FITZ: Hi, we're back.
I'm Fitz.
BEN: And I'm Ben.
And we're here to talk with some women about women in
technology and entrepreneurship.
FITZ: And entrepreneurship.
And here on my left-- what's your name?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Hi, I'm Mary Himinkool.
FITZ: Mary, and you work at Google.
Tell me a little bit about what you do at Google.
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure, thanks.
So I'm head of global entrepreneurship at Google.
Our team looks after all of Google's programs and
partnerships to support start-ups and entrepreneurs
around the world.
FITZ: So that sounds like you do a lot of travel.
MARY HIMINKOOL: I do.
I love the airplane.
FITZ: So what are some of the biggest challenges that you
see as part of that job?
MARY HIMINKOOL: There are a lot of opportunities.
You know, our mission is to impact
start-ups across the world.
We have projects live in 25 countries.
We work both with global partners like Start-Up Weekend
and local partners in different cities to try to
help further the ecosystem.
FITZ: And so you work in a lot of different areas.
I'd like to ask you to start out by telling us, what are
some of the things you do in women and
technology inside of Google?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure, absolutely.
So within Google we really believe in fostering a culture
of diversity and inclusion where we welcome different
perspectives.
We try to operate as a global company but really focus on
cultivating local culture within the company.
And so, we have actually an employee resource
group, Women at Google.
And there are 4,000 women across Google globally, 30
different chapters.
And we focus on fostering innovation within Google and
then externally outreach into the community as well.
FITZ: So it's building these communities of women at Google
to help each other out and to support each other?
MARY HIMINKOOL: To support one another and then to also
promote diversity among our user base and to interact with
the community as well.
So for example, we're working right now with Women 2.0.
Who--
Sepi is here with us today.
And they're a great partner of ours.
BEN: Well, let's introduce--
I'm sorry.
You said your name is Sepi?
SEPI NASIRI: Sepi Nasiri, yes.
BEN: Great.
And what do you do?
SEPI NASIRI: I head the global partnership, sponsorships, and
events at Women 2.0 so I do everything offline.
BEN: Great.
Can you tell us a little bit more about Women 2.0?
SEPI NASIRI: Sure.
Our mission is to help increase the number of female
founders in technology start-ups.
And we do that online by telling their stories and
offline by creating networking events and conferences where
they can get together and talk about entrepreneurship.
BEN: Great.
So then the two of you have worked together in the past
then, I assume, at some of these?
MARY HIMINKOOL: We have and we're working
together today as well.
BEN: Wonderful.
So I'm curious about your experience as an entrepreneur,
a female entrepreneur, how did you get into this
in the first place?
What's the background story here?
SEPI NASIRI: The ingredients is, you have amazing parents
who are entrepreneurs as well.
So when I grew up I was able to experience what it looks
like to be an entrepreneur.
Particularly my dad.
And now, everyone in the family is entrepreneurs as
well, my brothers.
And today when you look at it, you're able to study
entrepreneurship.
So things have changed quite a bit.
I started in the publishing and then came to Silicon
Valley, fell in love with technology,
and here I am today.
FITZ: Mary, how did you get to where you are?
I mean, is there a class for studying to become head of
global entrepreneurship at Google?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Definitiely a lesson on the job.
But I studied at Stanford here in Silicon Valley.
I actually studied sociology and international policy.
I was very fascinated by opportunities, particularly in
emerging markets.
I spent some time in Bangkok there interning at the United
Nations and never thought I would actually work in
technology, but then became fascinated with technology as
that platform for actually furthering development and
growing the internet economies as a way towards development.
And so now it's a privilege and pleasure to work with
entrepreneurs, developers, students, globally and try to
help further and empower the next generation to be
successful.
FITZ: So that's a good segue to the next thing I want to
talk to you about.
So you're working with these entrepreneurs globally and
everything.
Tell me a little bit about how Google is working with these
external entrepreneurs, including Sepi and Women 2.0.
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure.
So track one for us is really focused on partnerships.
So how do we work with like-minded organizations to
help further their footprint and help them scale?
So Women 2.0, for example, has a
fantastic series of programs.
We like to figure out how to incorporate Google tools and
technologies where they can be helpful.
The second bucket is really focused around Google programs
where we can impact the community directly.
