming through and how you’re sort of
17:47sustaining things going forward
17:49especially with 7500 you know enrollees
17:54and and how the program works i mean is
17:57this 1a an annual basis is this a
17:59rolling basis where you have students
18:01coming in middle school and then they
18:03continued on through high school
18:05how does how does that work so you were
18:09ok I think like any good business
18:12there’s a focus and we are focused on
18:14our mission is to help middle school
18:16girl I it takes a lot of time effort to
18:21work on this specific area of course
18:25every year you’ve got new girls who are
18:27becoming you know eleven-year-old girl
18:30through our are aging outside speak so
18:35you know we’ve grappled with what do we
18:37do with the 15-year old and above and
18:40honestly what we’re seeing is they’re
18:42coming back and they want to impeach and
18:44they want to get back mom which is
18:46pretty polishes one way for us to keep
18:48in touch and also for them to to
18:50practice in terms of raising money which
18:54is I’m always not fun if that about your
19:00if that’s not your thing and so who is
19:02the team behind you because you know you
19:04you can’t you can’t be all things to all
19:07people and so you know you you have your
19:09own strengths and and sort of you rely
19:11on when other people within the
19:13organization to help you you know with
19:16with other you know with other aspects
19:18of the business so how are you how are
19:21you maintaining doing all of this
19:23what so you know we have pasted that I
19:27you know this is this is a you know a
19:30passion project for me so I you know I i
19:34do this side I along with my regular job
19:38but I’m so 14-7 amazing team I we have a
19:44four-and-a-half four-and-a-half
19:47employees at this point and wherever you
19:49go you’re muddy out
19:52I you know that takes dollars as well
19:55so I’m we are working with Grant I’m and
20:00sponsorships and donations and a little
20:03bit of fundraising as well as we one of
20:07women in tech summit I which is a whole
20:10separate operation yet i was i was
20:13definitely gonna ask you about that i’m
20:15just curious though from that from a
20:17tech girl’s perspective who helps you
20:19actually write the grant is that one of
20:22the employees one of the four-and-a-half
20:23employees that you actually have here
20:25because thatthat’s a that that’s a
20:28specialized area into itself that is the
20:31best side area were lucky not to have a
20:33consultant who are we you know we work
20:37with on that she’s been able to help us
20:40a lot
20:41now I know you left hip with some
20:45advisers you have to get started with
20:46some as well as we now have somebody who
20:49is working with us on a permanent basis
20:52no that’s great now you mentioned are
20:55you know this is your your passion on
20:57the side as a non-profit so you know why
21:00I mentioned you know chariot solutions
21:02earlier on as I was introducing you
21:05and that’s obviously what you’re doing
21:08you know for your own your own work to
21:13pay the bill so to speak
21:15can you can you tell us a little bit
21:16about about that in your role with that
21:19organization so i am chief marketing
21:23officer handle marketing and sales team
21:27I and you know we do carry is a software
21:34development firm I we have approximately
21:3950 full-time a high level engineers on
21:43staff we’ve been in business for we’re
21:45going on our 15th year were known for
21:49you know bringing the best suffer
21:54development expertise within a java open
21:58source tools and technologies were
22:02developing mobile applications we’ve
22:04been working in the
22:05in this thing faced him but connecting
22:09hardware and software together I but we
22:13really have our group of highly talented
22:16individuals who are not just
22:19implementers their leaders within
22:23companies and really what we do at the
22:25end of the day is we’re helping
22:27businesses take their ideas and you know
22:32make them into a reality you know
22:35earlier a few weeks back we had on a
22:39fell out of who actually lives in Hong
22:42Kong and does a lot of work in China
22:44with the Internet of Things day
22:46mclaughlin and he had said look you know
22:49if you’re not actually out here home in
22:52Asia you know you’re you’re really
22:54you’re really leaving quite a bit on the
22:57table so with the Internet of Things and
23:00the hardware and the engineers that you
23:02work with are you strictly working here
23:05in the tri-state area or how are you
23:08working across the US are you working
23:10outside the US in that regard
23:13I’m we were helping companies within
23:16this region and often nationally uh you
23:20know work are you able to talk about
23:22some of the some of the companies that
23:24you did able to help on you know we’ve
