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Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: Lucy Sanders:  Hi, this is Lucy Sanders. I'm the CEO of NCWIT, The National Center for Women and Information Technology. This is another in a series of interviews that we're having with wonderful women entrepreneurs, people who have started innovative companies, doing great things. All the way from cars, to web services, to education, and lots of interesting entrepreneurs in this interview series. With me Larry Nelson, w3w3.com. Hi, Larry. Larry Nelson:  Hi, I'm so happy to be here. This sounds like it's going to be a real interesting interview. Of course it'll be in a few different places, including on w3w3.com, where you can listen to it anytime you want. Lucy:  That's awesome. Well today, we are interviewing an entrepreneur in the quote "gamification space." The combination of education and the gaming fields, and also, I'm very proud to say a NCWIT member company in our entrepreneurial alliance. Moira Hardek is the president and CEO of Galvanize Labs. Galvanize Labs is a hybrid education and gaming company focused on teaching critical technology skills. They have produced a number of educational video games and most recently, a game called "Taken Charge." That's a merge of players and very captivating learning stories while teaching them some of the fundamental building blocks of a quality technology education. Before that, Moira spent a number of years at Best Buy where she created and piloted a program I think many of our listeners will know well as part of the Geek Squad Summer Academy. This was a really great hands‑on technology education camp. It's still going on today. Very successful, and had a particular emphasis on young women. Before we start with the interview questions, Moira, why don't you give us a little bit about the latest at Galvanize Labs? This is a relatively recent startup, correct? Moira Hardek:  Yes, we're just a little bit over a year old, and our big launch right now is Taken Charge. Taken Charge is all about teaching about the building blocks of technology education. To be able to get into things like coding and game design and more advanced technology topics, we are teaching the building blocks of technology to get more kids prepared to get into more advanced topics of tech education, and we're really excited about it. Lucy:  This is a follow‑up question to that. You're in this hot space of computing education in the K‑12, K‑16 spaces. What are you seeing out there that's going on? Is there a shift, do you think, in the general public's interest of this area? Moira:  I think so, definitely. Technology is everywhere. It's not just an industry and a field to work in, although it's a very, very exciting place to work in. Technology is part of any type of career that you want to be part of. We used to ask that of all of our students when we were taking other types of programs. We've challenged kids. They would say, "I don't know if I really need to have Tech Ed, because I don't know if I want to be a programmer, and I don't know if I want to be a game designer." We challenge them, we said, "Can you name a career or name a job where you're not going to interact with technology?" You can't anymore, so this is important across any type of career that you're going to have. We think this is just a key building block for anything you're going to do today. Lucy:  We agree. We think too, at NCWIT, that we're seeing a key change here and it's good. It's about time. Galvanize Labs is going to play a huge role in that. Moira, why don't you tell our listeners how you first got interested in technology? You had a technology career at Best Buy, and Geek Squad Academy, and now at Galvanize. Tell us a bit about how you got there. Moira:  First, it's that interest in technology, I think probably the way that you get interested in anything. It was just purely curiosity. Not to date myself, but there weren't computer or tech‑ed classes when I was in school. That stuff really wasn't available, and I think the first computers that I ever saw was Apple IIE's, and giant Gateway towers that were like three and a half feet tall. I was just curious. I just wanted to know what they were and I knew just enough to be dangerous. I think I'll never forget the first thing I ever did was, I'd deleted a file that was called "AutoExec.Batch" because I was like, "I've never seen that, or used that before, so I can just delete that [laughs] and get rid of it." Little did I know, you need that for Windows to start. I knew enough to be dangerous. Being dangerous means I did damage. Then I had to learn how to repair things. That's was how I got started... Lucy:  [laughs] Moira:  ...was I was just really self‑taught. Lucy:  [laughs] Larry:  Wow. Lucy:  I guess that's how you learn how to repair things. I have to tell you a similar story that when Bell Labs first brought Unix from out of Murray Hill and West of the Mississippi, I was one of the first Unix Administrators on a little PDP server, and one of my colleagues dared me to erase a file that was a root file. To sit up at root and do an RM minus RF star and he goes, "Certainly it won't allow you to erase the whole file system." [laughter [ Lucy:  Guess what? Certainly it did. [laughter] Moira:  Yeah. Lucy:  Everybody started complaining, "Where are my files? Where are my files?" I almost didn't want to come to work the next day. Larry:  [laughs] Lucy:  It was bad. Moira:  It was the lure of gaming too. I never really had played computer games or anything like that. Someone had told me a story about this game, and it was like, "You can build civilizations." I really like history, and I was like, "Really? You can watch history evolve digitally?" They said, "Yeah, there's this game, it's called Civilization, and it's by this guy Sid Meier." I was like, "That sounds like the coolest thing." It was the original Civ, but you could really only play it on Linux. I was like, "What's that?" They said, "It's another operating system." I was like, "What do you mean? There's Windows, and what else is there?" I didn't know. I learned enough, and I remember I had to learn how to create partitions and a parallel boot on my first laptop I ever to at college. It was a disaster, and I totally blew it up, and I think it took me like three months. I finally figured out how to do it, all because I wanted to see Civilization. Lucy:  That's amazing. Larry:  Yes, wow. You certainly do have a very interesting website too, by the way. Lucy:  Plus, I'm sending her all my broken tech. [laughter] Larry:  Well, very good, excellent, excellent. Oh no, but with all of this in the field that you're in, why are you an entrepreneur, and what is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Moira:  For me, it was just about being able to solve problems. That is just my favorite thing to do, whether it's around the house...Actually, the first thing that I studied in college, and that I was interested in, and I got into it actually in high school, was animal behaviors. I thought that was so interesting because it was very pure and very simplistic. It was "Why do animals do things?" without the complexity of human emotion behind it, and the drama that we can create, and the circumstances of our situation. It was really just about narrowing it down to the simplest basic need. Problem‑solving became something that was really important to me, and so entrepreneurship became really very natural, because to me it's all about "see a need, fill a need." It became, "find a problem, solve a