Sarah Prevette founder of Sprouter, spoke to a room full of Toronto Girl Geeks on September 29th about the many lessons she has learned as her life as an entrepreneur. Sarah has been involved with the tech industry since the start of her career. Her insightful and humorous talk was no doubt an inspiration to all of those present.
One key message of Sarah's talk was don't let your ego get in the way of your potential success. If you have an idea for a project make sure you build a network of knowledgeable people around you, do your research and don't be afraid to ask for help. Once you get to the launch phase of that project, you will find yourself better equipped with the resources you will need to make it a success. Sarah's experience with her first start-up, Upinion.com, and the hurdles she faced lead her to found Sprouter.com - a networking application to help entrepreneurs connect, share ideas and support one another.
Other key lessons from Sarah's talk were:
Network actively
Don't just collect business cards, follow up with people and ask how you can help them. Sarah randomly picks 5 business cards out of her stack and thinks about ways she could connect with and help this individual. When you make a new connection ask them 'who else do you know that I should talk to?'
Don't be afraid to promote yourself
Canadian entrepreneurs should engage in self-promotion more actively, and not be shy about trumpeting their successes. Be classy - not spammy.
Launch fast and fail fast
The best way to see if an idea has legs is to get it out there in the community. Don't let perfectionism and endless tweaking hold you back. Get your idea out there fast, be prepared to fail and try again.
Engage your community
Become actively involved in the community your product or idea is geared towards. Don't just listen to what they are saying but engage them and have an active dialogue with them.
Sarah's experience growing Sprouter.com and becoming involved as an organizer with Twestival lead her to create her three 'A's' of community engagement:
Amazing: be amazing, add value and enable the success of others
Accessibility: be accessible, don't ignore negative feedback or comments, respond as quickly as you can
Authenticity: be transparent - if you don't know the answer to something, admit it.
Sarah concluded her chat with a question & answer session, followed by a chance for Girl Geeks to mingle.
Keep your eyes on the blog for announcements about our next TGGD event. Special thanks to our volunteers and to our sponsor Hover. Head on over to hover.com for all of your domain name registration needs.
Hatha Yoga is what most people in the West associate with the word “Yoga” and is practised for mental and physical health throughout the West. Hatha yoga consists of various movements, breath control exercises, and physical postures that can produce a profound state of inner union, vitality, and harmony. (In case you’re wondering what to wear: just don’t pick anything that could restrict bodily movements. The obvious items including jeans, or shirts. Try loose-fitting, sweat absorbent and comfortable clothes, like yoga shorts, sweat clothes, leotards or yoga pants.)
‘t boekje « Imke Dielen http://imkedielen.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/t-boekje
[…] zijn weer om te snoepen: naast een goede pot Lotus Crunchy Speculoos Pasta kunnen we het lekkere Vitamin Water proeven. Het water dat ik deze zomer in Californië vaak kocht. En ook Proxis kon het niet laten om […]
La Fille de 1973 » Il est des moments magiques… | http://lafillede1973.com/?p=553
[…] qui s’est passé hier, en allant écouter Helena présenter son livre à la 16ème session du Brussels Girl Geek Dinner (qui se passait à Vilvorde, le grand Bruxelles, moi, j’aime […]
Imke Dielen nu ook in boekvorm « Boeken & Films « Lifestyle « Digitalic http://digitalic.be/blog/2009/09/imke-dielen-nu-ook-in-boekvorm
[…] Met deze blogpost alvast een poging om daar achter te komen. Er worden namelijk enkele exemplaren weggegeven in ruil voor een linke naar de blogpost over dit boek! […]
Brussels Girl Geek Dinner #16 « De avonturen van het endimi-konijn http://endimi.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/brussels-girl-geek-dinner-16
[…] Willaerts, organisatrice van de BGGD. Er zat ook een kleine wedstrijd aan vast: 4 aanwezigen konden via deze verwijzing een exemplaar van het boek van Imke Dielen […]
I wuvs joe http://verbeelding.org/2009/09/17/boeken-en-zo
[…] een boek zeg ik nooit “nee” dus link ik even naar een bepaalde post om kans te maken op het boek van ons Imke. Kwestie dat we mee zijn met heel het gebeuren hé. En ik […]
Imke Dielen (2009) http://aardling.com/imke-dielen
[…] schrijft al enkele jaren een eigen blog onder het pseudoniem van Imke Dielen. Nu haar boek over die ervaring klaar is kunnen we direct van de bron te weten komen wat ze nu zelf vond van die “sex, men, […]
BGGD #16 | Unexpected http://unexpected.be/?p=2317
[…] was het nog eens zo ver: ik mocht naar een BGGD – Brussels Geek Dinner en dan nog wel het event waar Imke Dielen haar boek voorstelt. Als ik […]
Hooray! « [ Naar mijn innerlijke overtuiging ] http://sententiae.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/hooray
[…] het was dus fantastisch, allemaal superlieve mensen, een schattige Imke Dielen die haar schattig boek voorstelde en lekkere drankjes in rode bollekes. Hooray! Na al dit geleuter zal ik er waarschijnlijk […]
September 30, 2009Canada, Locations, TorontoComments Off
As we announced at last night's event, we have a ticket to give away to a TGGD member. meshmarketing is October 22 at Circa. This draw closes on Friday, October 2. If you have a ticket already, please enter anyway as you can give your prize away to someone else.
