Introducing the WITI Virtual Hackathon! Sign up now to show off your "entrepreneur" style!
In 1935, three decades before the Equal Pay Act, IBM recruited its first women in the workforce. IBM's founder, T.J. Watson Sr. promised women, "the same kind of work for equal pay." Since then, IBM has been acknowledged as a world leader in its commitment to women both in and out of the workforce. In 2014, IBM was named one of the 諺Best Companies for Women”by Forbes.
It should come as no surprise that IBM has partnered with WITI (Women In Technology International), a powerhouse dedicated to women in tech, on their first ever Virtual Hackathon. WITI started in 1989 as The International Network of Women in Technology and, in 2001, evolved into The WITI Professional Association, the world's leading trade association for tech-savvy women. Today, WITI is the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology to achieve unimagined possibilities.
I personally invite you to join Bluemix, IBM's premier cloud development platform, and WITI for an international hackathon where developers, scientists, students, and entrepreneurs will gather virtually to build software, applications, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions focused on the Internet of Things and wearables. The hackathon runs throughout the month of May and is open to open to all.
Follow these easy steps to get started and get hacking!
1. Register for the hackathon at ibm.biz/witiregistration
2. Register for your free Bluemix trial at ibm.biz/witihack
3. Participate in Bluemix virtual education sessions and review technical resources here: ibm.biz/witihackathon
4. Start building your app and submit it for review by May 27th.
Prizes include IBM Cloud Credit, a 1-hour virtual meeting with me, 2016 WITI Summit tickets, free WITI memberships and more.
As a board member of WITI and mentor to several women in IBM, I am thrilled to see this type of collaboration and can’t wait to see the apps you come up with!
IBM's Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud: Focus in Germany
IBM has a long and deep commitment to the entrepreneurial community. IBM works with more than 400 leading venture capital firms in 30 countries to get an early-look into new technologies and upcoming entrepreneurs. Through the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program, IBM already works with 6,000 startups worldwide, mentoring them to help them grow with free software and technical expertise, exposure to 600+ expert mentors of corporate executives and serial entrepreneurs, plus access to a global network of clients.
In Germany, we have been working together with 150 Startups. On Thursday, I will be in Berlin meeting with some of the best of the best German Ecosystem members -- from startups, to VCs to incubators.
Last time here, I met with the Investment Punk https://de-de.facebook.com/investmentpunkpage
The IBM Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Startups is the leveling up of IBM’s current entrepreneur progam, combining the incredible power of IBM Cloud with the company’s vast, existing network of resources for startups. This program is a game changer for entrepreneurs, offering them $120,000 of free IBM Cloud platform credits for one year and deep connections to IBM’s enterprise client base. This financial offer is higher than any other cloud vendor has offered startups to date.
This is the highest value cloud startup offering in the market for two reasons: the power of IBM Cloud, and the face-to-face connections and visibility for early stage startups to large enterprise clients. We want to help ignite even more the growing community in Berlin and beyond in Germany.
IBM Cloud also offers startups an advantage in technical breadth: IBM is the leading vendor to provide a full suite, from bare metal to platform services with DevOps, in both virtualized and hybrid environments. Bluemix is IBM’s cloud platform as a service, which offers a tremendous breadth of services to help startups build and scale their innovations quickly, as well as leverage rising volumes of Big Data from growing mobile and social networks, IoT devices and more.
“IBM is the only large tech firm offering face-to-face, in-person connections to enterprises and mentoring that is so critical for early stage companies,” said Robin Hrassnigg, CEO of Diabetizer, a German startup and IBM partner recently recognized by the World Health Organization for its innovative health care app, in a statement. “As our company continues to scale our app, which uses cognitive computing and cloud to help diabetics manage their treatment with flexibility and accuracy, we will increasingly look to these types of in-depth connections to bring our approach to big data to different industries.”
IBM is also offering entrepreneurs connections to its enterprise client base through regional face-to-face events, as well as CIO and entrepreneur meet-ups. These face-to-face connections with enterprises are invaluable to early-stage companies, and IBM is the only large tech firm to offer interactions at this level.
The IBM Global Entrepreneur Program for Cloud Startups also offers entrepreneurs the most extensive global network of local technical expertise through IBM’s 43 Innovation Centers, all of which also host local tech community events and meet-ups. And Using IBM Bluemix allows companies to accelerate the time it takes to bring their innovation to market - from weeks and months to hours and days.
Go Entrepreneurs!
Growth Hacks for Startups!
Small is beautiful ! Listening to your clients! Just some of the essentials ways to grow with some cool hacks!!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/jOAiOiBiKKo]
New Startup: The Smartphone Device That Will Be Able To Detect Cancer In Your Breath
Compliments of Ray Hammond who alerted me to this cool Startup! A device developed in Israel called the “NaNose” is claimed to be able to detect cancer and other illness simply by sampling human breath.
NaNose is now being ported to be available on a smartphone as an add-on called “The Sniff Phone”.
By identifying the special “odour” emitted by cancer cells, it is claimed the NaNose system can detect the presence of tumours, both benign and malignant, more quickly, efficiently and cheaply than previously possible.
It is claimed the system is 90 per cent accurate.
3 Pieces of Advice for Start-ups and Intrapreneurs from Unusual Places!
I am in Vegas and walked through a great museum with fun quotes and it made me think of the advice earlier from some of our Venture Capitalists!
1. Fish are the last to recognize water. Make sure that you are constantly evaluating the landscape. Sometimes startups fall in love with their products and don't see poor product-market fit with a solid business model. Remember that the product must be desired by a customer -- and there are many substitutes. At our last VC roundtable, the VCs said that they are always weary when someone comes in with an idea that has 0 competition While this seems basic, I have seen many entrepreneurs dive into creating a product that they think is totally unique, not thinking through other options.
2. It's always better to be looked over than overlooked. Many start-ups think about scale and overlook the way to get to need scale. The priority should be on developer productivity and being able to deliver the features and platform that sets your product apart. Focus on scale when it actually becomes a problem. You'll be better prepared with more information about what to fix and where and hopefully with more help to do it.
3. If you want the rainbow you better put up with the rain. Many start-ups put their energy into impressing their boards and investors instead of their customers. Of course you must work with your investors, but a great start-up filters those ides through the eyes of their clients and potential clients. Don't get distracted focusing on the wrong group.
IBM SmartCamp Finals is Almost here!!! Join us!
Join us for the SmartCamp finals with a set of AMAZING Entrepreneurs!
Monday, Feb 23
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
MGM Hotel
Rooms 312--317
http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/interconnect/devat/smartcamp/
