Creating digital access
TL;DR
Naomi co-founded an AI social enterprise, has a proof of concept and a provisional patent submitted and got into a top tier Silicon Valley accelerator! Now she needs your support to get her and her team there - just a couple weeks from now. Every bit counts, no amount is too small - many hands help make light the large task. Donate what you can, heart the campaign and share share share :)
The Story
Hi! My name is Naomi and I'm a computer programmer. 
^ fairly accurate representation of me, my life and my work
This year I have taken a leap into the entrepreneurial side of things as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) with a non-technical female co-founder. We've created a company called Heuristext .
Heuristext brings together social impact and Artificial Intelligence for the first time ever.
We're in the process of filing our first provisional patent!
Basically, I drew some awesome diagrams to blueprint our technology and now some lawyers are going to take a look and tell us we've had some original ideas and then we get a patent saying we're the only ones who can build this. Yay!
Together, we are 1 of 9 companies worldwide and the only Canadians accepted into the Women’s Startup Lab accelerator in Silicon Valley, California. This means that our company, Heuristext , will get the highest calibre of advice and support to grow to the next level.
"Entrepreneurship is hard. It's a lonely journey, and when you have folks that can go through it with you, that's awesome."
On that note: I need your help. To access this opportunity I need to rustle up $10,000 CAD just for tuition. We're making great progress through a variety of contributions, including this campaign.
This program will take on the risk of polishing us up and presenting us to people they know and we take on the risk and committment of showing up and doing well by paying for it.
Your support for me to access this opportunity is truly life-changing. Attending the Women's Startup Lab will bring Heuristext to the next level and help get our technology into people’s hands.
As a supporter, you will get to see what it is like to live the start-up Silicon Valley hustle life and the hurdles we jump daily in our quest to create a more accessible internet. Follow our social media channels for updates and we will post vlogs about our journey at the Women's Startup Lab so you can see how your dollars are put to work.
I cannot thank you enough for your support.
No amount is too small and getting your friends to help out goes a long way!
I am committed to you and to making the digital world easier to navigate. Thank you for your help.
If you are interested in building a longer term relationship with Heuristext as a company, please email me at naomi dot freeman at outlook dot com.
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Why the Women’s Startup Lab?
There are a million different ways to get to Silicon Valley. The reason we chose Women’s Startup Lab is because of their emphasis on founders as much as the company. The Women’s Startup Lab will solidify our ability to bring this company to fruition.
Being focused on women appeals to us because of the additional hurdles female founders face. For every entrepreneur there are hills to climb. For women, those hills are a little bit steeper right now.
Women only receive 4% of venture capital funding for startups, despite starting businesses at a rate 1.5x men, despite being 20% more likely to be revenue generating, and despite investors making a 35% higher return on investment when they finance female founders.
The Women's Startup Lab will prepare me for and provides me with opportunities to pitch to investors who have an appetite for risk. American investors, particularly in Silicon Valley, are more likely to invest in early stage startups--exactly where Heuristext is right now.
I truly believe the network and knowledge that I will gain from this program will bring a much higher chance of success, greater visibility to the right investors and will help us avoiding costly mistakes moving forward.
Why support us?
It is very unusual for technology companies to have any female co-founders, much less two at the helm.
I am a guest instructor for Treehouse . I am also an expert teacher and developer through Codementor . I was trained at Shopify and was formerly the Lead Developer at the Centre for Social Innovation . I like to bring innovative technology into non-traditional spaces.
I love giving back to the tech community and frequently Coach at Rails Girls and am a mentor for CoderDojo in Ireland.
What does the Women's Startup Lab program entail?
Here is a breakdown of the Program:
The founder will get a 360° evaluation strategy and revenue model, individual business counseling and a full interactive program dedicated to:
● Master founder leadership skills: assess CEO skills and develop actions to enhance leadership capacity, CEO knowledge, performance coaching, storytelling coaching to powerfully enroll team and advisors.
● Growth size and value to create successful startups: market fit validation, identify market opportunities, branding, financial modeling and 6 months plan.
● Funding readiness: interactions with business angels, VCs and successful entrepreneurs, a demo day, understand investors’ process and strategy.
● Perfecting a powerful Silicon Valley relevant pitch.
● Grow your founder network: solid networking in SV, meet the most successful tech companies, integrate with other female entrepreneur’s networks.
This innovative and unique program was created by Ari Horie, Founder & CEO of Women’s Startup Lab. Ari is recognized as a thought leader, speaker and visionary female founder (recognized by CNN 10 Visionary Women, Silicon Valley Business Journal “Influential Woman of the year” and featured by Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Success Magazine, Forbes...).
