Top 30 Female Internet Entrepreneurs
Women more so than men I find do not measure success by money alone but by a lot of things such as happiness, love, friendships, family and the list goes on. So in recognition of the great numbers of female entrepreneurs out there and in particular those who are active online I have decided not to rank the 30 women listed below by wealth alone but simply as my list of the “30 Top Female Internet Entrepreneurs”.
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30 Female Entrepreneurs Making Money Online
| Name | Company | Founded | Why She Matters |
Amanda Marcotte |
Pandagon | 26-Nov-01 | Amanda runs one of the most talked about feminism and politics blogs. Marcotte shot to fame when John Edwards asked her to run the presidential blog. |
Ariana Huffington |
Huffington Post | 09-May-05 |
Is perhaps one of the most successful female Internet entrepreneurs ever and is the founder of the top blog in the world according to Technorati!
|
Ashley Qualls |
What Ever Life | 2004 | Attracting millions of monthly visitors earning the 18 year old 7 figures a year. |
Barbara Feldman |
Surfnetkids.com | 29-Jun-05 |
Founder of Surfnetkids, the website attracts more than 600,000 visitors a month, her newsletter lists are over 80,000 strong, and her self-published e-books are sold on dozens of sites.
|
| Carrie Wilkerson | The Barefoot Executive | 2007 |
Carried founded The Barefoot Executive on August 27, 2007 and has gone from being in debt to being a 7 figure Internet entrepreneur with over 100,000 followers!
|
Caterina Fake |
Flickr | 26-Jun-05 |
Caterina co-founded Flickr with Stewart Butterfield which was later acquired by Yahoo! for a high 8 figure deal.
|
Catherine Cook |
MyYearBook.com | 27-Jun-05 |
Start 4 years ago when she was 15, MyYearBook has grown to 3 million members worldwide and rakes in annual sales in the seven figures!
|
Cyan Ta’eed |
Eden Creative | 2006 | Ta’eed is the co-founder of Eden Creative Communities which attracts over 10 million visitors to their blog network every month earning her 7 figures a year. |
Eileen Gittins |
Blurb | 26-Jun-05 |
Elieen is the co-founder and CEO of Blurb, a print on demand publishing service. The company’s revenue grew from $1 million to $30 million in two years.
|
Elaine Wherry |
Meebo | 01-Sep-05 | Elaine co-founded Meebo, a instant messaging service you use in your browser. Meebo attracts 40,000,000 monthly users. |
Erin Jansen |
NetLingo.com | 21-Jun-05 |
Founder of an Award-Winning Web Site since 1994, Erin is a Internet entrepreneur veteran.
|
Gina Bianchini |
Ning | 01-Oct-05 |
Gina is the Co-founder and CEO of Ning. There are 1,000,000 social networks on the Ning Platform, growing at a rate of almost 4,000 new social networks each day.
|
Gina Trapani |
Lifehacker | 01-Jan-05 | Gina Trapani is a technology blogger, book author, and programmer. The founding editor of Lifehacker.com, a daily weblog on software and personal productivity, Gina authored a book based on the web site which is in its second edition: Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better! |
Heather Armstrong |
Dooce | 01-Feb-01 |
One of the biggest mommy blogger’s out there attracting millions of readers to her blog and has recently passed 500,000 Twitter followers.
|
Juliette Brindak |
Miss O and Friends | 22-Jun-05 |
Juliette came up with the idea for Miss O and Friends at just 10 years old, now 19 her business is worth over $15 Million and is visited by millions of girls every month.
|
Justine Ezarik |
iJustine | 27-Jun-05 |
It all started with a 300 page iPhone bill, now she is a social media rock star with millions of YouTube views and over 500,000 twitter followers!
|
Kim Polese |
SpikeSource | 25-Jun-05 | Kim Karin Polese is CEO of SpikeSource, and was one of the most prominent Silicon Valley executives during the dot-com era. In 1997, she made Time Magazine’s list of “The 25 Most Influential Americans”. |
Lisa Stone |
Blog Her | 01-Feb-05 |
Lisa is the founder of BlogHer which reaches more than 14 million women monthly through its conferences, Internet site and publishing networks.
