GraceNet Talk

A couple weeks ago, I was invited by Sylvia Paull to speak about Six Apart and our products at a GraceNet grathering in San Francisco.

>From their website, GraceNet's mission statement:

To promote the contribution of women in technology and to leverage women's intellectual and creative capital for the betterment of society. GraceNet is the New Girl's Network bringing inspiration, support and funding to women in high technology.

The small group that gathered was a varied mixture of artists, writers, technologists and professionals who share what they are working on and listen to speakers in related fields. This was the first time I've spoken in front of a group that was almost 100% female so I, oddly, was a bit out of my element.

Thankfully, the group was great and I got to explain the history of the company and talk about weblogs in general. I was able to disprove some preconceptions (blogs aren't always about trying to reach thousands of people or about politics) and explain how weblogs would make sense for particular women in the group.

One such woman was Mary Trigiani, who I helped set up a TypePad weblog about her new book, Cooking with My Sisters. For authors, weblogs allow a way for independent promotion and an opportunity to share their personal perspective on their book and events surrounding publishing. I pointed her in the direction of Cory Doctorow, who has done a great job in the past publicizing his books.

I highly recommend checking out Mary's weblog and book.

Back to the event.

I was asked one particular question that I thought would be fitting to write about on this weblog. Someone from the audience asked what advice I had for married couples or partners who want to start a business together.

I've decided that I'm going to take some time writing up some advice (from personal experience) and share it on this weblog. While my advice is in no way a universal guideline for all couples, I'm sure some of it will help those considering taking the plunge. I hope to get some posts up by the end of this week.