When I got the invitation to attend the BiG|idea luncheon at the Hilton in Austin, I was psyched. I had never heard of BiG Austin before. They’re an organization that supports and provides micro-financing for very small startups, with a focus on woman- and minority-owned businesses. They’ve been around since the mid 90s. I’ve been an entrepreneur for longer than that, so how did I miss them?
I was particularly interested in the micro-financing aspect of the group. I was familiar with Kiva (they’re awesome!), which provides super micro-loans (like in the hundreds of dollars) to entrepreneurs in very poor areas around the world, but I’d only recently heard about efforts to provide this sort of funding (in this case $15K - $50K) for small local startups.
So I accepted the invitation from Kevin Dykes and Charles Dykes of Forest for the Trees to sit at their table for the awards luncheon. There had been a business plan contest. Hundreds of startups entered, and the three finalists were to be introduced at the luncheon, asked several questions (they wouldn’t know them in advance) and ultimately the audience would vote on the winning plan.
Sounds cool, doesn’t it?
The crowd was interesting. Several hundred people attended — the event was sold out. The crowd was diverse in age, race, and gender. I was really getting intrigued, and looking forward to learning more about this organization.
Once everyone was seated and a VIP introduced another VIP who introduced another VIP and so on, there was… a prayer. Bowing heads and everything. “Whether you worship Jesus Christ or Allah or Yahweh…”.
Not a good sign.
The first contestant got introduced. Her first “question” was: “OK, you’re at your company picnic, and there’s a dance contest. Show us what you’d do.” Cue the disco music.
And she danced.
I was speechless. Did that woman at the microphone really just make her dance? What the hell does this have to do with a winning business plan? The emcee had just been talking about how hard it is for small startups to be taken seriously. Yeah, so let’s make ‘em dance — that’ll help!
Another question: “You have three applicants for a job — the tin man with no heart, the scarecrow with no brain, and the lion with no courage. Which one do you hire, and why?”
Huh? How about NONE OF THE ABOVE!
Another question involved George Bush and broccoli, and then there were the standard “who’s your role model” and “what’s your motto” questions.
Then… the 2nd and 3rd contestants came up. Two more women. And with the exception of one custom question each, they all got the same lame questions.
And they all had to dance. I kid you not.
I don’t know who won the competition. I left. I was appalled. I was embarrassed for the women. I was disgusted with BiG AUSTIN.
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17 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Julie-
I’ve been to so many pep rally style entrepreneur events that this does not surprise me at all. This is why the new paradigm that we are all talking about IS different. Plus, even though you are in Austin, Austin is in Texas-
drew
2 Julie Gomoll // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:38 pm
You’re right… even though it’s Austin, it is still Texas. The good news is there were plenty of people in the audience who were also appalled (including others at my table, thankfully).
3 ericabiz // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Hi Julie,
This is what I wrote to Jeannette, who is the leader of BiG Austin. I found her name and email address on the BiG Austin site… it’s info@bigaustin.org if you or others wish to consider writing her as well.
Hi Jeanette,
I hadn’t heard of BiG Austin until today. As a woman business owner myself, I applaud what you are doing for other business owners – particularly women. However, I read an alarming piece about BiG Austin recently at http://blog.launchpadcoworking.com/2008/04/18/big-austin-big-fail/
I wasn’t aware of the event and did not attend, but if this is true (and I have no reason to doubt Julie’s integrity) I would urge you, woman to woman, heart to heart, to please seriously reconsider what you are doing. Should we really encourage the pageantry that objectifies women from such a young age? To put it another way, if this were a MALE-only event, would you expect them to dance? Or perhaps wear sexy clothes? Or would you want them to be strong BUSINESS people and answer thoughtful, considerate questions that showed them to be capable leaders?
Please, next time you have an event like this, ensure that the questions are worthy of the participants – who are taking this seriously and who desire to start businesses instead of being objectified. Make Mine a Million (http://www.makemineamillion.org/site/) does this right – I was a finalist at their NYC event in 2006 and it was extremely professional (and yes, the audience got to vote on the participants’ business plans.) There are ways to do this sort of thing without objectifying and embarrassing the female participants.
I encourage you to make a public statement about this event and what will happen at future events.
Thank you,
Erica Douglass
—
I hope this encourages them to reconsider, but just one letter won’t make much difference, so if you could spread the word, we can potentially help them make a positive change.
-Erica
4 Julie Gomoll // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Great letter, Erica - thanks.
I agree that had any of the contestants been male, there wouldn’t have been the ridiculous dance issue.
