Bitlume @ Microsoft Build, Game Changer Event

Bitlume an emerging leader for the premier live and on-demand secure streaming for all types of event. We are in an exuberant phase of identifying the right market that can scale our innovation in live stream distribution, monetization and viewer engagement.


To get off the ground we subscribed for the bare metal server from IBM SoftLayer, whipped up the box with CentOS and developed our base app on MEAN Stack. As we continue to build for the market, we are constantly evaluating our cloud architecture, how it integrates with external apps and to build for scale. We are currently evaluating whether to migrate to an affordable cloud offering that enables product build at scale without burning our pocket. We had a great opportunity, as part of the Women in Cloud Accelerator to attend the Microsoft Build Conference.

It was a spectacular and game-changing event for us, especially with our decision to migrate to Azure PaaS from IBM Cloud.




There were some advanced takeaways that we didn’t understand before: Cortana integrates with Alexa to facilitate seamless cross-platform meeting setup; a serverless state is to become midstream in app development in the near future, looks promising. Many interactive booths were intriguing and made the experience interactive and fun. I caught up with some expo presenters to understand their offering and how their service integrates with Microsoft offerings. Such discussions offered valuable information on the opportunity to plug and play with Microsoft cloud solutions.

Overall the vibe in the conference offered an open forum conversation between both the participant and the organizer. At the end of the conference, we were able to conclude our evaluation and have decided to port our product to the Azure PaaS offering which offers enough flexibility in open source application integration.

The entire Women in Cloud team also surprised us with an exclusive opportunity for Accelerator participants to attend the Microsoft Startup Build Welcome Reception with Satya Nadella, held after hours at Miller’s Guild in Seattle.

It was a pleasure to meet with Satya Nadella for a handshake and make a 10-second pitch about my startup Bitlume. He was receptive and spent about 10 minutes listening in to Entrepreneurs patiently.

The access that Women in Cloud have provided to companies like mine in the Accelerator is invaluable and their on-going support is amazing. Here’s to growing in the Azure Cloud!

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Stand Up. 100 Cloud Commitments

When we started our journey with Women in Cloud last year,  we knew we wanted to ignite a conversation and drive action around diversity and inclusion.  We had a sense that a rising tide was coming and our timing was right for “less talk, more action,” but I’m not sure we could have predicted the amazing momentum in the national consciousness around these issues that have emerged in the last handful of months.

Perhaps I should not admit that I tuned in last week to the Oscars primarily to see the beautiful gowns.  I did. But I also listened with the hope that Hollywood would bring focus to the conversation around diversity in their industry.  I was not disappointed. When Frances McDormand asked all female nominees to stand up, I leaned forward in anticipation of what my gut told me would be a special moment.  Stand up she told the women, be recognized.  But then she went on to tell the powerful men and women in the room to support those standing by taking action — don’t just chat tonight at a party she admonished, but take real action and invite these women who stand to a meeting, give them access to opportunity.

I had what I’m now going to think of as my “Frances McDormand” moment  (sadly, without the fabulous gown) at the recent Women in Cloud Summit.  I looked around the room of almost 400  business leaders and amazing emerging talent and I asked them to figuratively stand up and take an action — make a pledge to give women access.  Access to mentorship, access to resources or tools, or access to programs and funding — there are so many ways to contribute.

We named this call to action the “100 Cloud Commitments” and our goal was to get the leaders in the room and those in our broader network to take 100 actions in 2018.  One hundred actions that create access for women entrepreneurs in Washington.

So how did we do? I’m happy to say we have great momentum with more than 50 committed actions to date from individuals pledging their own time to companies of all sizes committing resources for internal and external initiatives.  Here is a sample of some of the amazing commitments we’ve seen so far:

  • Microsoft and HPE jointly funded a 6 month accelerator program for 15 women-led companies to grow their ability to sell into the channel.
  • “I would mentor women to lead, to find their voice and claim a seat at the table,” said one leader who volunteered as a Women in Cloud mentor.
  • Gretchen O’Hara has been actively promoting the Women in Cloud efforts with leadership within the UN and local state initiatives
  • VC Gillian Muessig announced the $100M Sybilla Masters Fund to invest in women-led start-ups. The fund is named after an inventor whose corn milling device was the first invention to receive a patent in the American colonial era.
  • Multiple women have signed up to be technical mentors in leading-edge cloud technologies such as containers, Kubernetes and Docker.
  • Carrie Francey, VP at HPE, signed up to lead an “opportunity circle,” a networking program where women come together to help others achieve their business goals.
  • Michele Keeffe, the veteran entrepreneur and technology marketer, pledged to connect women in technology to the people, leaders, jobs, and companies that will move them closer to their dreams.