23:28been here working with a large provider
23:33of cable services and about the region
23:35we also work with a large company at in
23:41the Philadelphia region that there’s a
23:43lot of 401 K work so we work in the
23:46enterprise space a lot but we also work
23:48with startups fact one that this new
23:53company uh they have a product which is
23:57an electronic bumper sticker
23:59I so you are using a the hardware that
24:04goes on the back of your car
24:06I you can go on a website which was
24:10developed by a partner of ours so that
24:13you can pick that the stickers that you
24:16want to see on your on the bumper
24:19sticker
24:19and we created the connection between
24:22the hardware and the mobile app and also
24:25back to the website
24:27yeah no no very very cool indeed so let
24:31me ask you know it sounds as if you know
24:33between tech girls and and chariot
24:36solutions you you’ve had some success is
24:40obviously and there’s been some
24:41challenges what what have been some of
24:44your challenges in in both and both
24:47organizations to date any you know that
24:51isn’t I in between a girl and cherry is
24:56really the need for a educated
25:01technology workforce so one of the
25:03challenges that we’re facing and have
25:05safe for a while a chariot is finding
25:09though the right resources and you know
25:13part of temporal is the idea that one of
25:18course we want more you know diversity
25:20within the technology field but the
25:23second part of this is that there’s a
25:24severe shortage it’s happening in the
25:27tech industry and we need to have I need
25:32a diverse workforce nice for the social
25:34good act but for the economic aspect so
25:39you know those two things get to marry a
25:41bit i and and that’s you know how it’s
25:46been in i can add cherry has allowed me
25:52to spend the time I away from you know
25:56my regular work to work on girls because
25:59you know it is it along the long-term
26:02solution to our short-term needs at the
26:05moment but there’s an understanding that
26:07you know this is important for us to be
26:10working on and talking about but but
26:13having a challenge of yours also been
26:16getting into these middle schools I mean
26:18I’m just thinking of the middle school
26:21that my youngest goes to
26:22and i know that you know she needed to
26:25pick some electives that that she was
26:27going to obviously do and i understand
26:29that you know you had mentioned that
26:31there is a challenge of getting into the
26:33schools you know so maybe talk to us a
26:36little bit there because that’s another
26:38distribution channel that could help you
26:42get the word out
26:44well you know I think that will have
26:46their own issues one uh they have the
26:49only have a certain amount of hours per
26:51day I that a very big issue right you
26:55you already have to teach math and
26:57science and foreign languages in history
27:00I and figure out how you’re going to get
27:02all of that in I along with you know the
27:07testing that needs to get done
27:08I you so and the other pieces and we
27:13have to be very up front about this is
27:16the fact that it especially if you’re
27:17dealing in a public school I it’s hard
27:20to have a separate class for just girls
27:23that was then meet me after school class
27:26and there is a reason right now where we
27:29believe that girl’s do need to learn
27:30separately from boys with this
27:33particular subject
27:34we’ve seen that you know girls just need
27:37a separate space for for the flooring I
27:40and you know that’s why I think that
27:43we’ve been successful with our program
27:45we see girls come you know come back
27:48again and again to programs that are
27:52available
27:53you know we’re beginning to understand
27:56how we can work with some after-school
27:58programs i but again some of the
28:01challenges are you don’t have trained
28:03staff these help it it’s not like you
28:07can just pick up some of our materials
28:09without having technology background and
28:11just be able to teach it
28:13it’s not know what yet so you know
28:15justjust in talking about some of the
28:18challenges you know what what comes to
28:20my mind is what has actually contributed
28:23most to your personal success we can
28:26certainly talk about the organization’s
28:28but again you’re you’re the you’re the
28:31passion your the driving force behind
28:32tech girls
28:34and of course as the marketing officer
28:36for chariot solution so what-what to
28:39date has contributed would you say most
28:41to your success
28:43yes yes
28:48you know I think I’m and we talked a lot
28:50about this through about chariot as well
28:52i think that there’s an authenticity
28:55I and no all I you don’t believe that
29:01that actually committed to this work i’m
29:08not really committed to being a builder
29:11and that this is important aspect for me
