the BEGINNING

ZOE

Speckled pink

With two tiny feet

You won’t believe the things that she says

I was feeling quite weak

With tears in my eyes

But she said don’t be sad it’s okay

Look here inside

My shook’s for outside

That’s a foot and a shoe in the same

A word we made up

That’s only for us

Sweet little girl

Light of my day.

bootsTRAPping

A self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help. Does this mean that I am essentially a boot strapper or that my company is boot strapped? Either way, the focus is on self sustaining. Although theBSC shows all the signs of an organization withOUT external help (cue the basic beta website and 1 employee company roster), we are far from self sustainable. 
Fund raising has been without a doubt the toughest challenge (wait..is a challenge by virtue of its' definition, tough?..the Denglish is really taking over). When companies report that they've received 50M or even a six figure fund from an investor or investment group, my initial thought is that I could do 3x as much with half as much money. There has to be a way to take a small piece of the funding pie. Heck at this point I'd just like to be invited to the party where the pie is being served.

back in BUSINESS

Having just returned Friday to Berlin, I feel so unbelievably disconnected from my current project. There's so much to be done and I'm quite motivated to do it, it's just where do I begin or what do I begin with. Today I'm meeting with a web developer so that's a good place to start. To be honest, finding a good web developer who shares your vision and dream is like finding a needle in a haystack. This guy could be anybody, but then again so could I. I just hope he's serious. More on meeting with random "business" people later.

what do THEY KNOW..

that I DON'T yet. Everyone says believe in yourself, which, ok from infancy I was taught to do. But you actually need a lot more than belief to really accomplish anything. Resourcefulness, social skills, connections and a bit of bull-shitting goes a pretty long way in the start up world. I was invited to join a group of Geekettes on fb, which is an amazing group dedicated to women in the start up and tech world. For a few days I lay dormant just to see the types of posts and questions other folks were posting. After a few more days of waiting and watching I decided to post myself (in the form of a question of course). Much to my surprise there was not one, I mean not one reply from anyone of these amazing, fabulous women techies, geeks and startup queens.

A long time ago I decided that I would forever leave What If World so as not to put myself through the lasting torture of wondering why or how (insert any heartbreaking situation) could happen to me. But as I travel further up the hill to start up mountian, I find myself repacking my bags to visit What If World. There's one thing that I DO know that THEY KNOW too. Getting from amazing idea to amazing (marketable, profitable) product is all about the process and refinement. In this process you just can't take no or in my case no fb response for an answer. So I won't and I will post again.

with the BOYS.

The Berlin tech start up seen is one that is undoubtedly ruled by men. You've seen them; the cool nerds in glasses and hoodies on their way to close out a six figure round A fund. Or cycling to the (insert cool co-working space name) office to meet with the gang about mentoring the next group of young wanna be startup scene heavy hitters. Either way, what you don't see a lot of is pony tails, red lips and stilettos.

As a young lady entrepreneuer, the truth is that the scene of it all is pretty intimidating. Besides being of the 'other' sex, I am also NOT a techie. I repeat I am NOT a techie. Nor do I wish to be one. What I am is an unbelieveably resourceful, innovative, open-minded creator. And that gives me the license to roll with the best of them. It goes without saying though that to belong to this exclusive group and to be taken seriously, tech is what you have to be or need someone on your team to be and so..that is where we will begin.