problem." That was my favorite part, and I love to do it, whether it's...I think that's probably why I initially started in tech support, and the same way from...I really wanted to see what the game Civilization looked like, and I spent months. I was, "Darn it," I was going to see that game. I wanted to solve for that. That was the biggest thing for me, and entrepreneurship to me is about solving problems, and I love to do it, and it's why I get up in the morning, is to solve a problem. Larry:  I love it. Lucy:  Along this career path, who has influenced you, what types of mentors or role models? Moira:  Oh my God, I have tons. I think... Larry:  [laughs] Moira:  ...the funniest thing right now, the one that everybody gets a kick out of is I am probably some creepy, perfect hybrid of my parents. My mom spent 35 plus years in Chicago public schools as a teacher, and as a counselor, and special‑ed. My father worked in a lot of Silicon Valley start‑ups, back in the day. To be doing educational start‑ups now is just hilarious for my whole family. It's some perfect kind of...It was very natural to me, growing up around this type of environment. I had no idea what it was when I was a kid. It just seemed to make sense. I never really understood the barriers of big business. It was just always, "Yeah, if you want to do something, go out and do it." As far as mentors go, and role models, my parents were great role models. I have one sister, my older sister Kerry. I think she's probably got to be the greatest role model of strength I've ever had. I've spent most of my life looking to my sister and just drawing from her as an example of strength for my whole life. I've had great role models to look to in the industry. A big role model for me was Brad Anderson. He was the CEO of Best Buy for the majority of the time that I was there. People like Dr. Genevieve Bell from Intel, and Jane McGonigal, I think are other great role models. I have been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors. Probably the most impact was a gentleman named Michael Trebony, and he was my mentor for years while I was at Best Buy, and he's still very influential in my life today. Maybe one of the most important things that he taught me was...There are a lot of really charismatic people out there, there are a ton of leaders, there's a lot of people to listen to, there's a lot of influence. I think maybe the most important thing that he taught to me, "It's not so much about what people say, it's about who's saying it, and what are their intentions when they're speaking to you" I think that was probably one of the most powerful things he taught me. Larry:  Wow. Who is saying it? Well, I'm going to ask you the question now. [laughter] Larry:  What is the toughest thing that you've had to do in your career? Moira:  Probably the hardest thing was making the original jump from working for a company, the original jump into starting my own. Working with me was my team, and we've been together for a while. I think that the scariest part, or the toughest thing for me, is the sense of responsibility that I feel for the team that is Galvanize Labs. There's seven of us that make up the company currently now, I'm incredibly close to all of them. The sense of responsibility [laughs] that I feel for their careers, and their futures, and their families, I think has to probably be the scariest thing I've ever done. I feel so responsible for them. That is the only thing that's ever given me a moment of pause. Usually, I'm pretty risk‑averse, and it really can roll off my back. I probably little bit live on the edge, but when it comes to risking others, that's always the hardest thing. Lucy:  That is hard. Larry:  Yeah, it is. Lucy:  That is hard, and that sense of responsibility never goes away. Moira:  Yeah, it's brutal. [laughs] Lucy:  I know it is. [laughs] You can't just shut it off, and that's for sure. If you were sitting here right now, and giving a young person advice about entrepreneurship, and the things you've learned so far, what advice would you give them? Moira:  I think probably the most important thing is, and I made this mistake early on too, is don't do it alone, and you're never alone. It's funny, for the mentors, and the role models that I had, and the things that you read online. Even to be sitting here doing this interview. I do this interview here as an individual. I don't want to send the message that I've never done it alone. I haven't. I've always had wonderful support of my family, and my spouse, and my team, and my mentors. I've never been alone. I think, when you look at those that are running companies, and those that you look up to, you're looking at an individual. You make this assumption, "Wow, look at what they did, and they did it alone, and they persevered." They're not, they're not doing it alone. They have support, and they have help, and there's a lot of people around them. Don't ever try to do it alone. Bring that support with you. It's OK to ask for help, and it's OK to make sure that you're surrounded. You really want to have that. Then I think the flip side of that is my favorite word, the one that got me through all this was, relentless. That's just what you have to be is just be relentless. Larry:  I like that too. With all the different things that you've been through, and reflecting back, what characteristics do you have that give you the advantage of being an entrepreneur? Moira:  I probably think I'd have to go back to my parents for that one again. In that when we were growing up, they instilled this great sense of personal responsibility. No matter what was happening. I remember getting in trouble as a little kid. We all did it. I'll admit it. You go to point the finger. Particularly at my sister, you have a sibling, it was like, "She did it." No matter what happened, they were like, "What did you do? How were you responsible for it, what could you have done to stop the situation from happening?" It was always about personal responsibility, and even if you saw a problem, and whether you chose to act, and it turned out well, or it didn't, or if you chose not to act, that was still your responsibility. I think the biggest piece about this is really the personal responsibility, so from the responsibility to Galvanize as a company, and the responsibility that I feel towards my team, the responsibility that I feel for the problem that I'm trying to solve. Part of the reason that Galvanize is here is I'm trying to solve a problem, and I feel personally responsible to do that, because I have a skill set that allows me to solve it. That's what brings me here. I think that particular characteristic is what I bring to the table as an entrepreneur, and makes a big difference. Lucy:  It's interesting that you point out this area of personal responsibility when you choose not to act. Moira:  That's a choice too. That's always a big one is choice, and not acting is also a choice. I think most people...I don't know if everybody sees it that way, and again I really felt I had to think how deeply that was instilled in me and ingrained in me is that not acting is also a choice, and you're responsible for that as well. Lucy:  Wow. I think that's so tremendously important, and we don't hear that said very much. There was this one time when I took a leadership course when I was working at AT&T. They were trying to make a point with us, choosing not to act, and not to bring up problems when you see them, and they called it sabotage. [laughter] Lucy:  I thought for a while "Whoa! That's a strong word!" Obviously, I