Dating Apps, Sex & Tech: Event Recap

February 24, 2015December 13, 20151 Comment

What’s in the app store for our love lives these days, and is technology making finding one another easier or sleazier?

Girls in Tech invited the people behind London’s popular dating apps to consider these questions at our February panel event at Lyst Studios in Hoxton Square, Shoreditch.

Dating, Sex & Tech brought a full room of over 150 guys and gals to listen to the founders and directors of successful dating apps 3nder, Happn, Antidate, and Dattch.

From left to right: Happn, 3nder, Antidate & Dattch

Moderated by Radhika Sanghani, the panel shared amusing insights into our dating behaviours. Data from across the apps pulled out similarities in behaviour, with highest interaction levels at evenings and weekends, notably Sunday evenings. In the visually-driven world of engagement, girls are very selective, while boys are less so, then filter potential parters out based on their successful matches.

Did you find a match?

Is love (or lust) a swipe away? It depends. 3nder, for example, created an un-matching rule if there had been no communication after three days between two matched accounts, pushing a model not aimed at instant gratification and limitless chat between random strangers, but at following up and acting on your desires. As 3nder founder, Dimo explains: “I want people to meet in real life. I want something to happen between people”.

Marie, Head of Media at Happn

Marie from Happn insisted that the Happn app fixess a real life painful experience: you meet someone you are attracted to, and you miss the chance to talk to them. Happn registers all users you cross paths with during the day, so you’ll never have to ask that gorgeous blonde on the tube her number anymore, just wait for her to become a match. Which makes us think, should we spend more time at Waitrose instead of Tesco? It might improve the quality and attractiveness of the Happn feed.

I wish I had downloaded Happn that night.

So who downloads and uses these apps? Everyone! Even men download and try to use Dattch, the lesbian app. “5% of downloads are made by men. We have a system to recognise when that happens via social logins or asking for a proof of picture with ‘I love Dattch’ written on their hands.”

As for 3nder obviously, it is a little more of a niche so to speak – and Dimo, the app’s founder with over 300,000 users, says that it serves a large market of open-minded people. “People using my apps are often thanking me. They are people that used Tinder or other dating apps and for whom the experience wasn’t so great. My app is straightforward, so there is no surprise for users at both ends.”

On the other hand, Antidate, an app that gives all the power to women to pick who they want, might attract women fed up with being constantly pinged or those looking for a little more privacy and less exposure. The two young women who founded the app last July will hopefully tell us their discoveries in the coming months.

We were delighted to see many attendees stay after the event to network and talk to the panelists, as well as numerous people downloading the apps during the event and afterward.

The event generated lots of great questions on twitter and from the attendees as well, such as “What’s the business model of your apps?!” “Do you think you can retain users, because it’s easy to opt in and out of your apps. The instant gratification feeling can last only a moment…”

Girls in Tech team member, Alessia, took glam pictures on the night that you can all find on her Flickr among other GIT events. On our end, we wrote 5 take-aways that we found interesting to share and have added the write-ups of our lovely blogger attendees – because they were too good not to.

A HUGE thank you to our partners; our host LYST for their stunning gallery space, LY London for taking care of our PR and MOO for their continued sponsorship and for the takeaway booklets (which have a cheeky discount code on the back for our members).

We hope you enjoyed the event, please send feedback and any requests for future events to gitlondon@gmail.com.

Wishing you a happy St Valentines everyday,

Love,

@josephinegoube from GIT

Announcing the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference in Phoenix, Arizona

February 18, 2015December 13, 2015

#GITReady to be inspired! The annual Catalyst Conference, hosted by Girls in Tech, is coming to downtown Phoenix from Sun., April 26 through Tues., April 28 at the Hotel Palomar! We hope you’ll join us to mix, mingle, and hear from a premier selection of outstanding women leaders and entrepreneurs.

“We’re more than excited to host this premiere tech conference in Downtown,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “Women at the forefront of the technology and start-up industry will have an opportunity to experience first-hand Phoenix’s rapidly growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and innovative community.”

