2014 Schedule
Interactive: March 7–11  •  Film: March 7–15  •  Music: March 11–16

Starting Up in a Man’s World

#sxsw #womentech

In 2010, I took the stage at an entrepreneurship competition. While I stood up there, I didn’t notice that the other four finalists were male until the organizer gave us our awards. Along with a plaque, they gave me a man’s watch and a bottle of cologne.
Women start only 3% of technology companies and are generally absent from the core teams. I co-founded my company when I was only 15 -- while I was still too young to realize that women are treated differently in the startup world. I’m realizing that my journey as an entrepreneur, the way I am treated in the tech space, and even my demeanor is very different from my male counterparts, but I think the personality traits I have that are stereotypically female, can be a huge strength in the entrepreneurial adventure.
I will discuss how I co-founded a company at the age of 15 and merged with a public company in a $100 million deal shortly after graduating from college.

Presenters

19392

Catherine Cook

Co-Founder, VP Brand Strategy

MeetMe

Catherine is the co-founder of MeetMe, the public market leader for social discovery.

Catherine co-founded myYearbook with her brother Dave in 2005. The company merged with the Quepasa Corporation in November 2011 and in June 2012 rebranded to MeetMe, Inc. Catherine is responsible for creating some of the most important applications on the site and has been instrumental in driving the site’s growth by conceiving of the next popular features. As part of MeetMe’s management team, Catherine continues to drive new features that deliver on our mission -- to be the best place to meet new people.

Catherine graduated from Georgetown University in 2011, where she majored in OPIM and marketing. Catherine has been reported on extensively on CNBC, MTV, ABC News, Fox News, CosmoGIRL, BusinessWeek, the San Francisco Chronicle, and CBS.

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