Google for Startups Women Founders Community

Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders

Learn more and apply to Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders, a three-month digital accelerator program for high potential Seed to Series A tech startups founded by women, based in the U.S. and Canada.

Google For Startups Women Founders Start 

Google for Startups Women Founders Start is a five-day training and accelerator boot camp for early stage, Latin American based, women-led startups (Seed Capital to Series A) tailored to the needs of startups. The program focuses on solving domain-specific challenges, including product, design, marketing, business, and growth. 

Learn More & Apply Here

8-Week People-Centered AI Program

September - October

Harnessing the power of AI is an ever increasing priority for businesses, but as with any new tech, we want to be aware of the risks as well as the opportunity.

The People-Centered AI Program for Women Founders is an 8-week program designed to give women leaders in tech tangible ways to experiment with human-centered AI for their businesses through weekly in-depth discussions, workshops, and mentoring.

We invite 15 women founders to an in-depth course on the approach to People-Centered AI for their businesses. Each week members will receive a chapter of the newly launched People-Centered AI guidebook and a specific call to action to explore within their own organizations. On the following Wednesday the cohort will come together for 90 minutes for a structured discussion to dig into the chapter with Google’s Design Lead and share insight and experience across the group. This Intensive unlocks access to the People-Centered AI course, weekly engagement with AI Design Leads and 1:1 mentorship. 

Learn More and Apply Here

This program will be led by Mahima Pushkarna. Mahima is a design lead at the People + AI Research Initiative at Google Research, where we conduct human-centered research and design to make People + AI partnerships productive, enjoyable, and fair. Mahima leads the design of innovative AI tools and frameworks that encourage responsible design and development practices - many of which have been widely used in industry and academia for understanding data, explaining models, and interpreting their algorithmic decisions. Her work draws from a mix of human-centered, participatory, and speculative design practices to bridge the gap between upstream developer practices and their impact on end user experiences and society.

Empowering Startups with AI + Cloud

Aug 22, 2024

We know that 94% of companies globally use cloud software (Forbes), but with the wide spread use of AI across startup, how are folks maximizing both Cloud and AI together? This session will give an overview of AI and specifically Generative AI on Google Cloud. It will cover the journey of identifying an AI-solvable problem, to finding the right solution to tackle it.

You will leave the session with a better understanding of:

• How to choose a good Gen AI use case
• The different tools and technologies available to you on Google Cloud
• How to implement them into production. 

Learn More and Register Here

This session will be led by Akanksha Bhusari. Akanksha is a AI/ML Specialist Customer Engineer for the Startups in Google Cloud. She has been with Google for about 3 years and has worked in different organizations and technologies with Google Cloud. She enjoys working with Startups to unleash the power of Generative AI for their business.   

Solving User's Problems with AI

September 19, 2024

AI has the power to streamline and enhance many aspects of our businesses and our products. In this session we'll explore how to harness the power of AI to focus more on your customer experience.

Coming out of this session you'll be able to: 

• Consider the perspective of your customers from different angles
• Explore ways to introduce AI into your user journey
• Streamline the learning loop for faster insight and faster action 

Learn More and Register Here

This session will be led by Venkat Subramanian. Venkat a seasoned product manager at Google DeepMind, is passionate about fostering inclusive and comprehensive development through empowering technologies. Throughout his career spanning two-decades, Venkat has crafted products and platforms across data, databases, analytics, AI, and ML, spearheading several ground-up initiatives in companies of varying sizes and cultures, including Oracle, Atlassian, Couchbase, and other startups. Armed with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engg, Venkat's interests extend beyond technology, encompassing its potential for social impact and positive change.  

People-Centered AI 

July 25, 2024

Harnessing the power of AI is an ever increasing priority for businesses, but as with any new strategy, we want to be aware of the risks as well as the opportunity. This session will be a guide on creating responsible and inclusive AI products, a critical aspect of building successful businesses in today's technology landscape, equipping you with the knowledge and tools to create AI products that are not only innovative and successful but also ethical, responsible, and beneficial to society.

