![LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 13: Singer Beyonce performs at the Staples Center on July 13, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Beyonce]()
Beyoncé would have been proud of our second week at AOL. (Who fund the world? GIRLS!)
This week BBGV received pitches from five amazing companies, all of which had a female founder or CEO. Monday morning started off with a bang - an eCommerce brand bringing trendy fashion-forward apparel to the plus size community, and doing it with attitude. Then we heard from a fabulous company revolutionizing the world of customization. Their secret: lots of sparkles! Finally, we were blown away by a toy company bringing tech to tots and, last but definitely not least, an Israeli company changing the way we search for clothing. Meanwhile, we were busy furthering our VC know-how.
First, Renee Robbie from
LookBooker returned with her amazing co-founder, Giorgia Rossi. This time they taught us spy-like research tricks to help us gain an advantage over the competition.
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As a wise man once said, know thy enemy to know thyself.
Next up, Christina Bechhold journeyed from
Samsung Ventures to talk to us about developing our very own business models. For a pro like her, it is easy to create a winning model. For us, it was more like:
On Thursday, we were surprised and somewhat confused to see we had an hour long session on landscaping at 11 am.
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What does landscaping have to do with venture capitalism? Turns out it was about the VC landscape. Rick Heitzmann, a powerful player at
FirstMark Capital, an investment firm based in New York, came and spoke to us about how to choose and connect with investors. He also shared different resources that are available to new companies at various stages within their development.
The week still wasn't over. Later that day Amy Snook arrived from
VSC PR to talk to us about marketing and public relations. Did you know that most companies set aside at least $300,000 for marketing and PR to launch their companies? Thats a lot of cash!
The real highlight of the week; however, was Finance 101 at
Lulu's office in New York. Sitting around a table piled high with miniature cupcakes, headed by Lulu co-founder Alison Schwartz and a group of Lulu interns; however, the topic quickly escalated from simple business advice to the real girl talk you would expect at a company described by The Cosmopolitan as "Sex in the City marries Facebook". We loved the advice and we also loved the tote bags they gave us before we left. They were really cute: covered with Lulu hashtags like #SexualPanther, #BigFeet, and #SmellsAmazeballs. The biggest surprise came when we opened them up.
This was Danielle, our manager's, face:
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Let's just say there weren't any erasers inside these bags...
It was a great week, but what really made it shine was being asked where Greeley conference room was by a group of new hires. We didn't have a clue, but we felt like this:
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#ClimbingTheSocialLadder
And with that, we wrapped up the second week at BBG Ventures. It's bittersweet as the program is halfway over, but we're super excited for the next two weeks which are jam-packed with sessions, site visits and pitch meetings.