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April 12, 2017 - Melody Jennings Bowers

Why is iFundWomen Founder Karen Cahn Disrupting the Norm?

Here at Virtual Collective, we are building and growing and evolving and thriving for one key reason: our iFundWomen campaign. Thanks to the hands-on coaching and support from the team at iFundWomen our project was funded three weeks into our campaign. Which is why we felt it was the perfect time to interview iFundWomen founder Karen Cahn to find out more about what led to the founding of iFundWomen, her thoughts on digital culture and, obviously, why she thinks data matters. Enjoy!

As Karen Cahn says it, she was born on the internet.

“I was one of those Gen-Xers who was in college when email became popular,” she explains, “and I’ve only ever really worked in the internet.”

Indeed, the iFundWomen founder has spent her entire career in the digital space, working at heavy hitters like Google, YouTube, AOL, and Salon.com to name a few.

And while she enjoyed supportive communities of female co-workers who worked alongside her in media sales, she is quick to acknowledge that that sort of support wasn’t as present on the tech side of the digital world. “I know that my sisters on the engineering side had very different experiences,” Karen shares, referring to the largely male-dominated tech industry, which she says is still, in large part, a “good old bros club.”

Which, in fact, was the impetus that led her to launch iFundWomen.

iFundWomen Crowdfunding Website Homepage Image

She looked specifically for crowdfunding sites for women. And when she couldn’t find any, she decided to build one.

“When we did our first crowdfunding campaign in 2016, I realized how little coaching, mentoring, and information there was available to entrepreneurs in general, let alone female entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding can be confusing, and it’s hard to raise money in general, let alone with no human help to ask questions to or to guide you along the way,” she says.  “Very quickly into our crowdfunding campaign, I figured out that it was just about having basic sales skills. Truly, it’s just sales. Selling people things they want to buy, through your crowdfunding campaign, as a way to fund your business. If you prepare and you have a community and coaching, then it’s do-able.”

That Kickstarter experience led her to the internet where she looked specifically for crowdfunding sites for women. And when she couldn’t find any, she decided to build one.

“Silicon Valley culture hasn’t evolved really. Sure the funding gap for female-run companies is starting to get a little bit better in the Silicon Valley specifically, but everywhere else, it’s not getting better,” she says, “and that’s exactly why we started iFundWomen.”

It's time to disrupt the norm.

We definitely consider her a trailblazer for women in the digital space, and she does too.

Not boastfully, but proudly. And passionately. And with an enthusiasm that is downright contagious.

When only 2%-6% of venture money goes to women and even less than that to women of color, iFundWomen is here to disrupt the norm and close the funding and confidence gaps.

To be clear, it’s not about chest-beating, man-hating females staking their claims.

In fact, it’s just the opposite. “Half of the backers on the platform are men who are excited about the same mission,” says Karen. “iFundWomen is not just a platform, it’s a movement, and it’s going to take all of us working together to get there.”

iFundWomen Founder Karen Cahn - Her Data Method Blog
iFundWomen Founder Karen Cahn - Crowdfunding Platform Build Exclusively For Women - CNBC Executive Edge

Data can open up a whole new world.

Karen’s mission and ours here at Virtual Collective are definitely in sync.

Hers is to help women get equal access to not only funding but to the resources and support needed to help them launch their businesses. Ours? Well, we’re excited to help women successfully launch, grow and thrive with the empowerment that data provides.

“Data is SO important! And I love what Virtual Collective is doing because you’re not dumbing it down,” Karen says, with the same level of excitement that we have as well.

Her Data Method Team at iFundWomen Nashville Marketplace Event

“Historically, women have not been encouraged to go into STEM fields where you are trained on how to use data for every decision. We have been encouraged to go into literally any other field other than STEM, fields like fashion, beauty, lifestyle, or even public service, which is fine, but if you demystify the world of numbers and analytics and tools, and make all of that less scary and more approachable, an entirely new world opens up, and the sky’s the limit. I just think that the mission of Virtual Collective is amazing!”

And coming from an amazing woman like Karen Cahn, we will most definitely take that as a compliment!

“Data is SO important! And I love what Her Data Method is doing because you’re not dumbing it down!”

