I got a question from a client at HP today:<\/p>\n
“Would appreciate your insight into bleeding edge of web-based businesses out there just now, and how many of them have women in key roles. Do you have a view on the half dozen or so most impressive women out there doing smart things with technology? Its for a speech at the EU.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ah the perennial question… I see Tim<\/a> is taking some heat about representation of women in tech this week, and handling it with class<\/a>.<\/p>\n
So – what did I sent to HP?<\/p>\n
Zuzanna Pasierbinska-Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n
Huddle is emerging as one of the most interesting collaboration platforms around. It\u2019s a UK startup. It just won a Europas award<\/a>. @huddlesuz<\/a> runs marketing. She is doing an awesome job, again making particularly good use of twitter. Huddle is a good example of the new confidence coursing through the London tech scene.<\/p>\n
Great bio: \u201cZuzanna Pasierbinska-Wilson is responsible for marketing. Her life goal is that every man, woman and child falls asleep with Huddle on their lips.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino<\/strong><\/p>\n
Just don’t call her Alexandra. A major force building the Internet of Things, recently profiled in Wired UK, Alex is the CEO of a company called tinker.it, the commercial arm of the arduino open-source electronics prototyping platform. Its the kind of thing that allows plants to tweet when they are thirsty<\/a>. Alex is very talented, and arduino is quite literally popping up all over the place.<\/p>\n
The next one is courtesy of my office mate James Stewart<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n
Rachel Andrew <\/strong><\/p>\n
Rachel is a great example of someone just doing \u201cthe agency thing\u201d well. See Edge of My Seat<\/a>. They just launched a nice little micro-content management platform called Perch<\/a> designed for when a site like Drupal or WordPress is too heavywieght. A drop in, ultralight weight CMS \u2013 its selling very well. Yes that\u2019s right \u2013 selling\u2026 licenses for \u00a335! Old school.<\/p>\n
Emily Bell <\/strong><\/p>\n
Emily is The Guardian\u2019s online editor. You’re probably thinking.. but the Guardian isn’t a startup. True True – but its beginning to act like one, and any newspaper that wants to survive the ongoing shakeout better do just that. I am a huge Bell fan. She is doing some very important things and writes about digital policy masterfully. See my post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Amanda Rose<\/strong><\/p>\n
One person that really shone this year is Amanda Rose, a Canadian living in London, the driving force behind Twestival<\/a>. She is a great example of the use of new social technology \u2013 in this case twitter – for charity fund-raising. Twestival which went from one London party to a worldwide network in under six months, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity:water. Respect! The next Twestival in this September \u2013 groups in more than 200 cities are taking part. I am proud to know @amanda. She Works On Stuff That Matters.<\/p>\n
Here is a video of Amanda cutting the tape on a new well in Ethopia<\/a><\/p>\n