29:15and that also that I’ve been fought fall
29:17in terms of how we’re going about this I
29:20i think that that’s been important
29:24factor and they feel they can trust me I
29:26mean something again that we talked
29:28about a chariot uh with with our CEO
29:31that you know how he comes across on I
29:35think success starts at the top
29:39ah in terms of the type of organization
29:42that you want to weed I that
29:45organization follows through with your
29:49example the fastpitch where we’ll be
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30:04questions to help us learn more about
30:06our guests their favorite book their
30:08quote heroes their favorite act the
30:10resources that they recommend for under
30:13a hundred dollars what contributes most
30:15to their success and some bad advice
30:17that’s actually being given to
30:19entrepreneurs the reason why i chose all
30:22the ball to sponsor my fastpitch around
30:24that’s easy i love books and audible is
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30:28amazon that stands behind all their
30:30product audible was willing to offer an
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30:35podcast listeners with one free
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30:52more i recommend the last lecture by
30:54randy posh so dream big
30:56get inspired and listen up going over to
30:59Mitchell chatroulette.com / all these
31:01are quick questions with quick answers
31:04and it lets our audience know a little
31:06bit more about you personally your
31:08favorite book because I love to read
31:10I’m what I really don’t have you heard
31:13me back my favorite book is gone with
31:14the wind
31:15okay terrific have a favorite quote I
31:21don’t have anything that i can think of
31:23at the moment you have your own personal
31:25mantra that you use something that you
31:27would kind of put right up there on a
31:29billboard
31:30I mean you know again you know being
31:32involved with middle school girls in the
31:34tech space you know something that
31:37motivates them something that inspires
31:39them something that lets them know that
31:42you and I mean I’m i guess you know
31:47something that I think about a lot is
31:49I’m not letting fear be the guide of
31:54your life and have an app that that
31:58really has impacted you the most
32:00whether it be in business family or life
32:02I’m big fan
32:06Evernote yeah okay how about an item
32:09under a hundred dollars that’s been the
32:12most impactful for you
32:14well under a hundred class uh-huh yeah
32:20i’ll tell you why because you know what
32:22you had mentioned about resources before
32:24and with a lot of our startups we want
32:27them to appreciate the fact that
32:28sometimes especially in the startup
32:30stage that they don’t need to spend a
32:32lot in order to get a lot and and you
32:35know there are those that are obviously
32:36bootstrapping and trying to be
32:39resourceful and thought fall you know as
32:42their as they’re sort of you know
32:44scaling up and taking their company to
32:46the next level but they don’t wanna they
32:49don’t want to be but become bankrupt
32:51before their idea takes takes hold
32:53so this would be yeah okay I’m so I
32:57think that
32:58you know any workflow tool I or tool
33:05that connects your company so you know
33:08pretty much a pickle is is virtual we
33:13get we are able to get together one day
33:14a week thanks to face the chariot but
33:17for the most part where I we don’t see
33:21each other so I you know we’re big fans
33:24of Google Drive I ok
33:27fuck no no need to know when I turn it
33:31to push that we also are big fans of
33:35fauna from the work plus standpoint sure
33:40about how about as far as you know we
33:43talked about good advice out there but
33:45there’s a lot of bad advice that’s being
33:47given what is some bad advice you’ve
33:50heard that you know you just want to
33:52point out because you don’t want people
33:54to kind of fall prey to it you know if I
33:56don’t think there’s one particular piece
33:58of advice that I think is bad i think
34:01that you know you start up or anyone in
34:04the business you get a lot of advice so
34:07you have to be able to understand what
34:10works for you and what doesn’t work for
34:12you because what may be bad for me is
34:16actually good for somebody out
34:18I so I think you had it you had a
34:21business right before going into chariot
34:23solutions that you sold you kind of had
34:25that success or to the business you sold
34:27it
34:28you know while you were going through
34:29your own one of the reasons why people
34:32listen to what listen up to what you
34:34have to say is that bad advice maybe
34:37from your own perspective it now again
34:39of course everybody’s going to be able
34:41to go down their own path but this would
34:43be certain advice that you’ve heard out