meshmarketing is a one-day event focused on insights, tools and tactics to help you win customers' hearts and minds, online. An insightful keynote will lead us into a series of engaging conversations and "show and tell" presentations, as well as in-depth workshops.
meshmarketing brings together people who are passionate about the potential of the Web to change how we live, work and play. This day is not just about the stage. Like our other mesh events, meshmarketing will be a highly interactive experience where we will continue the dialogue and explore the next generation of ideas, leaders and companies at mesh.
How to enter:
Write a tweet in 100 characters "why it's great to be a geek girl at meshmarketing"
Send the Tweet to Sheri @s_moore with the hashtags #meshmarketing and #TGGD.
The most creative answer wins a complimentary ticket to meshmarketing October 22 at Circa.
Get your Tweet sent by October 2. The prize is transferable.
You might like to tune in to 2CC with Mark Parton tomorrow (Wednesday) morning around 7:30. Why? Because I'll be there, talking up the girl geek dinners!
September 29, 2009Australia, Canberra, LocationsComments Off
If you've just landed here from Senator Kate Lundy's website, welcome! You will find all the nitty gritty details about the Google dinner on 14 October, and a form to RSVP, right here.
Please feel free to browse around, and you might want to consider signing up to our mailing list, so you know when the next event is!
September 29, 2009Canada, Locations, TorontoComments Off
I'm getting my notes together for my MC duties for tonight's Toronto Girl Geek Dinner. We're expecting 50 or so women (and a few men) from the Toronto technology community to come out to reconnect with friends, meet new people, and be inspired by the ideas and perspective of our featured speaker, Sarah Prevette, founder and CEO of Sprouter.
When Maggie and Jenny started Toronto Girl Geek Dinners in 2007, we were the first location outside of the UK. Now, there are Girl Geek Dinner communities in over 40 places worldwide. That's pretty phenomenal, don't you think?
Tonight is our 15th event. Which is pretty cool. Looking back, we've welcomed an incredible list of speakers including:
We're always on the lookout for speakers and ideas for themes and topics. If you're in Toronto, please check out our blog, wiki, Facebook and Meetup.com group. If you're elsewhere and want to get involved, please visit Girl Geek Dinners for a list of global groups.
What do you value most from participating in Girl Geek Dinner events?
Norton from Symantec torna, con nostro grande piacere, ad essere il Main Sponsor della prossima Girl Geek Dinner milanese!
E proprio perché durante la GGD#9 – “Proteggi il tuo mondo Geek” parleremo di sicurezza, insieme a Norton abbiamo preparato un simpatico test online per verificare quale rischio corriamo ogni giorno durante le nostre attività online…
Per cominciare, cliccate sui bottoni accetta e rifiuta:
Il 16 ottobre approfondiremo questo tema e altri!
Per i gadget e le altre informazioni restate in linea…
Stiamo ancora accettando gadget per la serata – contattaci a sponsors *@* girlgeekdinnersitalia.com