never forgot it. There is an element of truth to that, when you choose not to act. Maybe not. Moira you have a spouse, and you have other friends and family, and other personal interests, and also a busy professional life. How do you bring balance to all the different things you do? Moira:  You hear the conversations a lot about work‑life balance. I've sat in those seminars too, where we get sent to those when you work for a big company, about work‑life balance. I watched a lot of people struggle with it. I was really confused for a while. I didn't feel it, and I didn't see it. I watched people struggle with it, and I thought something was wrong with me. Lucy:  [laughs] Moira:  I remember talking to my spouse about it and I said, "Am I missing something?" What dawned on me is, and it almost had to be explained to me, was the greatest part about what I'm able to do, I know I'm so lucky and blessed to have this is, what I do for a living is also who I am for a living. I bring who I am in my personal life to work every single day. Sure, I don't know if I'd sit through as many conferences as I would, if it was a personal choice. There are some [laughs] professional lines you do draw. As far as my day‑to‑day, and I'll admit there are certainly some hundred‑hour work weeks, and there have been some overnighters. This is a start‑up it's going to happen. The greatest part about myself and my team is what we all do for our jobs is who we are. We have a ton of fun with that. I couldn't tell you where I laugh more. Do I laugh more in my home or at work? I really don't know, because I laugh a lot at both. There's joking, and there may be a little singing and dancing. You've got to dance it out. [laughs] We just have a lot of fun with it because it's just who we are. For me, I really haven't had to struggle with that. I know sometimes from the outside it can be tough, again having an incredibly supportive family. Particularly with my spouse, who puts up with my really crazy hours. I think a lot of the patience comes from...I may be on my laptop, and in virtual meetings at two o'clock in the morning sometimes. She can hear my laughter, and so it's OK. [laughter] Larry:  That's excellent, wow. You've really shared some very excellent ideas, and I have to ask you this. You've already achieved a great deal. What's next for you? Moira:  As far as what's next? It's simple. We like to solve problems, and there will always be more problems, which means more solutions. That's what's we're looking to do. At Galvanize we have four pillars that really define who we are. We think that combining these four pillars can very effectively solve any problem. The pillars for us are, the first one is data, so being able to collect data and information to properly analyze a problem. We believe very, very strongly in education. It's not just education as in school, although that's what Taken Charge is very focused the education of kids. Even whether it's educating someone on a product, or learning about your city in which you live, or learning about the smartphone that you have, knowledge is power, so education is big for us. Game theory, for us, is really what drives everything, and that's our third pillar. Game theory is all about creating internal motivation. It's not just gamification, it's not just having fun, but creating motivation for your user. Then the fourth pillar being a great user experience, and nobody's going to do anything if they have a lousy experience. We think those four things in combination can solve any problem, and we have a laundry list of problem that we'd love to solve. Once we solve this tech ed things, we've got that covered, we'll move on to the next problem. Lucy:  See? Larry:  Yes. Lucy:  It gives me great hope, because we're going to have all of these young people learning these really critical 21st Century skills, and they need them. Larry:  Thank you Galvanize. Lucy:  Yeah, [laughs] thank you. Thank you, Moira. We really appreciate your time. Moira:  Well, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Lucy:  I want to remind listeners that they can find these interviews at the ncwit.org website, as well as the wonderful w3w3.com. Larry:  Yes. Lucy:  All right, well thank you Moira. We really appreciate it. Moira:  [laughs] Thanks a lot. Lucy:  OK. Larry:  Thanks a lot. Lucy:  Have a great week. Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Moira HardekInterview Summary: Moira Hardek is President and CEO of Galvanize Labs, Inc (http://galvanizelabs.com/) which she founded in early 2013. Galvanize Labs is a hybrid education and gaming company focusing on teaching technology as a subject, instead of merely a collection of topics.  Galvanize Labs has produced the browser-based, technology education video game, Taken Charge (https://takenchargegame.com/), that submerges players in a captivating story while teaching them the building blocks need for quality technology education. " I have been lucky enough to have some amazing mentors. Probably the most impact was a gentleman named Michael Trebony, and he was my mentor for years while I was at Best Buy, and he's still very influential in my life today," said Hardek about who has helped her along the way. "Maybe one of the most important things that he taught me was that it's not so much about what people say, it's about who's saying it, and what are their intentions when they're speaking to you." Release Date: July 25, 2014

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with Laura Fitton CEO and Co-founder, OneForty Date: April 25, 2011 NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes: Interview with Laura Fitton [musical introduction] Lucy Sanders: Hi, this is Lucy Sanders, the CEO of NCWIT, the National Center for Women In Information Technology. This is the next interview in a series of interviews we've had with women who have started wonderfully successful tech companies. We're always interested to catch up with our latest entrepreneur and see what she's doing. With me is Larry Nelson, W3W3.com. What's going on at W3W3, Larry? What's the news? Larry Nelson: Well, I'm trying to learn more about Twitter. Other than that, things are going good. We've got a number of business people who tune into the various shows with NCWIT. It's not only business leaders and parents, but also many young women who listen for some great ideas. Lucy: Today we're interviewing someone who is known as the Queen of Twitter, Laura Fitton. I guess that's why you said something about Twitter, isn't it? [laughter] Well, you need to get the number right in your Twitter. Larry: I was just trying to check her out there. Lucy: We're interviewing somebody who is known as the Queen of Twitter, Laura Fitton. Laura Fitton: [laughter] I think Lady Gaga deserves the crown now. Lucy: Lady Gaga! Laura: Once upon a time. Lucy: [laughter] That would be great, maybe we should try to interview Lady Gaga. Any way, Laura is the founder of oneforty.com. Oneforty.com helps people understand Twitter and the exploding ecosystem of applications and services built on it. Oneforty.com has been called the "app store" for Twitter by TechCrunch and others. It's really a place to find awesome tools that really help you use Twitter, not just in ways for yourself but also for your business and so forth. I went and looked at some of the apps there and it just shows how much I need to catch up on the world of Twitter. [laughter] Laura: It's so true. We started out the Consumer App store and quickly learned from our users that they need us to cut through all the noise and provide