GIT Founder and CEO Adriana Gascoigne is stoked, too: “There’s excitement and energy buzzing in downtown Phoenix, and Catalyst attendees are going to feel that” said Gascoigne. “Amazing things can happen when one woman helps another – and together we’re going pave the path for future industry leaders.”

Prepare for more than 40 notable female speakers including presidents, CEOs, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and leaders in the tech industry and STEM fields. All who attend will get to choose from workshops, panels and hands-on resources to help advance women in technology careers.

This conference is just around the corner! Register today at http://catalyst.girlsintech.org/attend/ (members get 15% off with code ‘gitccmem2015’).

Book review: Let’s all ‘Lean In’, together

January 14, 2015December 13, 2015

About the author: Yasmin Desai has worked in a number of startups and currently works at Monkfeet as Head of Business Development. Yasmin is passionate about startups and has a keen interest in supporting women in entrepreneurship.

This post originally appeared on The Start Up Girl blog.

The critically acclaimed book Lean In by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, is focused on encouraging women to pursue their ambitions, and changing the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can do, more specifically in the workplace and in their careers.

Albeit an informative book that provides a clear framework for getting ahead, unfortunately, Lean In lacks the fundamental element that, collectively, females struggle in the workplace across the board – not just at the top. In my opinion, solving this means starting from the absolute root cause of the gender inequalities we face today, which occur even before birth. The emphasis of the book is placed on getting more women to the top – what the book severely lacks is how to get more women IN, and this is an issue that starts a long way before graduating from school.

Despite this drawback, there are some incredible takeaways from the book that I believe everyone can implement and benefit from – not just females:

Sit at the table: Something I believe that isn’t an issue just for women, but men too, and especially so in the earlier career stages. Taking the choice to “sit at the table” is all about belief in one self and in your own ability. Even if you don’t feel qualified to apply for a new role/sit in a board meeting/ participate in new projects at work, you lose 100% of the opportunities you don’t take. This is all about convincing one self that you should take a risk and go for it. Easier said than done, but once you do, you open more doors and possibilities. Yes, you might get rejected, but that is part of life. When you’ve made the decision to sit at the table, don’t forget to take recognition for your achievement.

Don’t leave before you leave: This chapter was geared toward women who may not advance in their career due to future plans to have children. I believe this applies in more than just one scenario, for instance a medical condition, difficult family circumstances, or perhaps you only plan to work temporarily in your current industry. Never stop looking to advance yourself in your current role. We often let our short sightedness get the best of us. Worst case scenario, you turn down the new job offer/promotion – at least you gave it a shot and you know your worth.

Let’s start talking about it: Let’s Lean In, together. It’s everyone’s issue to make the workplace a more equal world for both women and men. Start conversations and start analysing your environment around you. Is there something that could be changed? What would you implement in your workplace if you knew there were no barriers to achieving your goals? This was perhaps the best piece of advice from the book, but a difficult one to conquer. It starts off with one voice and slowly more and more voices will follow. Women and men: I encourage you to stand up in the workplace when you see something incorrect.
This doesn’t just apply to gender inequality. It could be bullying, intern’s pay checks, an inside joke about one of your customers. Stop these comments at the beginning before they become bigger issues. Start off by simply saying: ‘It’s not okay’. You may be asked to justify your statement, the thought of which may hold you back from acknowledging that something is wrong. In this case, bring it back to the point that you’re entitled to your opinion and that in your opinion what you’ve witnessed is not okay. No justification required.

4. Don’t be satisfied: Question and challenge the world and environments around you. Don’t hold back from trying to inspire change. Start in small steps, and more importantly, speak up. If you didn’t take a job offer because you felt the environment was sexist and had a lack of opportunities to grow, tell the employer. So much is not improved because of the lack of awareness to the problems that exist. Sometimes all it takes is pointing something out to realise that it needs to be changed.