I wanted to hear what these women are passionate about and what drives them…
Such a great opportunity wasted!
5 Julie Gomoll // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:55 pm
And yes, I will write to her as well.
6 Peter // Apr 18, 2008 at 10:18 pm
this is almost unbelievable.
which leads me to think it’s essentially some kind of scam. a shell game of some type. multi-level marketing. something skeezy like that.
the ‘president’, Jeannette Peten - was she even there? is she even a real person? her name shows up in some google searches, but that’s about it - nothing of substance.
and everything about the ‘company’ screams ’scam’. look at all the network marketing-related ads all over their site. it’s just very typically spammy and creepy and has no substance at all.
i have to say - i don’t know how you all could have attended something like that. a scam like that _has_ to have a reputation the precedes it. but even if it didn’t - wouldn’t a look at that website make you think something was wrong? clicking on the ‘president’s link produces another spam page - no bio. every listed event has something to do with more spammy marketing. FREE this and FREE that.
yeah - it’s easier for me to spot it, now, after y’all had this surreal experience - but there’s no way i would have missed that this was a scam. not a chance.
as for the FffT folks that invited you - they have a lot of explaining to do. that’s orders of magnitude wrong to invite to you to a scam like that without having done due diligence, b/c they would know that you’re going to trust them to a certain extent to vouch for the legitimacy of that racket.
you’d get a lot further looking up complaints about them at charity navigator and other non-profit trackers, and then follow-up with the IRS to verify their actual non-profit status, and then follow-up with the BBB and other local, state, and federal agencies.
7 Julie Gomoll // Apr 18, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Obviously I need to look into this more, but I really don’t think it’s a scam. They’ve given grants and micro-loans to lots of companies. Many were in attendance today.
Yes, Jeannette Peten was there. As was Congressman Lloyd Doggett and a few other Austin VIPs. Citibank and Wells Fargo were sponsors, and were also present.
The FFTT guys were stunned, too.
8 spike gillespie // Apr 19, 2008 at 8:43 am
Once I went to interview for a job and, seriously, the guy asked me “which character on Star Trek would you be?” I was shocked and, not only that, had never seen Star Trek. Without thinking, I responded, “What character on the Brady Bunch would you be?” I didn’t get the job and later someone suggested I should’ve said that I would be one of those sexy, scantily clad women-creatures. Hmmm. This luncheon sounds appalling. Was the food any good? (I’m kidding. Sort of.)
9 Kevin Dykes // Apr 19, 2008 at 3:10 pm
After reading some of the things mentioned in this post and comments, I felt I needed to provide a few insights from our experience in working with the folks at BigAustin. This is what I’ve seen personally - not spin - and I have no vested interest in their organization or any of their supported companies.
We’ve gotten to know the hard working team who runs the non-profit organization. They provide a badly needed service to hundreds of locally-owned small businesses in Austin. These are companies who would probably never catch the attention of an Angel or even many traditional bank or SBA loan programs. I know from working with 5 companies over the past few weeks that they are run by passionate entrepreneurs who need support, sometimes training in legal, marketing and accounting. And these small companies are very much a part of what makes Austin so great.
We were donating time & services to help these companies and didn’t elicit kudos about BiG, but we heard raves from entrepreneurs saying they wouldn’t be in business if weren’t for Jeannette Peten and her team. In my opinion, that is the bigger picture and the real story that I’ve seen behind this event.
And, to Peter, why not do a little research before making such a silly, baseless claim as them being a scam. You only disgrace yourself with comments like that.
10 Susan Price // Apr 20, 2008 at 7:12 am
I understand Peter’s response, and agree that BiGAustin has a perception problem built into its site.
The BiG Austin FAQs say this nonprofit organization was “founded by the city” and “is funded with public and private dollars” — so if you’re an Austin resident, you’re funding it. Applying to your city representatives and leadership would be an appropriate response. Erica starts at the right place, IMO - I like talking to people directly first.
I doubt the questions or silly activities were ill-meant. I assume the organizers were trying to inject fun, levity and “risk taking” with the dance thing, possibly the point being “entrepreneurs have to think on their feet and take risks to succeed.”
In my experience, this event is NOT representative of Austin’s hip, dynamic business culture. Reading a spreadsheet isn’t great theatre, but they need to dig deeper for entertaining ideas in line with the concept :)
The prayer thing, yeah. I bet they feel they were being MORE than inclusive by mentioning multiple gods in the intro. Prayers were still part of Austin’s city council meetings when Austin Free-Net founders (including you and me, Julie) were awarded for standing up a city-backed nonprofit.