|
Lisa Sugar |
Pop Sugar | April 2006 | Lisa’s blog network is funded by Sequoia – the guys who funded Google and Youtube. Now one of the biggest celeb blogs on the net, Lisa sure is a top female blogger! |
Louise Wannier |
MyShape | 26-Jun-05 |
Louise runs an online women’s apparel retailer that finds clothing for women based on their physical measurements and style and fit preferences
|
Maria Andros |
Social Media Traffic Blueprint |
Maria helps people create a buzz with social media. Recently she took 100 people into her mentoring program for $2500 each.
|
|
Meg Frost |
Cute Overload | 2005 | Although she hasn’t got a pet herself, attracts 100,000s of visitors daily to her cute animal blog. |
Meg Hourihan |
Blogger.com | 21-Jun-05 |
Meg Hourihan is the cofounder of Pyra Labs, the company that launched the Blogger personal blogging software that was acquired by Google for for a 8 figure deal.
|
Mena Trott |
Six Apart | 23-Jun-05 |
Mena is a co-founder of Six Apart, creator of Movable Type and TypePad.
|
Michelle Malkin |
Michelle Malkin | June 2004 | Michelle blogs about news and politics which attracts nearly 200,000 visitors a day to her site. |
Penelope Trunk |
Brazen Careerist | March 2006 | With multiple start-ups and over 30,000 RSS readers on her personal blog, Penelope is one female to follow. |
Nancy J Price |
she knows | 1999 |
Nancy co-founded SheKnows which attracts 7.5 Million Monthly Unique Visitors and 76 Million Monthly Page Views!
|
Natalie Massenet |
Net-A-Porter | 22-Jun-05 |
Eight years ago she’d never even been on the internet. This year Natalie Massenet turned over lb37 million with Net-a-Porter, the fashion website that has become a global phenomenon.
|
Rachna Kingston |
Entheos | 30-May-08 |
Is a pregnant work at home mum who runs a web design resource website that attracts over a million visitors a month!
|
Xeni Jardin |
Boing Boing | 22-Jun-05 | Xeni is the editor of one of the top 5 blogs in the world, Boing Boing. |
To our success in 2009,
Michael Dunlop
PS. Who is your favourite female entrepreneur and why?
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Wow mike, looks amazing! Great list, very inspirational.
Good post. I do not have a favourite.
Wow, this is another great list. Can’t wait to check out their ventures. Can we expect to see some of them being interviewed on Income Diary soon?
Some of them have agreed to do interviews, should be adding one with the founder of blogher.com next week. Look out for them!
These are very interesting, I only knew about Ashley Qualls. I never really associate big websites with women, probably down to my steriotypical view of a web startup that it is a bunch of sweaty male geeks in a dorm room.
Good Post Micheal
Don’t worry James, most people have the same thoughts. I did notice that some of the most popular blogs are run by females, perhaps females are better bloggers.
Nice to see some females making good money online and it’s not just us Men doing it! I wonder how many female readers this site gets?
Another great list Mike! Another person who should be on here is Adelle Charles, she founded and the whole Fuel Brand Network.
Great list Mike!!.
What an awesome list of great women!!! I recognize most, but there are a few that even I didn’t know about. Way to go ladies!
Thank you so much Michael for taking the time to recognize the wonderful female leaders out there in the Internet world. This is an inspiration to me and hopefully many other women out there that are breaking through the glass ceilings to become whatever our hearts desire.
C’mon ladies…let’s do it! =)
Very nice. Thank you for this. It’s nice to see fellow female entrepreneurs who are sucecssful and great role models. Ashley Qualls…very impressive at 18 yrs old.
Congratulations to all! Definitely something to aspire to in ’09.
Great list. Very inspirational. I see many of them have been in the business for several years. These things take time and determination. Thanks for a great list of women who have achieved success via the internet. Give me three years and I hope to be starring on your list.
Very nice list of of successful women. I wish I was making some of that kind of money. Thanks Greg Ellison
Very inspirational. Impressive how these women have done all these amazing things. Most of them seem to have way more technological skills than most women. However, it’s great to see that many of them are simply great writers and/or had a BIG idea and followed it through.
(the follow through is what separates the women from the little girls!)
Ahaha.. very true! The longer your not taking action, the more money you are losing.
Michael
A nice thought listing women…I wonder how many are worth millions?
At least 25 of the 30 would be worth millions Stuart.