them with reporting, with solutions to streamline their social business. Oneforty.com is really the place where tool providers, experts, and business leaders are sharing all their advice and lessons learned regarding social business. If your business needs to be getting into social media, this is the place to start. Lucy: Well, Laura, we're really happy you're here today. Maybe you could start off quickly telling us the latest news from oneforty.com. I think it's a place that most of us really need to know about. Laura: Sure! Thank you. In the last four months, we've done a pretty significant pivot, again user-led. We offered people a little thing we called "Toolkits," which were these humble little lists. The idea was, well you're using Twitter online but you're also using it on your phone and a few other places, using a lot of different tools. People came in and said, "Well, here's how to market a car dealership," "Here's how to market a restaurant." Or, "Here's what a realtor needs to know about social media and social business." So we responded to our users like any good startup does. In the last three weeks, we have completely relaunched the site centered around four business personas. All of the directory is still there, but we're really focusing it on connecting people with what they need to streamline and scale social. Lucy: So oneforty.com three weeks ago had a relaunch? That's pretty exciting news. Like I said, the site was just great and I really enjoyed looking at it yesterday. Laura: Thank you so much. The other thing that's new is that I was just on a webinar where I gave a sneak preview of some products that we're just launching that put everything you need for social all in one place-tools, all the workflow, all the guides on what to do next. Kind of training wheels for social engagement, making it really easy. Lucy: So Laura, it's really pretty exciting times at oneforty.com. Thanks very much for telling us all about the new site launch three weeks ago. It's really a great site and we really appreciated taking a look at it earlier this week. One of the things we like to find out from our entrepreneurs is how they first got interested in technology, as well as ask them a follow-up question to that where we ask them to look into their crystal ball regarding which technologies they think are out there that will change things even more? Laura: Awesome. Well I was a kid who was really into science, so I came to technology through science. In fact, my degree is in Environmental Science and Public Policy. I always played around with consumer web technologies, but never got involved in software development or anything like that, quite up until I did the startup. So it was a very odd choice for me, because I'd never seen software built. I knew tons of people in the interactive industry who did build software. I had lots of friends who had invested in it, had worked at startups, had run startups. But I myself had never done it. My connection to startups was that I was kind of a communications consultant. I did a lot of work on helping people to present and speak more effectively. And obviously entrepreneurs are constantly on the hot-seat having to present, so I stayed very close to the startup community but never dove into it myself. Long story short, I moved to Boston in 2006 just in time to have my second kid. They're like 14 or 15 months apart. I've no business network up here and I have to restart that communications consulting firm after nearly two years out of the market. So I get into blogging. I hear about this Twitter thing. I blog how stupid this Twitter thing is, around March 2007. And then two months later, the nickel drops and I say, wait a minute. I can surround myself with successful, interesting people and still be this home-based mom of two kids under two, and yet stay motivated and inspired throughout my workday. And that is exactly what appealed to me about Twitter when Twitter finally did appeal to me. Then I got so emphatic over how so much it was changing my life and how amazing and exciting it was for me that I just ran out there with this blog post called, "Ode to Twitter" on something like August 11, 2007. I mailed it to Guy Kawasaki, who, believe me, had never heard of me. And I just started telling everyone who would listen. To my great luck, Guy Kawasaki did listen and then turned around and trumpeted to the rest of the world. So in this very short time, I went from not even really knowing what the term "web 2.0" means in March 2007 to being profiled by the author of "Naked Conversations," one of the first major books in the space, less than a year later in April 2008. The next month, Wiley is coming to me asking me to write "Twitter for Dummies." I'm relaunching my communications consulting firm as a Twitter for business consulting firm, which was a little insane to do in September 2008. It was still really early on the concept and I'm just incredibly lucky that I staked my career on Twitter and not on one of the competitors like Pounce or Plurk, most of which have dried up or disappeared. I got very excited about a technology, because it made huge personal and professional changes in my life. It's like the classic adage to follow your passion and you can't go wrong. I was still was dragged into it kicking and screaming, though. For four months after having the idea for oneforty.com, I was trying to pawn it off on somebody else. But hey, you go build the startup and I'll advise. I'm smart enough to not do a startup. I know they're kind of hell. I'm in the middle of a divorce and have two very young kids. (They were two and three at the time.) And yet I failed at quitting it. I kept trying to quit it and I kept failing at quitting. So in March 2009 I finally started it up in earnest and it's been two years now. Lucy: You know, your comments kind of lead to our second question. Larry: Boy, I'll say, is that a fact. Here you came into this thing through science. You've been through all the different types of things, you knew you wanted to give it up. But... Lucy: And she tried to not be an entrepreneur. Larry: Yeah, exactly. Laura: I tried so hard. I'd worked for a startup in my 20s and the guy was nuts. [laughter] Laura: I've worked with a lot of entrepreneurs and I love entrepreneurs. You have to be fundamentally out of touch with reality on some level to be an entrepreneur, because otherwise you would know that your idea can't possibly work. You need enough detachment from that to be able to go make it work. Which is great, but boy, it puts you into some weird places, doesn't it? Larry: Boy, I'll say so. What is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Laura: I don't know, because I never thought I was an entrepreneur until this happened. [laughter] I have mad curiosity. I love to see things for myself. One of the people who has been kind enough to mentor me is Tony Hsieh, who is the CEO of Zappos. I won't be able to remember exactly what they were, but he asked me three very simple framing questions when I was kind of whimpering and whimpering and saying that I couldn't possibly be the CEO. It was, "Do you have that natural drive and curiosity?" "Do you want to see things for yourself?" And one other thing. He said, "If you have that, you're good. Everything else, you can learn." Lucy: Zappos is a great company. I just ordered my son four birthday shirts from them. Larry: Oh, all right! [laughter] Laura: That's the [inaudible 9:00] , girl. Tony is a fantastic human being, very generous with what little time he has. Lucy: It sounds like Tony