34:45there that really didn’t resonate with
34:48you if the first I want to clarify that
34:50when my husband and I purchased our
34:52business for which got us into aspen
34:54orgasm or being entrepreneurs that was
34:57not totally successful so I and that’s
35:00because I didn’t have anyone who is
35:02giving me advice I so I
35:05that’s that’s a whole other story so uh
35:08quite frankly that was that was going to
35:11be something that I was gonna raise
35:13later in our interview in terms of my
35:15mentioning to you some of the challenges
35:17that you’ve had that certainly probably
35:20would have been some of the challenges
35:21that you face because as we talked to
35:24the startup community out there they’re
35:26going through their own challenges and
35:28they’re learning looking for their own
35:29resources so by talking to us a little
35:32bit about what you went through
35:35that’s certainly going to help them can
35:38you can you tell us a little bit about
35:39that well I mean just literally on
35:44friday i just gave a talk
35:47that’s called creating success from
35:49failure we don’t talk a lot about
35:53failures i mean you call a mistake a
35:56failure if it’s just really about the
35:59size of the failure and you know now
36:04we’re in a culture because of a start-up
36:09and other methodologies we’re failing
36:13fast is acceptable which is great
36:17because i think that you have to it
36:20there’s always something that you’re
36:21going to fail at right but it’s also
36:23totally understanding how to mitigate
36:26that fail and also making sure that you
36:29understand why there was a failure I and
36:34you know really just you know keeping it
36:37as small as you can I so you know I
36:41think that being able to do small
36:44testing on ideas so that you’re not
36:48committing tons of resources especially
36:51when your startup one of the things that
36:53we that I think we see a lot of is
36:56companies that are a they don’t have a
37:00focus so they’re all over the place they
37:04may be trying to please everybody you
37:07know somebody says they want to buy
37:08something but you have to make all these
37:10customizations doesn’t really fit within
37:13you know what you’re trying to do
37:16how many resources
37:18baking I you know it’s hard to say no
37:22when somebody’s offering money and you
37:24need that money I’m gonna be happy for
37:27you
37:28so what type of business was this
37:30because you know in in looking at some
37:32of my notes
37:33youyou obviously sold the company
37:35eventually and and 44 several millions
37:38of dollars according to what I what I
37:40read and so some people would say gee
37:44that was pretty successful now it might
37:47not have happened overnight but you know
37:50the third clearly did not sell it for
37:53several million dollars we were making I
37:56mean we got to a point where we were
37:58generating revenue I about
38:01two-and-a-half million dollars which at
38:02that point was you know pretty decent
38:05but we did not follow it for several
38:08million dollars i wish i got you so that
38:12was that was actually the revenue so
38:14when you when you when you turned around
38:16and fold it you you did sell it for a
38:18profit though however correct not you
38:21did not getting yes
38:23so trust me it was a learning experience
38:26and you know we were able to mitigate
38:31our losses but not everything is success
38:34I so you know and here’s another
38:38discussion to be had which is the
38:40difference between revenue and profit
38:43more you know we allow things we focus
38:48especially when you take a look at some
38:50of these awards that are giving out
38:52there giving out on you know revenue and
38:56not always looking at what profit that
38:59you’re generating so I think important
39:02distinction to take so so some advice
39:07that’s maybe being given is you know do
39:09these people that are always constantly
39:11asking you about so what are your
39:13revenue numbers but the real question is
39:15what are your profits were at the end of
39:17the day what are what are you taking
39:18home and and i think you know what
39:21you’re saying is that that maybe is is
39:23is a better focal point than just mere
39:26revenue number
39:27correct well I think there’s something
39:28that is taking a look at as well as your
39:32cash / I mean not understanding
39:34I you know your cash flow as well as how
39:37much cash you’re burning i say when your
39:40startup is really really important you
39:42know to other organizations that you’ve
39:44been involved with I definitely want to
39:46get in here and that is women in tech
39:49summit and the philly startup leaders if
39:51you could just tell us a little bit
39:53about the mission there how you got
39:55involved in and and what you’re what
39:58you’re currently doing with those groups
40:00look silly certain leaders I’m you know