Four million and counting

December 24, 2014December 13, 2015

As of this December, more than 4.4m people in the UK have completed the Hour of Code (HoC) – an initiative designed to encourage people to give coding a go in a fun one hour session. Girls in Tech was proud to be a key partner of the HoC this year.

When we first heard about HoC, it was immediately clear that this was a great initiative. It is such a simple idea, but addresses a highly complex problem. To do the hour learners just go to HourOfCode.com where they can do a free, fun one hour tutorial in a range of languages – from Scratch to Javascript. At the end of the hour, they’ve made something. In the UK, it’s delivered primarily through 700 partner schools. By leveraging the schools network, the HoC addresses three key problems with technical education:

1. Teacher training is difficult

It is difficult for ICT teachers to stay abreast of every new technology. The pace of change is so great, and teachers are hard pressed for time. As a result, many ICT teachers understandably lack the expertise to teach their students to code.

2. Coding isn’t seen as a tool for creating things

Many kids – and in particular girls – don’t appreciate that programming languages are a tool for making things, just like lego. The lag time between starting a typical course and creating a product means that many learners fall part way through.

3. Students lack technical role models

Most kids don’t know anyone who works in technology, and certainly not the cutting edge of web and mobile start ups. Too many want to be doctors or lawyers because those are the only professions they know. They need access to real or online mentors and communities to inspire them to look elsewhere.

Building on an hour to create our future female tech leaders

Girls in Tech believes passionately that these are issues that need to be addressed for the long term. It is for this reason that we are launching an exciting new online learning programme: Global Classroom.

The Global Classroom will deliver exciting online courses on development to communities of girls around the world. Starting on the 10th January, the first course will teach front end web dev and lead girls through customising their own own Tumblr blog. It’s open to any girl aged 13 – 18 and is free. To enrol just click here, or ask us any questions on Facebook or Twitter.

Founder Talk: Anne-Marie Huby of JustGiving

December 2, 2014December 13, 20152 Comments

This week, we caught up with Anne-Marie Huby, co-founder of popular online fundraising platform JustGiving.

Read on as Anne-Marie talks about getting a startup going during the dotcom crash, shaping your own company’s culture, and building a sustainable business for a social purpose.

What inspired you and your co-founder to start JustGiving?

In 1999, Zarine Kharas, our CEO, spotted the opportunity to use the web to better connect good causes with people who care. When she and I met, I was running the UK branch of the humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres and looking for a low-cost system that would enable the charity to accept donations online. Such a system did not exist. So I joined JustGiving full time and we launched JustGiving a little over a year later, in February 2001. Nearly fourteen years on, JustGiving is the fastest-growing social giving platform in the world, with 10 million users and $3.3 billion raised for good causes to date.

What has been your biggest challenge being an entrepreneur?

Nearly running out of money. We closed our first round of funding shortly before the dotcom crash, so we had to make every penny count thereafter. Being very early was also a challenge. Charities were very sceptical at first, and it took us a long time to demonstrate how valuable online giving would be to them.

What have been your biggest challenges being a woman in the tech industry, driven by men?

I am probably going to disappoint you here, but I can’t think of a single occasion when I have felt that being a woman put me at a disadvantage. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that men and women have very different opportunities and experiences in larger firms – just as in wider society – and those issues are real. But if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to grow a business from scratch, as Zarine and I have done, then you have a unique opportunity to shape its culture and choose the people who work with you.

If you asked me what had been essential to the growth of JustGiving, I would say that it had little to do with the fact that it is run by two women. I’d argue it has a lot more to do with a set of highly unusual investors with a very long-term orientation who have always encouraged us to keep investing and focusing all our energies on creating a great product and a great place for people to work and grow. In short, if you build a great product, and take genuine care of your customers, the financials will follow. A lot of investors say this, but do not act accordingly. Ours have done so consistently, and all of them are men.

What can the JustGiving platform offer users that other charitable platforms can’t?

At its core, JustGiving enables everyone with a cause – whether it is helping find a cure for cancer or fund a new roof for their community centre – to raise more money than they ever thought possible. People and charities raise more money on JustGiving than any other platform – £360m this year alone – because it helps them reach more people and inspire more support than any other application.