Coming out of this session you'll understand:

• Transformational impact of generative AI, emphasizing the need for responsible AI practices
• Interaction design policies as a framework for defining AI behavior and user interaction
• Practical strategies for gathering feedback, adapting AI systems, and preparing for emerging risks

Recording

Time Management Workshop

May 14, 2024

As a founder, it can be challenging to carve out time for two critical things: deep thinking to grow your company/solve problems, and personal time to recuperate from the stress of startup. It all starts with time management. This deep-dive into setting and maintaining critical boundaries offers an insightful set of tools for you and your team to manage time with precision and prevent burnout.

Coming out of this session you'll be able to:

• Create and strengthen critical boundaries around your time
• Craft a schedule that actually works for you — and your well-being
• Develop your ability to maintain your boundaries

Recording

People & AI Workshop: Generative Worlds

April 25, 2024

Embark on a journey to transform conflict resolution skills designed for founders like you. This session delves into active listening, emotional intelligence, and impactful communication while looking at NVC tools. Dive into practical strategies, shaping a positive work vibe, and get confident in negotiation skills to garner solid support. It's not just conflict resolution; it's a kickstart for your leadership growth, making everyday wins more shared and satisfying.

Coming out of this session you'll be able to:

•  Understand the different levels of conflict within a team or organization
• Identify and address potential conflicts before they escalate, to foster a positive and inclusive work environment.
• Apply strategic problem-solving for recurring conflicts

Recording

People & AI Workshop: Generative Worlds

March 21, 2024

In this hybrid learning and activity session, attendees will delve into the world of speculative design framed in the context of Generative AI. In the hands-on part of this workshop, participants will engage in structured brainstorms and examinations of the networked effects of generative AI models. The workshop fosters responsible AI development by encouraging attendees to reflect on the implications of generative AI futures, identify desirable changes, and create a Responsible Generative AI roadmap.

Coming out of this session you have:

• The tools necessary to think through the responsible use of their technologies, innovations, or products
• Ability to translate them into actionable strategies for cross-functional teams. 

Recording

Fundraising Panel

February 29, 2024

Fundraising is a critical step for any startup, but it can be especially challenging for women founders. According to a recent study, only 2.3% of venture capital funding goes to women-led startups, so women have to be especially strategic about how they're searching for and securing funding. Join us for our Fundraising Panel where we'll sit down with 2 venture capitalists to discuss:

• Investors' first hand experience
• Specific challenges and how to overcome them
• Valuable insights on how to pitch and negotiate terms and increase your chances of success

Recording

Go-To-Market Workshop

January 25, 2024

A well-crafted go-to-market approach is the difference between launching your startup into a successful orbit or sending it hurtling into oblivion. It's the strategic map that guides you towards your target audience, fuels customer acquisition, and ultimately propels your startup towards sustainable growth. This go-to-market workshop equips early-stage startups with the tools and tactics to navigate the launch. 

Coming out of this session you have:

• A simple step by step process that you can execute
• A programmatic approach to grab your first 0-10 and then 10-100 customers
• The next steps to focus on a scaled Go To Market strategy for your business 

Recording 

Cultivating Confidence

October 11, 2023

Confidence allows entrepreneurs to take risks, make important decisions, attract customers and investors and motivate their teams - Confidence is crucial to achieving success for your business. Unfortunately 75% of female executives have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their lives, based on a US study by KPMG. This session will focus on what cultivating confidence can mean to you and how to harness it.

Coming out of this session you will be able to:

• Cultivate confidence
• Create plans and strategies that work for you
• Be ready to take on new opportunities

Recording 

Strategic Storytelling Workshop

September 28, 2023

A captivating story can capture the attention of customers and help investors see the potential in your business while building trust and rapport across the board. To structure a story for your own organization we hosted a Strategic Storytelling Workshop for women founders. This session focuses on the power of storytelling to help build your mission and the story for your own business.

Coming out of this session you will be able to:

• Distinguish between a project and a story when it comes to your organization
• Develop a compelling story for your own business
• Understand where this story can be used

Recording 

Achieving your Vision for OKRs

August 24, 2023

We know that setting goals is crucial to productivity but it can also influence coordination and transparency across your organization. This OKR workshop will outline an effective process for identify, set and track OKRs for yourself and your business.

