Earlier this year Carla Thompson, a former Silicon Valley marketing executive, launched Sharp Skirts, a knowledge-based support network for women entrepreneurs that aims to connect women with know-how to women who need to know. The community held offline and online community events that essentially aimed to share knowledge of entrepreneurship among female founders.
After the alpha launch in May, Sharp Skirts’ meetups were met with such a positive response that the interactive community actually became a real startup with bigger ambitions. Today, Thompson is launching a Quora-like online community that aims to bring together female entrepreneurs, both experienced and un-experienced, into online discussions.
Current online forum subjects include topics like how to charge clients for social media campaigns, the necessity of traditional business plans, and the effectiveness of using Facebook to promote your business. Users can also participate in “swarms,” which are real-time, online brainstorms over a singular business issue.
Many of the topics centralize around technology, although the site aims to provide advice and knowledge around a variety of sectors and subjects. Thompson actually began her career as a publicist for Linus architect Linus Torvalds and served as a marketing advisor for a number of companies including Visa and Intuit.
I’m sure there are a number of similar organizations founded to help circulate knowledge and advice among female entrepreneurs, but it’s always great to see another one join the mix.
And if you are interested in participating in a lively discussion on women in technology, check out visit TechCrunch Disrupt next week, where we will be holding a panel on the subject. Panelists include Lauren Leto (Bnter), Leila Chirayath Janah (Samasource), Sara Chipps (Girl Developer), and Cyan Banister (Zivity).