40:03I go to events now but I’ve been some
40:06ended a while ago but by original role
40:08i’m a founding board member so I uh I
40:11like to remind people I was not the
40:14founders but there were there were four
40:16founders and they were amazing
40:18I’m to really have the foresight say you
40:21know there was placed in the market that
40:23wasn’t being held for entrepreneurs in
40:26Philadelphia and you know this is 78
40:30years ago at this point I’m you know a
40:33lot of people don’t understand that the
40:35silly text scene was not what it was i
40:39mean and i’m i’m proud to say that I you
40:42know silly startup leaders is really I i
40:45believe the galvanizing force on in
40:47terms of bringing startups the other uh
40:51bringing education to the start up in
40:55Philadelphia I and I guess you know I
40:59forget I think it’s been like three
41:01years since I’ve been to do who would be
41:04the the for the four founders that you
41:06mentioned that that had actually started
41:08the strands will nod like you know I
41:14chrisarah Brandenburg and air mclean and
41:18dad bellandur so actually five so i
41:20can’t count five of them
41:23ok and as far as women women in tech
41:26summit the women text on it which is now
41:28as I said earlier of a fundraiser for i
41:33like to call her black-tie event without
41:35getting dressed up i protect ya start
41:40it’s just separate um your chariot we
41:43created a very technical then called the
41:46emerging technologies for the enterprise
41:48conference which is in here I I wasn’t
41:52seeing an event personal we don’t we’re
41:55seeing more women i think this year
41:57maybe the most that we’ve seen I attend
42:01but I you know five years ago when her
42:04fifth your food
42:05the women in tech summit i’m worth
42:07seeing a lot of women at ten and I
42:10really felt that there needed to be a
42:12space for women who you know wanted to
42:17learn together and it wasn’t just about
42:19software developers it’s also about
42:21women who like myself who work for
42:24technical companies who are marketing
42:27and sales during HR and bringing that
42:30women in tech community together to talk
42:35to learn from each other but also to
42:38learn about the trends that were
42:40happening in the industry to do hands-on
42:43workshop I and you some career
42:46development but not and then in the
42:50usual way that we were seeing at some of
42:51the other events i like to push the
42:54envelope a little bit in terms of
42:56learning
42:56I because we know that you know women
42:59are hungry for this information so we
43:03started like I said were it’ll be our
43:06fifth year in this year in Philadelphia
43:09I and last year we wanted to take our
43:14show literally on the road and we went
43:17to Washington DC and raleigh north
43:20carolina on this year we’re going to be
43:23a five-city so DC which will be at the
43:27end of March philly which is in the
43:30middle of april actually later April uh
43:32Boston which will be July I denver which
43:39will be in october and raleigh in
43:41November so what kind of numbers are we
43:43talking about i mean in terms of
43:46you know the the people that you’re
43:49getting to the meetings I mean has it
43:51obviously increased over these these
43:53last years as there has been has the
43:56interest kind of state flat
43:58I mean how are you how are you
44:00generating all of this interest what he
44:04says is there because you know more and
44:08more women want to you know keep up with
44:10their skills and also what’s going on in
44:12the industry in Philadelphia we’re
44:15actually increasing to a day-and-a-half
44:16the sheer I traditionally we’ve had a
44:20weightless
44:22so we’re you know we’re looking at about
44:24300 women pc and Raleigh were I over 200
44:32sometimes just based on the space that
44:34you know we’re able to secure so you
44:38know each city’s running about you know
44:41200 anything that’s great for you know
44:44new cities that were opening and are you
44:47primarily the one that helped putting on
44:50these particular events I mean obviously
44:51you know you’re you’re working with with
44:53people that you know that are obviously
44:55you know putting on the different events
44:57in the different cities as you continue
44:59to expand
45:00well actually one thing that I think
45:03you’ll find out about me if I like to
45:04run a lean mean up operation so my
45:08co-founder Lori Bell is now the
45:11operations director we have a an intern
45:15on staff and then we also in each city
45:19we work with a committee I that helped
45:25us some speakers are made from space and
45:28helps connect to the community but
45:30pretty much were running it on our own
45:32until that was one of the other
45:35questions that i was going to have in
45:36terms of speakers in terms of finding
45:38the talent to come and speak to the