So we have a pilot we're running right now in India, in
Singapore, and in Russia called Women
Entrepreneurs on the Web.
And it's basically a program to get thousands of women on
the web using 10 Google products to help build and
scale and market their businesses.
We've been really fascinated by this.
It's basically those products.
But then women come together at Google offices to receive
hands on training.
And what we've found is that connecting people online is
certainly very important.
But connecting them offline and building that community is
equally as important.
FITZ: Getting that high bandwidth face to face
conversation.
MARY HIMINKOOL: Absolutely.
And having access to that infrastructure of mentors who
have failed and succeeded and can help
you is really critical.
FITZ: Maybe you guys want to talk a little bit about
mentors, actually.
BEN: I was going to say, yeah.
So what sort of challenges have you encountered as an
entrepreneur and have you had mentors to work with?
SEPI NASIRI: As a female entrepreneur, I think it's
quite hard to find mentors.
Not just because there aren't enough female entrepreneurs
who could be mentors but sometimes they don't feel that
they have enough time or they have the skill set.
And so I think one way Google is helping out with that is
recognizing who in their own community or within Google is
able to give those mentorships to the outside as well.
BEN: And so does Women 2.0, does that actually help create
mentorships?
Have you experienced that or seen that
happen within the group?
SEPI NASIRI: Sure.
One way we initiate that is with our networking event, our
Founder Fridays, where we put some spotlight on female
entrepreneurs who are successful and with expressing
how they have become successful.
Today they are actually mentoring the next generation
of entrepreneurs.
BEN: That's great.
Go ahead.
FITZ: I want to come back to one thing you said.
You were talking about bringing women entrepreneurs
into Google offices and helping them use Google Apps
and that sort of thing to make this happen.
Can you give me example?
What's something that's really helpful that we're teaching
folks and entrepreneurs out there?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure.
So we have a program called Get Your Business Online.
So in India, for example, that would be Get
India Business Online.
So this is for folks in small businesses who do not yet have
a web presence, which is a huge challenge for a lot of
small businesses.
So getting them set up with a free website, free domain
hosting for a year.
And then plugging into other Google tools, Google+ for
example, leveraging the maps and geo tools and making sure
they're able to get up and running
as quickly as possible.
FITZ: OK.
And if they want to use other tools that aren't
Google, it's still OK.
But we're helping them use the Google tools, right?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Absolutely.
We want to promote businesses getting online, leveraging the
best tools on the internet.
We obviously have more
expertise on our own platforms.
But one amazing tool has been Google+ Hangouts, actually.
And the ability to connect and do remote mentorship, for
example, over Google+ Hangouts with entrepreneurs from around
the world has been really exciting to watch.
FITZ: You said there wasn't a class for how
to do what you do.
It was a lot of on the job training.
Did you have mentors that were helpful for you?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Most definitely.
Lifelong mentors throughout.
Starting with, certainly, my parents and a lot of amazing
entrepreneurs and colleagues along the way.
Everybody has been super helpful.
So I think that's the one critical thing is don't be
afraid to ask questions, ask for help, ask for advice.
All inputs are welcome.
And then you kind of pick and glean your lessons.
FITZ: And I think Ben and I both have had some very
influential mentors in our time.
BEN: I think it's interesting that both of you have had
parents as mentors to sort of get into this area.
One of the things I was talking about earlier with you
was just the issue of being a woman in this space and if
there are challenges specific to that.
Walk up to somebody and say, yes, I'm an entrepreneur.
I start companies.
And do you get strange reactions because you're a
woman in this space?
Has that happened?
SEPI NASIRI: Not really because I never look at myself
as a woman.
I'm looking at myself as an entrepreneur or a founder or a
technologist, whatever l am.
And so going into a room, I'm not looking at victimizing
myself, I'm looking at empowering myself.
So empowering yourself is looking at my resources,
looking at my network, and who can help me succeed instead of
looking at my shortcomings.
BEN: Have you seen that to be a problem with other people
you've worked with, where they see themselves as a victim?
SEPI NASIRI: I don't want to say victim.
But they look at the shortcomings and the negative
instead of the positive.
There's always ways to improve yourself by looking at where
are your resources?
What is available to you today in educating yourself before
you step forward and do the next step, whether it's in
building a product or a service or going to an
interview or pitching your company for funding?