I also took a pledge that day.  With a college-age daughter, my interests lie in advising and helping young women carve their career path into tech, particularly into product-oriented roles and I’m mentoring several young women who are starting their career.

So, are you ready to stand up?  We can help. Let us connect you to one of the many women who raised their hand as part of the Women in Cloud Mentor Network. Or, do you have a pledge of your own ready to put into action? Are you ready to support women with access to opportunities? We invite you to help the community hit our 100 Cloud Commitments goal. Reach out to Wendy White here.

Want to hear more about 100 Cloud Commitments?  Check back regularly as we’ll be announcing more each month.

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Let’s start a movement, unlock opportunities!

 

Thank you for being at the Women In Cloud Summit. This is your chance to network with 300+ potential partners.

Women In Cloud Summit celebrates the female entrepreneurs in the tech world; a source of inspiration and support that connects and empowers women leaders and entrepreneurs, helping them to realize their potential and reach new growth through leading cloud industry, community, and government partners.

Through the summit, we aim to bring together many more powerful business leaders and entrepreneurs, to inspire and get inspired, connect with each other, and get their businesses moving to the cloud! Our prestigious speakers will take you through the ups and downs of being leaders, mentors, and entrepreneurs. We promise you will walk away with new insights, completely charged up, and highly motivated to go out there and make a change.

The Summit attendees include people from various domains; from graduate students to marketing and technology professionals, from entrepreneurs to mentors to C-Level executives.

So, put on your thinking hats, dress your best, and walk in with confidence, join the movement to unlock opportunities for yourself, your friends and your community.

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#IgniteWA: 2018 Top Tech Opportunities

 

The IgniteWA team has been tracking along with the entire industry the Top Tech Issues to address in 2018. But we like to see these as tremendous opportunities that hide behind every perceived issue. It’s about having the right perspective and letting that lens focus on the solution.

  1. CYBERSECURITY: From WannaCry to Breaches to a Digital Geneva Convention, businesses of all sizes need to become super vigilant to update continuity plans, look at DR and make security policies part of everyday business life. How do you get educated and engage with the right partners to be secure and focus less on threats and more on your business? For security vendors/partners how can you grow your offering and push your IP into new needed areas to help better serve to exist and attract new customers?
  2. IMMIGRATION: From the travel ban, DACA and the green card backlog, having access to the pool of global talent your business needs to sustain, and grow is paramount. How are you supporting your current global workforce right here in the US and what your employee continuity plan is part of this?
  3. TECHNOLOGY FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES: Ensuring a fair shot for everyone and serving under-connected communities opens new doors of business and partnership.
  4. DIVERSITY AND TECH: A watershed year for women and minorities in business. You need to ensure your business thrives from a diverse workforce and that pushes your thinking and approach.
  5. PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE: Understanding how your business adapts to changing regulations and how to best provide for your customer’s protection is no longer a nice to have it’s a must do.
  6. AI AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY: The future of technology
  7. SUSTAINABILITY AND THE PARIS ACCORD: The U.S. government pulled out, but the tech sector stayed in. Plan on how your business will contribute to protecting the environment and benefit from greener and more eco-friendly business opportunities.
  8. NET NEUTRALITY: It’s not over yet and what is your plan to assure you can reach all your intended customers both current and future – how will your business go forward.
  9. CODING IN SCHOOLS: A decisive year in a decade-long movement and yet we as a nation have a deficiency in science, technology, and innovation. Identify what your business brings to bear to take advantage of these gaps and support cloud and technology acceleration.
  10. GLOBALIZATION OF THE IT SECTOR: It’s a new world

As we advance in 2018, IgniteWA will focus are focused on 4 core areas to advance digital equity and inclusion:

  • TECHNOLOGY FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES: Collaborating with all strategic partners to drive digital imperative bill and innovative solutions to provide digital access to all WA rural communities. #digitalimperative
  • DIVERSITY AND TECH: Launching #WomenInCloud initiative to advance women leaders and entrepreneurship in cloud computing
  • AI AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY: In collaboration with our strategic partners, we will develop and launch AI focused education and readiness programs for WA business owners.
  • NET NEUTRALITY: Creating groundswell movement to bring all communities together to provide collective voice and solutions to address Net Neutrality challenges.
  • PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS: Develop digital ready programs via public-private partnerships to advance digital inclusion.

