The Mercury News recently interviewed Gina Bianchini, founder and ex-CEO of Ning, about her time with the company, her parting and what might happen next for this inspiring female entrepreneur.
Q What was the original idea behind Ning?
A We had a very simple premise. What if we gave people an opportunity to create their own rich, immersive, branding experience that would bring people together around their passion? Just as in the early days of the Web, when people looked around for diverse online experiences, we believed that same thing would happen with social technology. Because it’s human nature to get more sophisticated online as you get more comfortable with new technology.
Q You’ve succeeded in an industry that still suffers from a paucity of high-level female entrepreneurs. Do you see that changing in the future?
A The last two years have seen the mainstreaming of the Internet, especially with social networking and social commerce. What this means is that women – who currently control 80-plus percent of household spending – are bringing their time, energy and purchasing power to the Internet in fundamentally new ways. If the power any entrepreneur has is their ability to create compelling products and services for themselves, then women have a newfound power as entrepreneurs to drive amazing innovation and results. Increasingly the age, gender, color, or creed of the entrepreneur doesn’t matter. Results matter more. I think this is a great thing.
Logo from Ning