BEN: So it really is about attitude is
what it sounds like.
FITZ: Yeah, it sounds a lot like you're
saying, it's attitude.
It's giving yourself permission to be awesome.
SEPI NASIRI: Yes, definitely.
BEN: So I'm curious about what's going on at Google I/O
related to women in technology.
FITZ: You want to talk about that Mary?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure.
So, a couple of exciting things.
Last night we kicked off with a pre-I/O event called Women
Tech Makers at I/O. We had a couple hundred women at the
Google San Francisco office.
And we had a panel of Google female executives actually
sharing some of their experiences in leadership,
product innovation, and how to foster a culture of
empowerment within a company.
So that was fantastic.
And on Friday morning, day three at 9:00 AM, Sepi and I
will actually both be on a panel, which is called
Designing For The Other Half: Sexy Isn't Always Pink.
And that'll be more of an exploration of the product
business landscape.
And how to design and market products for everyone,
thinking about inclusion.
So 9:00 AM on Friday.
FITZ: 9:00 AM on Friday.
And that will wind up on YouTube after
I/O as well, right?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Absolutely.
It will.
FITZ: So let's talk about pink for a second.
So that's a typical thing.
We're going to take a product that's for the general public
and make it pink.
And then it's called the product for women.
What do you guys feel about that?
SEPI NASIRI: Well, I think colors are important.
I mean even if you look at Google's colors there are lots
of different shades.
Women 2.0's is hot pink, actually.
I think it's catchy.
But would I wear it every day?
Probably not.
But I think it's an amazing color.
It's just an attitude as well with that.
So not every product has to be pink to be sexy or
appealing to women.
BEN: What have you learned about designing
products for women?
What are some of the wisdom you've picked up?
SEPI NASIRI: Well I think women design products that are
a solution to a problem.
So it could be any color, actually.
Most likely the solution they haven't found when they go out
and look for it.
So what they did is say, OK.
I can be the person designing it.
And it works.
It sells.
FITZ: You told me an amazing statistic before-- and this is
something good for everybody watching this to listen--
that people who are early adopters of a lot of the new
technology there are women.
And can you talk about that please?
SEPI NASIRI: Well, I think it's 80% of
consumers today have--
and they're women-- who have purchasing power.
Whether you are an office manager or HR or you're the
entrepreneur, we are controlling the money.
So we are going to also to make the decision.
It's great to have women who are designing for women and
the general public when they have that idea of what is the
next best thing.
BEN: I guess if I were designing a game or an Android
app or something, is there a mistake I might make that is a
common mistake that might make it difficult for women to want
to purchase that kind of thing?
SEPI NASIRI: If it's not user-friendly
for the women, obviously.
We have different responsibilities, for example,
if we have kids.
So if it's a gadget that is not working for me to have a
small purse or a big purse or it doesn't fit in certain
ways, then yes.
Then you're missing out on that particular
demographic or market.
BEN: Interesting.
FITZ: So Mary do you want to maybe talk a little bit about
that, about designing products more for women or more
accessible?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Sure.
I think it's about designing for inclusion, really, and
just understanding and listening to feedback from
your user base, right?
Regardless of gender or demographic or where they're
coming from globally.
It's really about, how do you solicit that user feedback and
how do you incorporate it and continue to test?
So I think of it more from an inclusive perspective than
targeting any one specific . gender.
FITZ: To come back to what you talked about earlier about
working internally at Google, to be more
inclusive for women.
What are something that entrepreneurs or people who
keep starting small companies could do to do that?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Absolutely.
So I think it's about building the culture from the bottom
up, from the top down, every direction.
Really promoting flexibility within the workplace and
leading by example.
So really facilitating leadership training among
women within the company and bringing them together as a
community to help support one another, too.
BEN: Wonderful.
I think we got to wrap it up here guys.
So thank you very much.
FITZ: Yeah, did you guys have any sort of parting
things you want to--
BEN: Parting comments?
FITZ: Parting recommendations or comments?
MARY HIMINKOOL: Yeah, just that we're really
excited to be here.
We're excited about the opportunities in technology
for both men and women.
And we hope you tune into the panel on Friday.
FITZ: Friday at 9 o'clock.
BEN: Great.
Alright.
Thank you very much.
FITZ: Thanks a lot.
Bye.