Why women should pick science & math degrees over liberal arts

“What a pistol!” was the universal sentiment voiced around the office after we shot this video with Penny Herscher.

Herscher is a tech CEO (FirstRain is her company); she and I first came into contact on Twitter when I was bemoaning the state of female entrepreneurship. I thought lady founders were wasting their talents on dating- and fashion-related startups, while Herscher contended that more women founders was better than the alternative, regardless of the startup’s … Continue Reading

FirstRain $6.4M funding shows cutting your losses can pay

FirstRain announced a $6.4 million round today, its fifth from Oak Investment Partners.

FirstRain is an example of a dot-com era company that sought out a new focus with the hope of becoming profitable. Penny Herscher (pictured left) became the company’s president and chief executive in 2005. She has since made Oak Investment Partners the majority owner of FirstRain and changed its product focus.

“I built a new management team and targeted Wall Street,” said … Continue Reading