What are some of your proudest accomplishments in your entrepreneurial journey so far?

Proving that it was possible to combine social purpose with running a sustainable business. Our for-profit-for-good model has enabled us to keep investing in innovation to a much greater extent than we would have done if we ran JustGiving along charitable lines.

What advice would you give to girls/women interested in working in tech or starting their own businesses?

Two different questions there. The first, about starting to work in tech: if you are looking to move into a tech business, don’t worry too much if your first job is not a perfect match for your existing skills, or looks slightly odd on your CV. Once you have a foothold in a tech firm, new opportunities will open up. As for starting up a new business: building a core team up front is key. Know your strengths and weaknesses and find people who complement you right from the beginning.

Keen to join a massively growing, for-profit-for-good company that’s just moved into some amazing new offices in London Bridge? JustGiving is hiring right now for their product and tech teams! Take a look at the opportunities they’re offering.

Insights into Fashion and Tech event at Lyst Studios

November 27, 2014December 13, 20151 Comment

We had one of our most successful events yet earlier this month, where we were joined by more than 100 fashionistas (and a bunch of guys, too!) at Lyst Studios in Hoxton for an event that dove into how tech is playing an increasing role in fashion.

Our panel was led by Tech City News‘ Sinead O’Brien with Sarah Vigrass, Strategic Projects Director at Lyst, Torie Chilcott, Co-Founder of Rockabox, and Giacomo Summa, CEO & Founder of Stylect app.

The knowledgeable panel gave interesting insights into the future trends and development as fashion becomes increasingly digital.

Some of the key takeaways included:

Mobile is becoming a substitute for magazines as a source of entertainment, which is one reason why the Stylect app is working. The “gamification” of swiping through shoes like many of us do on Tinder creates instant gratification.

Gamification is also seen in Rockabox’s interactive and fully shoppable tablet magazine created for Monsoon. Game elements entice users to interact, share and, ultimately, buy.

We need to work to bridge the gap between offline and online, because in-store shopping will never go away. Collecting data when you shop online could mean getting “pinged” on your mobile when you’re near a specific store and a product of theirs that you’ll love is on sale.

While an increasing amount of consumer traffic comes from mobile, (for Lyst, it’s currently 40%) we’re still mostly just browsing on mobile. People don’t yet trust that purchasing through their phones is secure.

All in all, we think everyone walked away with important bits of information on where fashion is headed as technology continues to play a larger role.

Many thanks to Lyst for providing the space and refreshments, as well as Alessia D’Urso for taking photos!

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day with Virgin Startup

November 26, 2014December 13, 2015

What an amazing opportunity it was to work with Virgin Startup for their Women’s Entrepreneurship Day event on 19th November, as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014.

The event took place at a beautiful, rustic location north of Old Street and had more than 100 existing and aspiring entrepreneurs. After chatting with many of the women in attendance, it was clear that most of them were primarily looking to connect with others and gain inspiration from others’ accomplishments.

Goodies for the event were even served up by business owners who had been through Virgin Startup’s programme themselves, a unique approach indeed. One such company was Dark Matters, dishing out fudgy, moist, chocolately chunks of oh-so-heavenly brownies.

Mmmmmm! Anyway, back to the event…

We set up our own Girls in Tech stand, which attracted many interested women, keen to find out more about our mission and monthly events.

The day was jam-packed with individual talks, including baby food mogul Annabel Karmel and founder of Ann Sumers, Jacqueline Gold, as well as panels with women representing big companies like Google and Ocado.

Some of our favourite quotes from the day:

“Quit talking about it, just get on with it.” – Sharmadean Reid, founder of WAH Nails

“Don’t tell someone your idea and ask what they think about it, ask why they think it will fail.” – Annabel Karmel

“Think about why you got here and how you got here – and what difference you want to make. Everyone has a story.” – Business consultant Madeline McQueen

Finally, let’s not forget about the delicious lunch delivered by the lovely ladies behind Lunch Box London.

