This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to attend Start Atlanta presented by digitalundivided (DID) at Spelman College. I went into the event not sure of what to expect at all. I found out about the conference from an email invitation. Honestly, I learned so many great things and met many great driven individuals. To break it down:
digitalundivided (DID) is a social enterprise that builds forward thinking initiatives that fundamentally change the digital space by increasing the number of urban women digital entrepreneurs.
After my personal experience working at two different technology start-ups and doing social media for technology firms it’s hard not to notice that women and especially urban women are few and far between in these groups. It frequently gets lonely and it’s hard to ask questions sometimes. I remember standing at Venture Atlanta in 2011 wondering where is the diversity?
Throughout the day at DID we heard from men and women who are in the process of building businesses from the ground up. We also heard from venture capitalists and angel investors on how to create a pitch and get funding and taking out loans for your business.
Managing Director, Kathryn Finney opened the day by introducing us to her passion for technology and background as a blogger (The Budget Fashionista) who got started at the very beginning. She also gave tips on how to start your business now:
1. Start it – Kathryn recommended just doing something. Regardless of how fantastic the idea or concept seems right now. Get started. It doesn’t have to be perfect just begin.
2. Draw out your ideas – Seriously, draw out what the idea should look like on the web. Use paper and pencil, Powerpoint, Word, whatever floats your boat just do it.
3. Build a landing page – Build a landing page and test out keywords using Google Adwords to see what people are searching for in relation to what you want to create.
4. Build it yourself – Learn some basics and build what you can yourself before spending a large amount of money.
5. Share your idea – This one is hard. Regaradless of the stage your idea is in, you must share it. Period. don’t keep it a secret, don’t try to make everyone you talk to sign an NDA, just tell them. Your idea should be solid enough to share and you need feedback from potential consumers.
You don’t have to have a complete idea or concept. Just take action. Take it today and make it happen. Nothing ends up how it started. Does anyone out there remember the original Facebook with the line of text for a wall? Yeah, look where we are now…who could have imagined that? For me personally, all of those steps are hard. Especially sharing the idea. Start Atlanta was worth spending a beautiful Saturday seeking knowledge as opposed to relaxing. I left there motivated and ready to share information with my friends who are sitting on great ideas.
Do you have an idea you’ve been sitting on? Get it out of your head and start creating!