I’d love to hear what the participants feel about the event and the organization (even, especially the ones who didn’t make the finals).
The good thing is, here come LaunchPad, Jelly and the other coworking spaces to provide a viable alternative support network for business people who don’t disco for dollars or pray in public.
11 Katie // May 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi, Wow. I’ve been in Austin since 1985, and familiar with BIG Austin since it started. In the professional community, I know of at least five very different folks that have poured hours into volunteering for Big, mentoring small businesses, especially those that really have no other options! I am talking about accountants, lawyers, etc. spending ten or twenty hours with someone pro bono, to help them get their finances in shape, contracts drawn up, or other nitty gritty required to get the business off the ground.
It’s weird (not Austin weird, just weird) to see so many strong accusations - fraud, sexism, etc - about the intentions of Big and the people who designed the program. Especially coming from an organization that would likely host BIG award winners.
Keep Austin Weird - it means, diverse, creative, etc. Who cares if someone prays in public? Why do you care? Did you feel coerced or unfundable because of the ‘prayer…?’
There may be a cultural nuance wrt the dancing… I have been to professional events in Austin - at Fortune 50 companies- where professional men do a dance or performance. I was not there, maybe I would have been offended too.
Maybe in some years, you’ll come to appreciate that Austin is in Texas. And that relationship, social, personal things happen in the public here. The social capital that makes (made?) Austin great is because people are allowed to bring all of themselves to the table, no matter what that is. Why do you think the Bohemians, Gay and Lesbian community, artists, nerds scientists, etc. of any religion all moved here?
There’s no inclusion if everyone’s just keeping their diversity to themselves.
I know two small business entrepreneurs that were launched by Big Austin. Have you ever taken one of their classes? Have you checked out the companies that have been funded in the past? I can’t speak to the character of the founders because I don’t know them. But I can tell you that Jenette Petten has a reputation for being pro-woman, pro-empowerment, from back in the day when the only way a woman could guarantee a decent income was to start her own business. Jenette has been in the not-for-profit, funding small minority and women owned businesses world for YEARS.
My rash judgment - the people who made these comments are new to Austin, think there’s only one way to fund a company, and aren’t familiar with the deeper roots of Austin’s small business funding. It takes all kinds.
Along with your criticisms, why don’t you try to find out what’s going on and include the people that Big Austin funds in the co-work space. Studies show that innovation comes when different points-of-view intersect - both the hick entrepreneurs and the hipster entrepreneurs.
Julie - again, when you write to Jenette, why don’t you offer to sit down and share what you’re doing, learn about Big. Ask her about the agenda. What’s behind it? Open your mind. Maybe you’ll learn something?
p.s. Thank you for what you’re doing for co-working in Austin!
12 Julie Gomoll // May 12, 2008 at 4:11 pm
At least a few of these folks, myself included, are entrepreneurs who have been in Austin a long time (like you, I moved here in 1985). At least one commenter is a native.
I was very surprised to never have heard of BiG. And mingling in the lobby before the lunch I was excited to learn more — clearly they’ve done some good, meaningful work.
And you’re right — to get the real story I should sit down and talk with Jenette, and I’m sure I would learn something.
I am in no way criticizing the intent of the organization. I’m criticizing this specific event.
I’m fine if people want to pray in public. I’m *not* fine with making a prayer an agenda item at a business event that is ostensibly secular. If it’s not a secular organization, I’d hope they’d be more up front about that fact.
Professional men dancing at a Fortune 50 event is not even close to what happened here. Men at a Fortune 50 event aren’t struggling to gain credibility. These business owners were and are.
There were plenty of people embarrassed for the women and appalled at this.
I’d also encourage Jenette Petten to leave a comment here. I’m sure her intention was not to alienate or embarrass anyone.
13 dirty_snowflake // May 12, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Praying of any kind turns me right off of a business. What I believe is private, and what you believe should be too. It makes no sense to inject such biases into any business situation. And having a dance off and aksing such frivolous questions does make it seem very hollow and pageanty with the prize being the funding when it should be focused on the plans, intentions, and savvy of the participating and budding entrepreneurs.
14 katie // Jun 3, 2008 at 5:38 pm
hi me again, I see what you’re saying, julie. wrt to the design of the program, was the dance-off designed only after organizers discovered the three finalists were female?