It’s very clear from the events we run, plus those we run along with others, as well as the events we attend, that getting women together in a positive environment is the best way to bring empowerment to all. You can feel how the energy in the room lights everyone up, and everyone walks away with the tools they need to either improve their startup or get started on an idea they’ve been thinking about for a while.

Thank you again to Virgin Startup and everyone involved who made this amazing day possible. We cannot recommend Virgin Startup enough if you are looking for a business loan to get yourself started. They provide access to funding and mentoring, which you can find out more about here. We can’t wait to work together again!

Where are all the women?

November 12, 2014November 18, 20162 Comments

Photo credit

Taking a closer look at the lack of women speaker representation at Web Summit Dublin 2014 and other tech conferences, and what we can do to change this.

Written by: Josephine Goube and Lora Schellenberg

Last week, we attended Web Summit Dublin, a technology conference that has grown at a dazzling pace since its inaugural event in 2010. With 20,000 attendees, hundreds of speakers on 13 stages, and media like the CNBC, Financial Times and The Guardian, a gathering like this not only impacts the tech scene in Europe, but around the world.

Of the 120 speakers on the Central Stage, where the main action of the Web Summit took place (and reserved for the biggest leaders in the tech industry), a mere 17 (15%) of the speakers were women. 8 of those 17 were actually journalists, leaving just 9 women viewed as “tech leaders”.

One of the names causing the most buzz at the conference was actress and philanthropist Eva Longoria. Another woman speaker was supermodel Lily Cole. We can’t help but wonder, was the representation of these two more about their good looks or their accomplishments?

Photo credit

We are entirely aware of this issue with tech conferences all over the world, which is the reason DevelopHer and other women in tech organisations exist in the first place. We want to make sure future tech conferences have more of a gender balance in terms of leadership. We want to help organisers find the best women who are more than willing to speak.

We’ve heard all the common excuses as to why there aren’t more women representing at tech conferences. Here are a few:

We can’t find women who are as credible as other male speakers in terms of contributions to technology
Many women aren’t interested in speaking because they lack the confidence
Women who have families at home aren’t available to give their extra time to speaking gigs
We don’t know where to find these women tech leaders

We want to do our part in helping increase women leadership representation at tech conferences. If you’re a woman interested in joining a network of women speakers, simply fill out this short form. That way, when we’re approached by conference organisers to give suggestions of women speakers, we’re readily able to do our part to help.

Join us for a Christmas bash with London’s women in tech!

November 11, 2014December 13, 2015

Girls in Tech London along with Ada’s List, GeekGirl Meetup, and Women@Campus are teaming up to ‘Tech The Halls’ this Christmas!

Grab your ugliest xmas jumper and join us from 6pm on December 4th to ’tis the season and celebrate everything wonderful about 2014, women in tech style.

How do you get a ticket?

We want to hear from you! Simply get in touch (yep, guys too) & tell us one thing you’ve accomplished this year that you’re proud of.

Spaces are limited, so get back to us quickly and please make sure you know you’re able to come!

Hacking your Happiness in London next week

November 7, 2014December 13, 2015

There’s only one week left until the Hacking Happiness Summit and we are all very excited for the fusion of technology and mindfulness here in London. It is aimed at hacking your own mind and body to get the best out of it, and doing so by introducing attendees to new concepts and tools as well as providing hands on workshops and talks. Tickets are running out but you can still get 30% of tickets until the end of the day with code HAPPY1411 .

The conference focuses on human potential, performance and wellbeing, and exploring the technology and science-driven tools that are developing to enhance these. The summit takes place over the 13th -15th November in London, with satellite events including lectures, meditiation and yoga aroudn London, and a conference with a jam-packed schedule of experts on productivity, meditation, nutrition, psychologists and fitness.

Tickets are still available here and you can browse hacking-happiness.co for a rundown of what’s going on. See you there!

DevelopHer UK

Elevating women in technology