Conclusion

iFundWomen founder Karen Cahn spoke with Melody about what led her to launch a crowdfunding platform for women-led businesses. After completing a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds when launching her first startup she realized how little information, coaching or handholding is available to entrepreneurs in general, let alone female entrepreneurs. The crowdfunding process can be overwhelming without human help and guidance. When she was unable to find the resources that she was looking for she decided to build a crowdfunding platform for women. Now iFundWomen is here to disrupt the norm and close the funding and confidence gaps for companies like ours to launch projects that we thought not previously possible.

Data Matters! HerDataMethod.com Nashville, TN

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Filed Under: Interviews Tagged With: crowdfunding, data collection, female founders, iFundWomen, startups, women in business

March 29, 2017 - Ashley Haugen

The Day I Fell in Love With Data: A Google Analytics Love Story

Today’s blog post is written by our friend and fellow data lover, Ashley Haugen. Her editorial and management experience has spanned both digital and print formats across local and national markets throughout her career and she currently serves as the Managing Editor at Styleblueprint.com. Keep reading to find out more about Ashley and her love affair with data.

I’ve been an editor for nearly two decades. Having worked on both print and digital publications on both local and national levels. But the day that I was introduced to Google Analytics felt like a rebirth — I fell in love with my work in ways I hadn’t felt in years!

This…is my Google Analytics love story.

The Day it All Began...

I was running a print magazine at the time — one publication in a family of a few. Though my magazine had a web presence, the print publication was my main focus. I basically threw the print content on the website each month and would toss in the occasional web exclusive from time to time as well.

Talk Data To Me Image - A Google Analytics Love Story by Ashley Haugen - Her Data Method Blog

Our IT and web design department was tiny but mighty — two guys and a gal. One of the guys, Freddie, asked me to attend a meeting one morning to go over Google Analytics and SEO, neither of which were terms I was familiar with. But after that morning when he projected his screen and walked us through the Google Analytics dashboard, I was a changed woman. An analytics devotee. A data junkie who, from that point forward, has been posting, measuring and fine-tuning. I now live for pageviews and uncovering organic traffic search terms!

"After that morning when he projected his screen and walked us through the Google Analytics dashboard, I was a changed woman."

That day in that small conference room, I saw for the first time the URLs of my magazine articles on the screen, and I saw them with the number of pageviews on each one. It was a concrete validation that people were actually reading what I had posted (or not)! 

Sure, the print magazine consistently enjoyed 100% pick-up rate, but it was impossible to know whether it was one magazine per person, one reader grabbing a few copies, or hell, it could have been someone picking up the entire bundle and dumping them in the garbage for all I knew.

But Google. Google was giving me what I never knew I craved. It was giving me hard facts and concrete numbers in ways I never thought possible.

Google Analytics Image - Her Data Method Blog

My love continues to grow.

Now, long after that print publication has shut down, and years since I have left the world of print entirely, I happily work 100% in digital media as the managing editor of StyleBlueprint.com.

I live online. I breathe online.

And I never tire of the weekly editorial call when our marketing director goes over our analytics. It’s a real-time look at the successes — and yes, the occasional failures — of the content we create. That is the very data that drives our content strategy.

Quite simply, if an article tanks, we can look at why — was it the time of year? The day of the week? The topic? And on the flipside, if the article takes off, we can see why as well — was it the keyword? Does the topic have a ravenous audience? All of this information helps us decide what direction to take our editorial. Obviously, we like to ride the highs by creating similar content — giving the readers what they clearly want. (OR, we’ll never talk about the topic again if an article bombed!)

A Google Analytics Love Story by Ashley Haugen

Data helps me give 'em what they want.

In short, the data equips my team to provide the best content for our audience, and as an editor, that is my commitment — remembering the reader and giving them what they want. Data helps me do that.

Virtual Collective is filling a TREMENDOUS void in the market by inviting the world of women business owners to start their own love affairs with Google.

It’s not scary, I promise. It’s empowering! And once you see in the data the impact of a decision you’ve made? You’ll fall in love with data too.

And if loving data is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

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Filed Under: Because Data Tagged With: analytics, data collection, google analytics, women in business

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