Mike, great input here, and i’m glad to see there are so many women who are adding so much value to our lives and business, online and offline. One such individual you might want to get to know is Jehan Ara, who is one of the most prominent business women, among several others, here in Pakistan, especially in the technology sector. Her blog is jehanara.wordpress.com. Jehan also happens to be the President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association, which works in collaboration with the IT Ministry of Pakistan. I’m sure she can introduce you to the other women who not only run businesses in Pakistan, but very profitably too. Thank you.
Nice list Michael, It is nice to see a list of women/females making it big time in the Internet/blogging world. I think I was always under the impression that it was mostly the men making all the money or making the grade. It could be the factor that I have always felt lacking in the Mathematical/Technical department that I’ve always felt goes with the male gender. You know how we’ve been programed to think that being a girl you can’t do math like a boy can. Well I’m finally catching on to the technical part of blogging, now all I have to do is get my self going and I’ll be on your list next year if not sooner. Thanks for the push or kick, just what I needed. So don’t forget the name- JJ was here from MCB.
Great to hear from you JJ and glad the list has inspired you to work harder!
Michael
A lot of amazing female talent here!
A few sites that were PAINFUL to look at, its kind of shocking to know that you can still make 6-7 figures with a terrible website!
this was an awesome post Michael
Another awesome list! I’ll be checking these very successful women out for sure – thanks!
Matt
Wow. I never thought there are a number of women who took the online world like this. They’re all amazing
Hi Michael…I, too, want to thank you for the inspiration and the confidence you have created in me by reading about these wonderful and intelligent women (and girls) who have persevered with their ideas.
I have not long started my blog and am thinking of doing another one once I have mastered this one from my little corner of the world in Queensland, Australia.
I hope Marie Poulin won’t be too harsh on my little blog as well …I am still learning the ways of blogging and internet.
No problem Marie, glad you enjoyed the top list, let us know how you get on with blogger.
Michael
It Trully is great to see so many Strong Successful women building large and amazing communities. Awesome !
I am a huge fan of Rachna Kingston. Maybe once a month you should have a women top list once a month. It is motivating for me as a woman, to see that on your blog.
Hey Renelda,
Rachna is great, I love what she is doing online. Would love to do more women related articles on the site, will brainstorm today.
Glad you enjoyed it,
Michael
I must say this is an awesome list of entrepreneurs. We need more women entrepreneurs in this world.
Total guy statement: Some of them are really beautiful. Got to love a woman that’s beautiful and makes her own money.
Wow Michael a truly amazing list. Its very inspiring for me to see that these women made it in the internet industry and made a name for themselves. Hope to be able to follow their footsteps someday.
thanks again
Jackie
Great list. I would really like the interview of Ariana Huffington and Ashley Qualls who are really inspirational.
Awesome. Hope to see you all (on the list and off) at WITI’s 20th Anniversary Summit June 14-16 in Santa Clara, CA
http://www.witi.com/center/conferences/2009/summit/
You really come up with awesome stuff, Michael!
Even in this male dominated place, gals are way ahead of most of us.
Hi Michael,
You did it again. Your posts are great and today I found out so many new names which I never heard before.
Thanks for the great post and havd a good trip to New York.
I too have not heard of many of these female entrepreneurs, do you think that its because woman simply get there heads down and get on with it, working hard?
Rather then shouting from the hill tops along the way… Like a lot of typical male entrepreneurs!
Interesting.
Great post Micheal.
Nice one…But whenever there is a news about women why should that start with comparing men, if that is really special? Telling positive things about anything need not include comparison of opinions. Please do not mix facts with opinions.
Fantastic!
Great List and inspirational for women like me!
I believe the temperament of women makes them better than men at blogging. Women have a natural instinct to communicate and therefore blogging could be the ideal medium.
Wow…This is quite cool.
Keep up the good work, mike.
It’s now my goal to make this list in the next 2 years!
I will definitely be on that list in 2 to 4 years with one of my sites:)
I know several of these women very well and can say you’ve got a typo on your Date Founded column. June 2005 was not a freakishly popular month to found companies. 1999 was, early 2000 was .. a few in 2003….