The goals of this session are:

• Understand the OKR methodology
• Be able to identify the relevant OKRs for your business
• Track your progression toward your objectives  

Recording 

#IAmRemarkable

July 20, 2023

#IAmRemarkable is a global movement that empowers everyone to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond while challenging the social perception around self-promotion. At the heart of the initiative lies a 90-min interactive workshop focused on the importance of self-promotion in your personal and professional life and be equipped with tools to develop this skill. 

The goals of this session are:

• Empower women and underrepresented groups to self-promote effectively.
• Challenge the social perception that self-promotion is a negative thing.
• Provide participants with the tools and resources they need to achieve their goals and make a difference in the world. 

In order to encourage a free and open dialogue we did not record this session. 

People & AI Guidebook

June 15, 2023

Humans are brilliant but flawed and biased humans, intentionally and unintentionally shape every facet of machine learning. This Guidebook is a toolkit that can help you make AI product decisions that are human-centered. It helps you ensure that the time and resources you invest in building AI make a big impact, while putting the user first the entire time.

Coming out of this session you will learn:

• What human-centered AI is
• How AI can add value for your business
• How to communicate the value of AI to your customers  

Recording 

Product Monetization Fireside 201

May 11, 2023

No matter how strong your product and/or service becomes, your monetization strategy determines the return on your efforts. It could even be argued that product monetization is as important as the problem you're solving for your customers, so why aren't we putting the same amount of attention into it?

If you're starting to plan or just ramping up your product monetization strategy learn from 3 product monetization experts. During this session we learn about their perspectives and recommended approaches to product monetization based on their years of experience.

We discuss:

• How to get started and optimize your monetization strategy
• Pitfalls and mistakes to avoid
• Specific experiences of 3 seasoned entrepreneurs 

Recording 

Product User Value & Roadmapping

April 6, 2023

As founders, it’s important to create a favorable experience for your users. It's crucial to measure and test the product to ensure it meets their expectations from the user experience and this is really a vital part of the design process. A product roadmap can help communicate the product vision and put plans into action.

In this session you'll learn:

• Understanding and Articulating User Value Through Testing and Product Experimentation
• Creating Balanced and Actionable Product Roadmap
• Creating Executable Product Specification

Recording

Google Analytics

March 9, 2022

Measurement is crucial to success, especially for startups, and it's not always easy to know where to start. Google Analytics is a free, powerful digital analytics platform that can help you understand your customers and learn about what's working to optimize your business strategy.

Coming out of this session you will learn about

• The elements of the Google Analytics Platform
• Setup and implementation of Google Analytics
• How put the insights into practice   

Recording

Community Management

Feb 9, 2023

Starting and growing a business isn't just about generating transactions, it's about building a community of users. In fact, according to First Round Capital, nearly 80% of founders reported building a community of users as important to their business. In this Community Management session, we will discuss the whys and hows of community-driven growth through case studies and examples.

This session covers:

• The value of communities for startups
• Building and managing communities
• How to create your own strategy

Recording

Google Cloud 201

Nov 17, 2022

This session will be a follow up to the Google Cloud Platforms 101. This 201 session covers database fundamentals with a focus on the different types of databases available and the trade-offs of each.

Coming out of this session you will understand:

• Different databases available on the market (and why cloud-managed databases are so popular)
• How to pick the right database for the right job
• How to scale and prepare yourself to be flexible in today's multi-cloud world

Recording

Google Cloud 101

Nov 10, 2022

As founders, choosing the right technology for your organization is a foundational decision for your company. Selecting a database is challenging and can impact the future success of your company. During the month of November we will host an introduction to one platform, Google Cloud Platform, to understand the factors to consider when choosing your tech. 

In this session we discussed:

• What a database is
• The offering of Google Cloud
• How to choose the right Database 

Recording

Product Monetization Fireside

Oct 20, 2022

If you're starting to plan or just ramping up your product monetization strategy this conversation is relevant for you.  We sat down with 3 product monetization experts to learn about their perspectives and recommended approaches to product monetization based on their years of experience.