definitely supported you on your way on your career path. Do you have other role models or mentors or other people who influenced you? Laura: I was carried by this net, literally my network. When I first did my angel pitch, there were a few people I knew in the investment community who charitably dialed in to hear it and asked me leading questions to help me understand what I was missing. One of them was Christine Herron, who at the time was with First Round Capital and now is with Intel Capital. She literally had to ask me in my first angel pitch, "Laura, where's the pricing coming from?" And I didn't even know what the word "pricing" meant at that point. [laughter] I was that naive. I tried to answer it. Later another person-again, these were friends because of social networking-Dave McClure was kind enough to take the time to listen to the recording. He asked, "Do you know what Christine was trying to tell you, Laura?" I said candidly, "No." And he explained it to me. So I was carried by this huge network of cheerleaders and supporters and mentors. One of the weird, kind of, "rags-to-riches, Cinderella" aspects of all of this is, I was so completely unknown, and then a year later I was in a book by Seth Godin and I was being mentored by Seth and by Guy Kawasaki and by people whose blogs I'd been reading for a long time and looking up to. And it actually took awhile to come to terms with accepting that. Like I felt guilty. I felt like, why am I getting all this time from all these busy people, there's nothing that special about me, I'm just sort of whatever. And then the way I came to peace with how incredibly generous the world was being with all of this was just like, OK, maybe they see a chance to get something done in the world by helping me get it done. So my responsibility to pay back the debt of all this mentorship is not only to do mentoring when I finally have bandwidth to do it, but to follow through and to make sure I realize the riches I've been given and try to create something with it. So that's been incredibly powerful to keep me going. Lucy: Well, and you know this interview is part of a give back. We have had a lot of people listen to these interviews, we have a social networking campaign with Twitter right now, on this interview series, so we really thank you for being with us and giving some of that advice back. Laura: Thanks. Larry: Well you know with all of the neat things you've done, Laura, what is the toughest thing that you've ever had to do in your career? Laura: That is such a great question. I was going to say that, the days after you run into a wall, because make no illusion, you run into a wall time, time and time again when the start-up [inaudible 11:46] , you fail all the time. Investors flake, co-founders drop out, people you hired don't work out, whatever. It's constantly running into a wall. And the next moment where you have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, is really painful, it's hard. And just staying calm and.. and one lesson I've learned? Being radically nice to everybody, even if they kind of screwed you over. Because it preserves the relationship and you never know where that relationship leads in the future. That said, I'm very lucky, in that the energy just kept surging back to get through those times. I can't even take ownership of that, it was like being a lightning rod. I would give up, I would go to sleep like, "OK it didn't work, tomorrow I'll figure out something else," and I'd wake up still hell-bent on making it happen. So I was lucky. Lucy: Wow, it's great advice to be radically nice to people, even if you think they screwed you over. [laughs] I mean, it's powerful advice and I think it's advice that you might give to any young person who was thinking about being an entrepreneur. Do you have any other advice that you might tell a young person if they were on this call right now or listening to this interview? Laura: I think it's really important to not discount the most trite, childhood, what-your-mother-tells-you of all, is really be yourself. People told me that. I really struggled growing up, I was not socially well adapted, I was very emotional and kind of out of touch with my colleagues, like had a hard time in elementary school. And everyone was like, "oh just be yourself!" and I'm like "yeah, right." You know, "everybody hates me, I can't be myself." But it is so true that the more I was able to connect with "OK, that is what makes me tick, I'm just going to go with it." I mean, I never set out to think, "I'm going to rave about Twitter for a year and a half and someday it's going to be my job to do that." I just couldn't contain my excitement. So things worked out really well for me. I was very lucky. Larry: You know, with all the things that you've been through, in your childhood, preschool and everything else, what are the personal characteristics that really give you the advantage of being an entrepreneur? Laura: Definitely resilience. Some of the greatest gifts that I've been given in life were times that frankly sucked. I won't trot them all out, but... a couple tough things here and there. A couple really scary things that ended really well, like a premature baby and a very minor stroke, and things like that. But those are huge gifts and I don't think people see them in the moment when they're first happening. Again, I want to fall back to the trite, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger," but there is huge, huge, huge silver lining in every negative thing that happens to you. Even if it's just making up a story in your head like "hey, that felt really terrible but I actually just dodged a bullet, because it could have been this," and I look back at the tough times and I am so grateful for every single one of them. I'm sad for the places where something terrible happened and it made other people sad, but I'm so grateful for how much strength they gave me and how much ability to bounce back and how much calm they gave me. I would not give up a single one of them. Lucy: That's just wonderful advice. That's so true of life in general, right? Being able to learn from tough times. Laura: Yeah. Lucy: And really integrate that into how you're looking at situations. Laura: I really do just straight-up cherish some of them. Lucy: Yeah, I think personally I had some in my corporate career that ultimately led to me coming here and doing what we're doing now with MC Wit, and it's just kind of interesting when you look back and thing "gosh, if that hadn't happened I wouldn't be here." Larry: Yep. You bet. Laura: Right! Lucy: It's totally the case. Laura: You know one of the more bizarre things I did was when I was about 26 or 27 I kind of more or less adopted one of my nieces. Who was, you know, "go and live with your aunt for the fun of it," right? So she had a couple things. And my mom was so, like, almost mad at me. She thought I was crazy to do it. But it was huge, I got so much more out of that experience than I put into it. A lot of growing up, a lot of taking responsibility, a lot of learning about how radically permanent love for a child is, because she really was functionally my daughter for three years, when she was 15, 16 and 17. And I remember thinking, "oh how hard can it be?" And wow, it was really hard. You know, being a teenager is tough, and being a teenager who's had a crappy run-in up to there was tough, too. But it took me out of my shell, it made me connect to people in new ways, my career catapulted because I had to get my act together. And I just love her so much, it was just