45:40event you work with a committee in each
45:42particular location correct correct but
45:45was also on because we’ve been around
45:46for the last several years we’ve been
45:50doing call for speakers I between that I
45:54this year we close our call for speakers
45:57the beginning of january we have
46:00had over 250 women apply across the five
46:03different cities
46:04plus people who have been recommended
46:06you I so you know it’s pretty incredible
46:09there’s a lot of demand for obviously
46:12wanting to come in and and sort of be
46:13apart and so now that you’re going to
46:15other cities continues to grow obviously
46:18really exciting one of my other sponsors
46:21is snapping I don’t know have you have
46:23you ever heard of the company snap well
46:25Christopher gamer is the founder of snap
46:28and so he he’s basically a graphic
46:30designer and so for a lot of the
46:32startups who don’t either have the
46:34resources to hire their own graphic
46:36designer or a plea wanna we learn how to
46:38do it on their own and they want to do
46:40it fast and they want to have nice
46:42graphic and when they’re posting for
46:44their blogs for their website the
46:45pre-made templates for you and so people
46:48that go over to snap can actually start
46:50their plan today but when they when they
46:52go to Mitchell Chad row.com / snappa
46:55actually interview that Christopher
46:57gamer he’s the founder of snap on my
47:00show 2802 a III really hit it off well
47:03with him and good at what he does you
47:05know i i’ve been using it ever since
47:06and a lot of the audience have had begun
47:08to start to use it as well this question
47:10actually goes to the three main
47:12takeaways that you can leave our
47:14audience Wow impressive until it’s not
47:17there
47:17I know you know what was going to ask
47:19you some hard questions that some of
47:21them were going to be easy but you know
47:22some of them are going to be hard waited
47:24I waited to I waited to the end the end
47:26where I’m brain dead
47:27ok exactly exactly yeah that was that
47:30was my that was my strategy
47:32ok I so we take away i won i think it’s
47:37important to not be afraid to go out
47:41there and try but if it’s how you are
47:45you putting yourself out there so
47:47creating a task understand when I say
47:50try let’s just put it in terms of the
47:52terms of a business I girls got started
47:57because i felt a need to you know try
48:01and see if there was a market for that i
48:05went in there with the willingness to
48:06say okay maybe no one’s going to be
48:08interested and that’s okay little bit
48:11different when I’m when you don’t have a
48:12lot of money
48:13you’ve got on the ground I with it i do
48:16so in other words be willing to put
48:18yourself out there willing to put that
48:20thank you for making that shorter yeah
48:22he will about yourself out how about
48:24number two day
48:26um i would say I knowing when to walk
48:30away
48:30ok know when to hold em and know when to
48:33fold them yeah
48:34and number three the last takeaway for
48:36the audience
48:37I’m don’t forget to have fun okay fine i
48:40like it so how can everyone stay in
48:42contact with you there’s so many
48:44different things that you’re involved
48:45with obviously a lot of interest in this
48:47particular space i was thoroughly
48:49excited to have you on how are we now
48:52going to continue to to keep in contact
48:54with you and find out how you’re doing
48:56in all these different endeavors that
48:58you’re involved with
48:59I’m well you know personally from the
49:01Twitter standpoint you can follow me at
49:04a weapon rahman but that is personal 1i
49:07carefully of cherry solutions were
49:10actually carried solution on Twitter as
49:13girls is tackled or on Twitter I out of
49:17facebook you can find someplace before a
49:20girl as well as Instagram are women in
49:24tech summit is that women in tech summit
49:27dotnet I for our website and you can
49:31find it as well for at women you know
49:35what I i can’t remember our Twitter him
49:37people know that they can always go back
49:38to Mitchell shadow complex show 038 the
49:42show no time as well as the full
49:44transcript for anybody who signs up
49:45traceywilson rossman this has been
49:49terrific i want to thank you so very
49:52much for everything for all that you’re
49:55doing for the girls out there the tech
49:58community and and the hard work of
50:00course that you’re that you’re doing
50:02back at the chariot solutions we want to
50:05thank you and we’re looking forward to
50:06hearing more as to what you’re doing as
50:11we keep in contact with you
50:13thanks again meet you hey take care now
50:16bye including let me ask for my
50:19listeners help first please subscribe to
50:21my email list at Mitchell Chad row.com /
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