In this session we discussed:

• Monetization options to consider
• How to monitor and measure success of your strategy
• When and how to optimize

Recording

Build Thriving Networks

Sept 8, 2022

Are you dreaming about a courageous leap with your venture, but feel you are lacking the network to make that happen? The path to success is paved by networks - but the old schmoozing approach to networking is not the way! Get ready to ditch your outdated networking mindset for a thriving one, in this session with networking expert and author, J. Kelly Hoey.

This session covers:

• Defining networking so it works for you and the goals you're pursuing
• The unique networks women need to proactively create around their career
• Strategies for approaching online networking, so these tools enhance your offline networking efforts.

Recording

UX Design Thinking

Aug 18, 2022

A users experience with your product can mean the difference between acquiring a loyal customer and an immediate drop off. As a tech founder, UX design is crucial to your business' success. This UX Design Thinking session we will review the recommended design process to define your product offering or create a shared vision.

In this recording you will learn:

• The principles of design thinking and why it’s important
• How to try out the process and principles
• When to apply the process to create solutions to recognized opportunities

Recording

Public Speaking Workshop

July 21, 2022

Continuously improving communication skills is crucial for all leaders and is a foundational skill for founders to communicate their value and develop relationships. Learn about the key tools for effective public speaking.

Coming out of this workshop you will understand:

• The connection of persuasive communication, purpose and value creation
• Practices for communicating powerfully in business conversations from pitching investors to leading team meetings
• Using personal strengths and authenticity as the foundation for communication
• Tools for preparing and practicing including creating healthy boundaries for soliciting constructive feedback

Recording

Business Plan Development Workshop

May 19, 2022

A business plan is one of the most important exercises for anyone who wants to start or grow a business. It will help founders to determine the project going forward, how well the objectives have been met and, sometimes, to raise money. Planning is a vital exercise to start a new venture properly and strategically.

This workshop addresses:

• The basic content that a business plan should have
• Strategies for how to to gather the information
• How to develop different versions of the same business plan, depending on the audience breadth of experience working with tech entrepreneuers and startups. 

Recording & Presentation Slides

How to Hire Your First PM

April 14, 2022

Hiring is a daunting task and hiring your first Product Manager is a critical step in the growth of your organization. This session will help you answer some of the most important questons in this process:

• Why do I need a PM or Product Lead?
• What is the role of a PM?
• How can I get started with fundraising to Hire a PM?

This session is led by Auriel Wright. Auriel is an Product Manager at Google with first hand entreprenuerial experience with her own startup through Harvard Innovation Lab and a breadth of experience working with tech entrepreneuers and startups. 

Recording

Google Analytics Deep Dive

March 16, 2022

In this Deep Dive session we look into the Analytics tools to understand the Firebase technology within the Analytics suite (Google Analytics 4). During this session you will learn how to implement Google Analytics to your app or website and measure customer engagement to grow your business

This session is led by Santiago Martinez. Santiago is an Advertising Solutions Architect within Google working with Analytics, Firebase and Google Ads. 

Recording

Google Analytics Overview

March 10th, 2022

This session addresses the elements of the Google Analytics Platform, setup & implementation of Google Analytics and how put the insights into practice. 

This training was led by Yuliya Bazyleva, a Senior Analytics Lead with Google, working with Fortune 500, leading marketers in Tech B2B to advance their digital marketing and measurement maturity. 

Recording

Strategic Storytelling Workshop

This workshop, led by Jeremy Neuner, focused on the power of storytelling to help build the mission and strategy storytelling for your own business.

Jeremy spent 7 years as a Navy Pilot and earned his Masters from Harvard before entering the startup world. Jeremy now has over 25 years of experience in leadership and management, with over 10 years working in the startup industry. Today, Jeremy leads the Startup curriculum for Google's Accelerator team and loves to tell stories!

Recording

What Makes an Effective Founder Workshop 

To kick off 2022, Google for Startups Women Founders hosted a workshop to address What Makes an Effective Founder. This session was led by strategist and advisor, Ivana Sediva, with over 30 years of experience mentoring business leaders.

Recording & Workbook (Please make a copy)