Last week, I visited The Familly offices in Paris for the Ladies Pitch Night, organized in collaboration with Girls In Tech Paris @GITParis. The pitch exercise is something that has always been attractive to me, combining the effort of form and  content, with emphasis on acting and innovation, two of my favorite topics. Not to mention that girls in tech is also an important society topic for me, that event was just tailor made for me.

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What is GIT ? Before listening to the candidates, we had a chance to realize how GIT network was powerful. The founder of GIT, Adrianna Gascoigne @afgascoigne, came on stage to remind us the rationale that lead to the creation of Girls In Tech @GirlsinTech. Her story which started in 2007 was nice, it was about making the technical and entrepreneur world more keen to welcome girls, and she used her energy to create a program focusing on girls education, engagement, solidarity, friendship and fun. That nice story was similar for most of the other female speakers supporting that event, on stage Joanna Shields @joannashields, Digital Advisor to the Prime Minister of the UK, on the video with kind messages to the ladies : Nellie Kroes VP of the European Commission, leading the digital agenda @NeelieKroes, and Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook @sherylsandberg. Last but not least, Roxanne Varza @roxannevarza was representing Girls In Tech Paris, together with @moumsinette @audreysoussan @sjerusalmy @nicolasmagand @marionnougier. The french governement was supposed to be represented by Axelle Lemaire, but regrets were duly sent.

I miss you 2! Good luck! #lpn2014 @GITParis #womenpower

— Axelle Lemaire (@axellelemaire) September 23, 2014

To complete the demonstration that Girls In Tech had a worldwide coverage, kind messages from some of the 42 GIT chapters all around the world were shared. It happened that some of them were represented, among the 200 attendees , together with some funding companies, some girls in tech, some boys in tech, and a lots of enthusiastic people. Yes, the nice and large The Familly lounge, located under a glass dome, was fully packed! All got the message that a study related to female entrepreneurship demonstrated that women, when setting up a business and making money, are superior in the following area, compared to male entrepreneurship : investing in education and familly, innovating, and job creation, thus creating more wealth. I felt strange that this business argument had to be stated clearly, and that emphasis on gender equity was not mentioned, but this evening was about innovative economy.

 

Then, the startup pitch. Five girls went on stage to pitch, in front of a jury made of prestigious people.  

#lpn2014 @GITParis brings the best of the #Tech World to #Paris tonight w/@mikebutcher @BrendaOConnell @LatoucheP @elianefiolet @rsohoni — Frédéric Hermelin (@FredHermelin) September 23, 2014

The pitches were 6 minutes long – which actually made them long enough to allow the audience to get the style and character of each presenter. Most of them were following the fil rouge ‘I wanna a tell you something personnal, i/we/she/the world has a problem, here is how to solve it, here is the way I’ll make money out of it, look at our nice team, thanks I love you’, the all with nice slides. Well, a standard pitch.  

Easy size, Cocofarm, Cortechs, Fojo and Gemmyo! Great european start up in this event! #LPN2014 — Estelle L-A (@Madinelle) September 23, 2014

Easy Size @EasySize. The system allowing online clothes shops to make life easier to customers. When ordering a trouser, no need anymore to give your size, to measure the length of your leg or the tour de taille. You just indicate another item (from any brand) that you have already bought and worn with success, and the prediction algorithm will calculate the translation into the item you are willing to buy. 79 % of the predictions are correct. See more http://www.easysize.me/

Cocofarm. An application allowing farmers to manage their eggs and follow their production and productivity. The energy of the lady pitching impressed all people, specially when she cracked an egg on the floor… That little business target seems to be just a beginning for that startup, willing to make life easier to country side small businesses.

Cortechs @cortechs_ab. That solution aims to help kids with light mental disorder related to concentration. It requires an headset, to measure brain activity of the patient, together with an application offering games. Objectibe being here to bring back patient into a focused and quite mood. That presentation while looking like a research topic was really intereting and demonstrated some real business potential. See more here http://cortechs.ie/

Fojo.me. A mobile application, allowing to take picture (sounds regular), make some nice effects on it (looks normal) and develop with your vintage old dark room. Yes, the idea is to ntegrate your mobile phone into the process of the actual picture development. Niche market, but a smart way to bring back digital photos into paper pictures on your wall. See more here : http://fojo.me/

Gemmyo @gemmyoParis. A online shop, where jewels can be ordered, and will be 3D printed, at a price which will make luxury jewellery affordable. Well, that’s the promise. You will find the same quality, similar design, but will avoid the sometime uncomfortable situation where you just dont believe the little ring you want to buy is soo expensive. More here : https://www.gemmyo.com/

Five girls, five characters, five positioning, five countries. The jury rewarded EasySize startup, and everyone went to the nice buffet. One should anyway keep from that event that girls are not special entrepreneur, they have great ideas, impressive willpower, but they found here an amazing network to put them on good tracks !

Keep track of it, by supporting Girls In Tech whatever your town or country ! GIT Paris or GIT everywhere.

French local note: girls from Marseille, please be aware that Girls in Tech Marseille has now an ambassador

Très fière d’être la représentante de GIT Marseille. Bienvenue à toutes/tous dans le sud. #lpn14 @MarionNougier @afgascoigne @roxannevarza

— laurence bricteux (@laurence0501) September 23, 2014