Chrissy Weems

5 Women-led Tech Businesses You Need To Know About

Martin J. Stallone

There is a massive lack for women in the tech industry, although there are a few tech companies that are led by women executives. To paint the picture, only 14.2% of executives of S&P 500 companies are women. In 2013, 26% of people in the mathematics and computer occupations were women. Chrissy Weems agrees with the fact that the cultural trend that makes women less likely to take the top executive decision in business starts in childhood, with both girls and boys less likely to support the student council’s run by girls.

The good news is that there are women who have overcome such hurdles and they are running successful tech companies. These founders are also looking at ways they can help women to become tech executives. Let us look at some of the top tech women and the companies they run.

JeKuDo Privacy Company – Elissa Shevinsky co-Founder, CEO

JeKuDo is a tech company that provides secure messaging services which works in the same fashion as Slack. Elissa is also a co-organizer of SecretCon which is a web security conference. She is also the editor of the book Lean Out.

For Elissa, she had a tough time in her journey in the tech space. For instance, it was hard for her to find collaborators when she became CEO of the company. She advises women to level up as soon as they can. According to Elissa, women need to become experts in their areas of expertise and make themselves noticed.

Women at this level need to look for mentors they can trust. Chrissy Weems and Elissa look forward to more women becoming investors and entrepreneurs so that they can make their way to the boardroom.

Full Circle Insights – Bonnie Crater, CEO

Full Circle Insights provides marketing campaign metrics. Bonnie Carter is now used to board meetings where more than 90% of the attendees are men. Bonnie knows that the gender composition of the leadership also reflects on the teams. At Full Circle, 46% of the employees are women.

To help women to get into tech companies, Bonnie advocates the Rooney Rule variation which is working for the NFL. At the NFL senior operation roles attracts interviews for minority candidates. For tech companies, it can be advantageous to have at least one woman candidate to be interviewed for the position.

Built.io – Neha Sampat, CEO

Built.io is a software company that provides a content management system, mobile application development, and an API platform to businesses and content individuals. Although Neha has received a lot of tech analysis more than her male counterparts, this has helped her to be more visible and hire a diverse team.

Neha believes that to level the playing ground for both men and women, more funding should go to women entrepreneurs, leadership training for girls, and educating people on gender bias.

Stayful- Cherryl Rosner, Co-Founder, CEO

Stayful is a website that helps travelers to book, and negotiate hotel rooms process. Cherryl started this business after she experienced frustrations in the hotel industry and after working at Hotels.com. She has been an advocate for women for a long time.

Cherryl has made it this far thanks to the support of advisors and investors. For women to succeed., Cherryl advocates for mentors to help women who have the potential to go for leadership positions.

Skimlinks- Alicia Navarro, Co-Founder, CEO

Alicia started coding when she was nine years old. She studied computer science and worked as a product manager, business consultant, and analyst before starting Skimlinks. Skimlinks is a company that allows publishers to track purchases and clicks that results from website links.

Alicia notes that as much as women need to be involved in the technical space as programmers or coders, women need to also look at other roles like managerial positions.

How To Properly Research A Company Before Your Interview

Martin J. Stallone

Before the day of the job interview, it is wise to get to know more about the company. If you do a good research, you will prepare to answer the questions in the interview and also ask some questions to the interviewer. During the background research, you will also find out if the company culture is a good fit. Prepare in advance to get as much information as you can from the internet about the company. You can also tap into your network and find out who knows a bit about the company and even if someone has ever interviewed them before. To help you prepare Chrissy Weems would like to share with you six tips on how to do a background search on a company.

6 Tips on how to research a company for a job interview

Check the company website

The first place to start is the company website. On the website, you can go through the company’s mission and vision statement, learn about its history, its management, product and services and more about the company culture. This information is normally available on the About Us part of the website. You can also go through the Press section and read the featured links that have been posted there.

Use LinkedIn

The company profiles on LinkedIn are a great way to glance for more information on the company you are doing a background check on. You will have the opportunity to look at your connections at the company, you will also be able to look at their promotions, new hires, related companies, jobs posted and the statistics of the company. If you find that you have connections with the company, reach out to them so that they can share a perspective about the company and give you some tips on how you can score well in the interview.

Browse through social media

Check the social media accounts of the company like Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. These social sites will give you a good perspective of how the company relates to its customers and the image they portray to the customers. Follow and like the company to receive updates; this is a good channel to get more information about the company in ways you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Get an edge over the interview

You can go through interview questions and reviews from Glassdoor. On this page, you can get more information from a candidate who underwent an interview for the positions you were applying for and get to lean on the toughness of the interview. You can also get a feel for the culture of the company through the reviews; take them half-heartedly because candidates are more likely to leave reviews when they are mad about how the interview turned out.

Chrissy Weems advises that as you read through the reviews, look for a pattern that repeats itself. The more a subject is mentioned, the more accurate the information on a given subject gets.

Check Google News and Google

Search for the company name on Google News and Google. The invaluable information you can get from these sites will let you know about the current and future plans of a company. For instance, a company may be releasing a new product to the market, or the product the company produced is being recalled or has underperformed in the market.

Get to know the competitors

As much as you are researching the company, you also need to review the whole industry. For instance, if you are planning to go for an interview in a mortgage company, you need to be informed about the current trends in home ownership. Check out the company’s top competitors and find out their flaws and successes. If you gather insight on the company’s rivals, you will definitely impress the interviewers.