incredible, it taught me a lot. Lucy: Well and that kind of gets to our next question we were talking some about, sometimes people say "oh, you should have balance between your work and your personal life," and how do you bring balance. We've talked to people about it really being an integration, and we're just curious to get your point of view on this issue of work- life balance and how you achieve it? Laura: It's tough and I don't think I'm super good at it. Yeah, not enough. I try to be really present with my kids when I'm not working. I would really love to bike commute more often, because it's about a nine mile, very flat, ride, very easy, takes the same amount of time the train does but forces me to exercise. And I think that's really important in managing the stress. Again, in a twisted way, I'm lucky that I'm divorced, because my ex is a fantastic dad, and he and his fiance are a great family for my girls in the 50 percent of the time I don't have them. I use that 50 percent of the time I don't have them to do all the extremes like, stay up late and work, or travel, or the different things you have to do to do a start-up. And I think that it would be tough if it was an intact marriage, and I didn't have that really clear-cut line of "OK, you are not a mommy right now." Yeah, of course I call them and stuff like that. But I'm not functionally needing to be there for them. And being more present when I am there with them. Larry: My goodness, I must say that you have really done a great deal, you've achieved a lot. What's next for you? What's on the horizon? Larry: You know, I don't think you ever feel like you've achieved a lot. I always feel just like, "oh crap, what's next? Oh my god, we've got to surmount this, we've got to surmount that." It's not like our company's profitable. It's not like we have a billion users. And I think if you asked everybody along wherever they are in the entrepreneurial process, they'd probably talk a lot more about what's yet to come than about what they feel they've achieved. So there's a ton of professional development I want to do, a lot of skills I want to improve upon and learn. I have this little fantasy about joining a team in the future where I'm a relatively junior part and I can really stretch and grow and learn from others who are just the best at what they do. I still don't have very much management experience, I never had an employee before oneforty.com, and so that means it's been really tough for me and for my employees to learn how to manage on the fly, learn all about software on the fly, learn all about business on the fly. And I just feel like I have so much more growing to do. Lucy: Well we have no doubt that oneforty.com is headed towards great success. Laura: Thank you very much. Lucy: We really do thank you and wish you the best of luck. So I want to remind listeners that they can find us at w3w3.com and also mcwit.org and to tell their friends this is a great interview, and to go visit oneforty.com and learn more about how to use Twitter. I know Larry's going there! Larry: I'm going to oneforty.com . Lucy: I saw him underline "Twitter for Dummies." [laughter] Laura: It's tough, right, I can't really give out my book as a gift because it's a bit insulting, isn't it? Thank you so much for the opportunity, such a salute out to, it shouldn't matter, but to the women in technology who are my heroes. Because it is inspiring to see, you know, Padmasree Warrior as the CEO of Cisco, Kara Swisher just tearing it up in tech journalism, Katarina [inaudible 19:01] , one of the first social media founders of a company. Rash [inaudible 19:12] is running slideshare.net, Marissa Meyer who's done phenomenal things at Google. It shouldn't matter whether, you know, I'm inspired by lots of men, too, but it really does mean a lot and I'm just so grateful for all of them and their work. Lucy: Well thank you, and I know people are really going to enjoy this interview. Larry: Yeah, thank you. Laura: Thank you. Lucy: All right, bye Laura. Laura: Take care, bye bye. [music] Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Laura FittonInterview Summary: Once upon a time known as "Queen" of Twitter, Twitter's own mom-at-home to tech CEO Cinderella Story is CEO/Founder of www.oneforty.com and co-author of Twitter for Dummies. You can read her story in the Boston Globe, on Xconomy.com or watch her Mixergy interview. Release Date: April 25, 2011Interview Subject: Laura FrittonInterviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry NelsonDuration: 20:12

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with Asra Rasheed CEO, RRKidz Date: October 25, 2010 NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes [music] Lucy Sanders: Hi this is Lucy Sanders, the CEO of the National Center for Women in Information Technology or NCWIT. And this is another in a series of interviews that we're doing with women who have started IT companies. Just really fabulous entrepreneurs with lots and lots of great advice for people who are thinking about becoming entrepreneurs. With me is Larry Nelson from W3W3, hi Larry. Larry Nelson: I'm so happy to be here, this is a great series. Lucy: Well and W3W3 is a great partner and their podcasts are hosted on the NCWIT site as well as the W3W3 site. Also Lee Kennedy, serial entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Bolder Search, she's also an NCWIT Director. Welcome, Lee. Lee Kennedy: Thank you. It's great to be here. Larry: Yeah. Lucy: Well, so we've got a person that we're interviewing today that really likes to play and game around. OK. I mean this is great. I think we're going to have a fun time with her, her name is Asra Rasheed and she's the CEO of RRKidz. And RRKidz develops and publishes engaging and interactive content for today's digital kids. And she really has had a very accomplished career as an entrepreneur and you'd say this, she's a serial entrepreneur like you are, Lee, very successful. And she loves gaming. She's actively been engaged with the women in Gaming International, something that is near and dear to NCWIT's heart. So Asra, welcome. Asra Rasheed: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me today, it's a real pleasure to be here. Lucy: Well so tell us just a bit about RRKidz and what's going on, what's the latest. Asra: So RRKidz basically is a division of Burton-Wolfe Entertainment and Burton-Wolfe Entertainment was formed LeVar Burton. Some of you may know him from Star Trek, Jordie, and of course from Reading Rainbow. And Mark Wolfe is a producer who also worked on Terminator Three. So the two of them came together and they really thought that there was a need in the market for good quality fun learning experiences for kids and that's when they decided to launch RRKidz, January of this year. And I came on board as CEO of their company in April and RRKidz basically represents today's digital kids. We have an opportunity to educate this generation and future generations but what we see happening is that children now are spending less time in front of the television set and more time in front of devices such as their iPhone, online, and even their iPads believe it or not. So we're very excited to be able to bring explorative learning experience for kids but also more important, we want this to be the right place for parents and educators as well. Lucy: Well that sounds pretty exciting and maybe you'll be able to get William Shatner away from, what was it, Priceline? [laughter] Asra: Yes. Larry: And I interviewed Leonard Nemoy about three weeks ago, so. Lucy: Oh my gosh. Asra: Wonderful. Lucy: We're a Star Trek kind of crowd. Well Asra tell us a little bit about how you first got into technology. Asra: I have always had this fascination with technology. I'm a very creative entrepreneur. I love sort of drawing things and sketching things out and I became very fascinated with technology back in let's say 1999, 2000, when websites were sort of becoming the big thing. And I started exploring that market and I noticed there was a really big opportunity for companies, smaller companies and mid-size companies to sort of take advantage of the online space and they just really didn't know how to adopt the platform. And so I found that to be the sort of opportunity where I could help them design what they wanted to do but also bring in technology and tie the two together. And so in 2000, you know it was interesting, everyone was saying, "You have to be online, " and "Oh I just got this great website and I spent about fifty thousand dollars for it, " and I said, "Wow, you know that's an awful lot to be online." And what I did was I tapped into my resources offshore and created a development team which allowed us to bring costs down on developing websites. And so that was sort of my first entry into technology, certainly a learning experience for me. Lucy: Absolutely. Tapping into offshore development resources back then well, that was just starting to happen. Lee: And it certainly leads into our next question about being an entrepreneur and why you like being an entrepreneur. Because definitely tapping into offshore resources is pretty entrepreneurial. Asra: That's a good question. So, I always go back to saying that my entrepreneur spirit comes from my parents. Ever since we were kids, we all grow up in this home where both my mom and dad started their own companies and they're first generation immigrants here to the US. And I really admire them for what they did. They came here. They're educated here and they started two companies which were both very, very successful. So, my father would actually take me to his office every summer and I would have to sit there and take note on everything he did. He had a factory back then and that factory was based in Taiwan. So, that was sort of my first kind of exposure to offshore resources. I had a chance to get on to the assembly line, he manufactured for us lighting fixtures of all things. And even back then, I was trying to figure out how you could make that more exciting than just it being a light bulb. So, that was sort of my first entrepreneurial offshore experience. But in general, my mom as well, she started a company. She manufactured sil plants. She created silk flower arrangements and sold them to Price Club back then. So, I've always been surrounded by people who have been very entrepreneurial and they've also been risk takers which is sort of one of the things that you need to be when you are an entrepreneur. Lee: That is pretty interesting they're both sort of manufacturing companies. I'm just as a side note in Washington this week and there's a big discussion going on about building manufacturing capability again in this country really, really a big discussion. So, that is coming back around. Larry: Now, you mentioned your parents and the major influence that they have on you. Were there other people in your life that were very supportive and mentors along the way? Asra: Yeah, I have been very blessed to have such wonderful mentors along the way. It's been such an honor to work with some of the most successful people in my industry. And yes, I have several mentors. I actually have a group of mentors who I turn to anytime I have to make sort of a big decision professionally. One of them has been my old CEO at one of my companies. I Gotta Play, who has been my mentors for the last eight years and he has taught me so much of who I am today. And then of course, I've got different mentors. I think it is really important to have mentors who bring strengths in different areas. You developed that personal relationship over time. And you need to feel comfortable with them because you really need to be able to tap in to them when you are making decisions. And they shaped away I think. So, yeah, I've been very fortunate to be able to go to those mentors whether it is in technology, whether it is in production, whether I need help with and investment opportunity. I have a great sort of foundation, a platform of mentors that I love to access. Lee: I'm curious about you have a great set of mentors and you turn to them for advice. And I am just curious how you taken what you've learned from them and factored it in to how you mentor others today. Asra: Recently I have been mentor to a lot of women and women in games. And it's been quite satisfying, very fulfilling to me. I think what I have learned from my mentors is that I try to pass along is I want to be a good listener and I want to be able to be there. If they're good, challenging times. As an entrepreneur, we all know that we have our set of challenging moments and there are times where you need to be able to call upon your mentor and sort of say, hey, I'm going through this and it is frustrated and need your advice and direction on it. Something that I learned from my mentor is early on I was able to pick up the phone and be able to talk to them and discuss whether it is an opportunity or challenge, they were a little bit... I think the other thing off of that is you really need to be very transparent at your mentors. They are your friends to guide and you should be able to go to them with sort of anything that you'd like to talk to them about. That's important. A lot of times, anyone of these things that I learned was I was always fearful of sharing too much and I think that you should be open and be able to share whatever you can because that is where your goal is the most benefit. So their advice is their help. Lee: That's a really good point because sometimes the thing we're fearful of is the thing we need to figure out. You had just mentioned there were a number of tough things you had to do and some of them, you went to your mentors, what do you think has been the toughest thing you've had to do in your career? Asra: There has been some challenging moments in my career and I would say by far, you know, one of the things of an entrepreneur, you start of with this idea. And that idea comes from you questioning sort of, "What if this worked like that?" or "What if there was this?" And then that builds into an idea and then you say, "Well, you know, there's an opportunity here for me in terms of space." I do know one of the challenging thing for me has been a lot of times, you all start this as your baby and many times, you're just fearful of changing or shifting direction. And there are times that you just have to in order for your business to succeed. So you know, my biggest advice to entrepreneurs is, you have to know when it's time to make a change and there are some tough times out there. So, if there times where you have to downsize as much as you don't want to. I remember, there was a time, I had to downsize my staff at I Gotta Play and I would say that was the toughest thing for me to do. And more recently, I think you just need to be able to know when it's time to make a shift in your strategy, in your direction. I think a lot of time what happens is entrepreneurs will sort of hold on to what they started, and often times, that may not scale. You need to know when to make a change. So those are the challenging experiences and of course I've learned from them. Larry: Let me