Interested to tackle these opportunities with us? Then become part of the IgniteWA community, start here.

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Silicon Valley Women In Cloud Leadership Roundtable – Reflections and Call to Action

A recent Women’s entrepreneurship report posted by The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)   said that “In 2016, an estimated 163 million women were starting or running new businesses in 74 economies around the world. In addition, an estimated 111 million were running established businesses. This not only shows the impact of women entrepreneurs across the globe but highlights their contributions to the growth and well-being of their societies.” In addition, over half of women entrepreneurs in the innovation-driven group are in government, health, education, and social services and about 2% women are starting a business in Information and Communications Technology sector. 

Despite substantial progress in the number of women entrepreneurs, the “scaleup-gap” between men and women remains huge, which clearly indicates that there are still some challenges that need to be addressed in this space. These include a greater likelihood of necessity motivation (compared to opportunity), lower growth expectations, and higher rates of discontinuance than men. These challenges just imply that support for new and established businesses really is included in coaching, access to capital, education, mentoring, training, and other resources. These are important assets to grow a women-led business and to help bridge that the gender gap.

 Surprisingly this “scaleup-gap” is also prevalent in Silicon Valley, with its sprawling network of startups. This is the underlying premise for the Women in Cloud initiative (WIC) founded by few teach leaders in Seattle, Washington. Women in Cloud is all about inspiring, empowering and accelerating growth for women-led technology companies. The initiative focuses on digital transformation to provide digital access, digital capabilities and connections to customers through leading cloud industry, community and government partners.

Recently the WIC founding members Chaitra Vedullapalli (CMO & Co-Founder Meylah), Carrie Francey (VP, HPE) and Jacqueline Touma (Founder, CEO Curious Enterprises) hosted a Women in Leadership Roundtable at HPE Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, with the objective of starting a meaningful dialogue and connecting with tech leaders here in the valley around this topic. The event saw participation from several tech companies such as HPE, Mircosoft, SAP, IBM, Brighttalk, Intel. 

We had an insightful conversation about diversity and inclusion strategies that can help advance Women leadership and entrepreneurship in Cloud Computing. Participants shared their perspective and experience with gender bias in the Tech industry. It was interesting to note that while everyone had varied experiences and career paths, there was a vehement agreement on the need for to foster each other’s strengths and to be advocates to support and empower women on this journey.    

After a brief introduction we started with an icebreaker which was so apt to understand the subtle signs of rejection, resistance, and acceptance, “No, Yes But, Yes And”.  On a day to day basis, we see so many women experience rejection and resistance.  It was enlightening to see creativity and innovation derailed with words like “ No”, “but”, and set free in using the qualifier “and”. In today’s world when personal development and success are often driven by innovation “yes, and” can open doors and pave ways for new women-led technology companies. 

This was a great segway into the charter for the WIC initiative. The mission of “Women in Cloud” team is to work with technology startups to change the rejection into acceptance. Through the 6 months immersive Cloud Accelerator program, it aims to assist women-led companies to start and build their businesses with Hewlett Packard and Microsoft distribution channels. 

The WIC team works in collaboration with Industry Partners, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Meylah. 

To learn about this program and upcoming Inaugural summit on Jan 19th visit www.womenincloud.com. 

Finally, the breakfast roundtable concluded with the discussion that a program like this cannot be limited to Seattle area. We need to open the doors to similar conversations and support network here in San Francisco Bay Area. In the coming months, WIC team will be working closely with their SV chapter leaders, Sampada Basarkar and Vandana Deep. 

Stay tuned to find out about the local WIC events. 

Together we can be engaged and make an impact. 

Sampada Basarkar has held several management-level positions in her 20+ years of experience in the industry. She is currently working as a Program Director at IBM. She is a passionate advocate for Women in Technology. 

Vandana Deep has over 20+ years of experience working in diverse roles in the product development and management. She is currently working as a lead architect at SAP. She is an avid advocate of STEM education for the youth and women.  

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