@ dirty snowflake & others… do you know that companies like IBM have empolyee groups on site for christians, jews, muslims? I don’t have a religion, but i think one thing that will keep us from getting to the next stage of consciousness // competitiveness is asking americans to not talk about religion in public.
from a company point of view, different ways of thinking is correlated to patent production. in today’s world we can look at the outside and say a black man and a white man and a young and an old will result in a more innovative and divergent approach. but when we’re all brown and ageless, income and religious differences will be the things that may predict whether we think divergently.
business is personal, especially now. 24 / 7 , you can call me on my cell phone on friday, saturday, sunday, which ever is my holy day. To compete going forward we have to know more about each other, to form deeper relationships, to leverage our strengths. And to ignore spirituality is to take the best robot part of ourselves for the assembly line and leave that which inspires outside the factory.
Look at countries like Malaysia, Sweden, Netherlands, etc. Many religions are mixed together, prayer happens in public, and people who don’t pray are also honored. The spiritual piece of a business agenda is simply a necessary “set-up cost” for communities that are really serious about competing.
I haven’t learned much about separation of church and state, but I don’t think the intention was “just don’t talk about it if you’re gathered to make money.”
No wonder the U.S. is clueless about religious diversity around the world?
Thanks for reading… and …
Thanks again for what you’re doing for co-working.
15 Julie Gomoll // Jun 3, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for being willing to continue the conversation, Katie :)
Did they know the finalists were all female before planning the dancing? I don’t know. I never heard back from Jeanette.
Employee special interest groups are opt-in. You mention IBM has groups for christians, jews, and muslims (and probably others). So how would you feel about company meetings that started with “I’m going to lead a prayer to jesus - but of course you’re all included”?
I *absolutely* want us to talk about religion in public. I think it’s outrageous that discussions about religions are considered off-limits. That’s bad for everyone. But this wasn’t a discussion. It was a prayer.
I very much want the diversity. And I want the exploration. I think if more people really explored religion, really examined it and thought hard about it, they would never be so arrogant as to lead a prayer at a public business event.
This is unrelated to “ignoring spirituality”. It’s recognizing that spirituality is personal, and has no place at an ostensibly secular business event. And if the business event is *not* secular, please tell me ahead of time.
Public prayer is fine. Putting me in the awkward position of not wanting to be a part of your public praying is not.
You wrote “and people who don’t pray are also honored.” << where does that happen? For the most part, people who don’t pray are condemned and shunned.
This is not a separation of church and state issue. Unless explicitly defined as such (e.g., a company that sells religious paraphernalia, a company that exists to get X candidate or law passed), businesses aren’t intrinsically religious *or* political.
You wrote “The spiritual piece of a business agenda is simply a necessary “set-up cost” for communities that are really serious about competing.” Sorry, I don’t buy that. Actually, I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. Can you clarify?
16 dirty_snowflake // Jun 3, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Listen Katie, I am a student of many religions and think religion is fascinating, but I don’t force my religious beliefs or practices on anyone else. Why should I have to be put in the position of being included in your or anyone else’s religion if I don’t want to be? Employee religious groups are opt-in, and I have opted-out. I don’t come to your house and forcibly try to convert you to my religion why should it be ok for you or anyone else to come to my house and try to convert me? Take it a step farther, and explain to me how it’s ok to come into my place of business that has nothing to do with religion and try to convert me. Why else would you be praying out loud and forcing me to witness or participate in something I have no desire to be a part of? Say I just want to buy some shoes. What does Jesus have to do with the price of shoes? Or Allah? Or Buddha? Nothing. So, let’s leave them out of it.
There is no valid reason to inject religion into a neutral business environment. All your doing is being rude and awkwardly forcing your ideology upon everyone else around you. Why is this acceptable practice for Christianity in this country? We are at a place of business. Take a break and go pray on your own time. But don’t subject me and everyone else to your religion; it’s not relevant in a business situation. And exactly what provisions for atheists or agnostics are you making? They have to sit and be bombarded with your religious prejudices and slants while you pray and bless everyone whether they want to be blesses by your god or not.
Keep religion in the church. Keep it out of the business place. Frankly, I go out of my way to NOT do business with businesses that identify themselves as Christian. Keep your crude attempts to foist your ideology on to everyone else away from me. I don’t need all the moralistic judgements; I just want to buy a freakin’ pair of shoes or a car.
I will never , ever buy one from this guy who is losing my money by injecting religion into business:
http://tinyurl.com/4e5pw8
17 Julie Gomoll // Jun 3, 2008 at 9:19 pm
dirty_snowflake - apparently that guy later admitted he’s not even a christian - this was a pure marketing ploy.
Oddly enough, that makes it even worse for me, somehow. Bad enough to use your god to make $. Even worse to capitalize on ignorance of others to do so. (I think… it’s kind of a poser for me)
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