ask you a different kind of question. You've been a mentor, a mentee and a mentor, but in addition to that, if right now, if you're sitting across the table with someone who's exploring the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur, what advice would you give them? Asra: I would say to them, to be committed to what you're doing and be passionate about what you have embarked on. Those are the two things that are absolutely required of an entrepreneur, commitment and passion. You have to have to drive to get to the challenges, to benefit what the success that this will bring you. Not all days will be good. And the other thing that I would advise would be, you know, a lot of times I speak with entrepreneurs and they have this great idea that I would say, before you embark on the start up do your research, do your homework, make sure there is a clear market opportunity. I would also strategize, build out a road map, you need to be able to sort of sustain yourself through this time because it can be challenging but so rewarding. So, that's the advice that I would give, and be passionate about what you do. Really it's not just about the money, that will come, but really be passionate about what you're doing. Lee: You're clearly very wise in the advice that you give. Just curious, if you could tell us, other personal characteristics of yours that you may give you advantages as an entrepreneur. Asra: For personal characteristics, I would say that I am very driven. I would also say that as an entrepreneur and more so as a leader, you have to be balanced and that's very important. So particularly, when you're dealing with other people, you need to be able to articulate yourself very well, be able to communicate your message and it really is all about relationships. I think one of my personal characteristics is I have been able to build relationships, build a network. That network that you build is so valuable, and I always say that you can know everyone out there in your industry but unless and until you make use of your network, you're not leveraging it. And I think that's one of the things that has helped me as an entrepreneur greatly. Lucy: Well, one of the things we're always curious about being an entrepreneur, usually is a pretty crazy life in general and how do you find balance, how do you bring balance between your personal and professional life? Asra: You have to find time for yourself and that's one thing that I learned very quickly as an entrepreneur was I found myself in front my computer all the time, I found myself working all the time and at some point, you burn out. You do get burned out and that's when I realized that I needed to make a shift in my lifestyle and I needed to make a more conscious effort about balancing my life. So for other things that I enjoy doing. I enjoy doing activities outdoor. That helps me sort of stay away from all of my electronic devices and that's difficult to do in this day and age. I really make a conscious effort to spend time with my family. That's important. It is tough to bring balance as an entrepreneur. It is a challenge and you have to prioritize what is important to you and it is interesting. You want to be the best in everything you do. You want to be the best as far as family is concerned. You want to be the best Chief Executive Officer and just know that it's OK to not make it to every single event that your child is at. And I would say that I struggled with that at the beginning and then I said, OK. I'm going to take a step back and I am going to prioritize and try to balance sort of everything that is going on. OK, I'll put my family provides a lot of balance in my life. Lucy: Well, so you are in a new position now, CEO of RRKidz. You really have achieved a lot. This is a bit of an odd question for someone who is in a new CEO position but let's just see if you have any thoughts about what's next for you or if the RRKidz position is going to be enough for a while. Asra: Well, certainly the RRKidz position is going to be enough for quite some time. I am really excited about RRKidz. It is an opportunity for me to do something that I've been very passionate about which is taking technology today and applying good content, trying those together and delivering it to kids. So, I am extremely excited about the future with regards to RRKidz. Yeah, I do see myself being a mentor. That is something that has been very obviously satisfying and fulfilling. I also enjoy advising a lot of different companies and I see that in my future. The reason why I enjoyed it so much I once was working with start up launch entrepreneurs and having been able, having the opportunity to see all the different things that people are doing. There is so much going on out there and it's really just fascinating to me to see how many people sort of recognize these different market opportunities and then embarked on a start up. I would love to sort of become an adviser. I don't know when that is going to happen but certainly not right now as what I have at RRKidz. Lucy: Well, I have... I'm sure our listeners are going to be interested in the answer to this final question which is I am just tackling on. It is not on the list but I am going to ask it anyway. Give us a little bit about the women in games international work that you are involved with. What does the group do and what is on their horizon? Asra: Sure, so women in games have been around for several years. The game industry is predominantly, it has been men and it is an area when I started my game company which was an online video game rental service. I started it back in 2002. And I was probably one of maybe a handful of women in the industry and it's very, very intimidating. It has changed and it continuous to change was that the entry of casual games and social games. We see more women entering into the space. We see more women becoming readers and executives. And we as women in games are sure to represent those women and we are here to advocate the inclusion of women in the game industry. That is something women in games as an organization that has been something very near and dear to me because I will tell you that in my years in the game industry it was quite challenging to be a woman in a minority. So, that is sort of what we are doing with women in games. The organization has been growing. There are more women that reach out to us every single day asking how they can get involve. We have chapters across United States and in Canada. So, we are very excited about the future of women in games and really just being the stage for women to be recognized for all of the contributions they've made to the industry. Lucy: Awesome. Larry: Yeah, great. Lucy: Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your taking time away from your busy schedule to talk to us today. And I want to remind or listeners that they can find this podcast at w3w3.com and NCWIT.org. Larry: And download it 24/7. Asra: Thank you. Larry: Thank you. Lucy: Bye. [music] Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Asra RasheedInterview Summary: Asra Rasheed describes herself as a very "creative entrepreneur ... I like to draw and sketch things out." As the daughter of two entrepreneurial parents, she credits her success to her upbringing and being surrounded by people willing to take risks. Release Date: October 25, 2010Interview Subject: Asra RasheedInterviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry Nelson, Lee KennedyDuration: 19:55

Sep, 2011 stbasilscomm.org@gmail.com (St. Basil the Great Parish, Kimberton, PA) 419 no