Simone Brummelhuis

Simone Brummelhuis is VP Europe of Astia.org, the premier entrepreneur programme for high-growth women-led companies. She is founder and CEO of The Next Women, the first women's internet business magazine and community, with chapters in the UK and The Netherlands and behind concepts including Kitchen Dinners, Funding & Pitching events and TheNextWomen Mentoring programme. She worked for 10 years as an international corporate lawyer before becoming an entrepreneur by setting up her own B2B publishing company Brummsbooks. Thereafter, she joined VC backed IENS.nl as co-owner and Managing Director; she developed this start-up into the No. 1 user generated content database publisher of restaurant guides in The Netherlands; currently she is on the Board of Supervisory Directors (RVC) of IENS.

SIMONE'S FAVOURITE SITES

Hot Hot Hot Sauce Store - One of the first niche internet retailer stores, which has sold hot sauces and salsas since 1994. I used it as an example of how the internet is changing the world of distribution, small stores being able to conquer the world, in a book that I wrote in 2000: A Nose for Websites (about the top 500 websites). The company is still going strong.

The Next Women - We have just launched this business magazine. It's tough building websites, but rewarding when it works. Media is an area that is hot again, because people value content once more. So we are delighted with the acquisition by AOL of Techcrunch and The Huffington Post. It gave us a boost, and soon we want to be on their radar in their search for a strong niche women-in-business magazine with a committed readership.

Zagat - The restaurant guide. I like the brands that have shown that they are not hype. Zagat, started some 25 years ago, made the transition from a book publisher to an online data publisher. It has piloted different business models (subscription model, freemium, reservation system, advertising model), and has remained true to its brand. I own a similar website in The Netherlands, IENS.nl started before the first internet bubble, so I know all about it.

News on Women - A solid resource on everything about working women. As a data person, and as founder of The Next Women, the business magazine, I know how hard it is to get data together, and be accurate and up to date. It's a one-woman project and I am really impressed that Alice Krause is able to keep the website going all these years. Of course the design could be better, but content wise it's great.

Brains-and-Beauty.com - A fashion blog started by my oldest daughter Noa when she was 14, and we were living in London. If you are an expert on a topic, you are able to get yourself known easily nowadays, even if you are only a teenager. Age is no longer a barrier. Noa interned, as a result of her blog, at Net-A-Porter, and gets press passes for fashion shows. The internet brings such opportunities unknown before.

Eventbrite - Last year we organised 20 events for business women, pitching events, kitchen dinners, speed mentoring events, investors' forums, and without this site I would be lost. It is really easy to set up an event, sell tickets and get templates for buttons etc. I know there are competitors that are cheaper, but the tools of Eventbrite are too easy to handle  to change.

17 May 2011