The only reason these are mainly bloggers is due to the researcher. There are plenty more women who have made millions online as executives at dot-coms or in services companies selling mainly online. But, you can’t always check our Alexa rankings easily so we’re under your radar.
ooh, not to mention affiliates. Missy Ward alone kicks most of this lists’ butt…..
Thanks for the list … wasn’t sure if this was publishers only. I was surprised not to see Julie Swatek – ScrapYourTrip.com – in your list. Amazing Year over Year growth – woman owned company.
Great
your effort for making this list is appreciable.
You can make another list for top 30 kids in blogging.
regards
khalid
Wow-great list. I have followed some of these ladies, and have learned so much. Very inspiring!
Great list, I’d suggest an addition: Rashmi from SlideShare
It’s great to see women showcased for their hard work and smarts. This is a great list of blogs/websites to check out. I’m guessing they will give me tons of inspiration.
Thank you for putting this together.
This is a great list and is very inspirational. What really surprises me is that the list dates back less than 10 years. Although they are internet years, that says to me that there are still lots opportunities out there for new-bes, like myself.
Exactly Rena! In fact some are only 2 years old, take a look at Carrie Wilkerson, she has gone from broke to 7 figures in 2 years.
Michael
Would it be a challenge to put in the wider community to match the achievements of these women and to do this with a positive social impac for all customers?
What i see here is a list if achievers in terms of finance. Success is not only to be measured by a cheque. but also by the impact a venture has on the planet, is it socially responsible, ecologically viable, etc? Let’s see what kind of list would emerge then!
Just a thought…
Servane
http://www.ogunte.com
Connecting and Equipping Female Social Innovators
Hello Servane,
The list wasn’t necessarily done by wealth but by the success of the website. There would be no point including people in the list with a good idea but didn’t execute it properly because that is not what success is.
Glad you enjoy the list,
Michael
what a woman power. I may say they are great. they beat the top. congrats woman!
thank michael for this wonderful post!
I would love to see some interviews with the top money makers. I went to the sites of the folks I’ve not heard of before, and it’s not obvious how these folks make money! I know the typical Adsense route, and some of these folks sell professional services. But how do these other folks make a living from their sites when there are no ads and no obvious sales of products or services? I’m so curious!
Hello Lisa,
Great question, actually most don’t make money from Adsense. A lot of them are making money through selling their own product, membership website or promoting affiliate programs.
I will do a run down in a future post of how they make money online.
Michael
Thanks Michael! I’m truly interested and will be watching to see if you were able to post anything. Like I said, I poked around at some of them and these didn’t seem to sell anything. Maybe I have to look harder!
than 600,000 visitors a month, her newsletter lists
Please add Lynn Terry to your list. URL: http:// http://www.clicknewz.com, also http://www.selfstartersweeklytips.com
Any list that doesn’t include her is incomplete
Where is Amanda Vega in this article? She is amazing! Intern #22 of AOL and on second company after selling her first to Oglivy in 2000? Social media guru and comment marketing specialist….www.amandavega.com
what about Molly E. Holzschlag?, i think she is really important into the web movement
I’d have to say Cindy Pond in San Diego. Her company Taylor & Pond came up with ideas/initiatives that tripled our sales within a year. Smaller player than many of these but still a boutique firm with a fun personality.
I really enjoyed reading this list of these fantastic women — thanks and it would be cool to keep it updated.
I’d add Sheila Marcelo of care.com
She’s very smart and focused, with a great resume and set of backers (from Reid Hoffman to folks involved with upromise).
Thanks for the heads up Phil, will check her out and try get an interview with her.
Michael
Great Michael. I had never known that there are lots of female entrepreneurs too. LOL !
Rather US-centric! What about Cary Marsh, CEO of Mydeo (UK video streaming site), or me for that matter – co-founder & CEO of Memset – one of Britain’s top hosting companies!
Being an entrepreneur means starting a cash-generating business, not being a popular blogger. You should have titled this “the most famous Internet women” perhaps, but don’t confuse entrepreneurship with popularity.
You include a pet blogger for goodness sake! Talk about perpetuating the negative stereotypes of women in technology. :/
Kate.
So glad you made this list of women. Very great role models for the rest of us. I am sure your list is based on information and statistics, which is great. I made a list of women too, but they are the ones that have made a difference in how I work.
But there is never a better women that any of us need to consider successful, or more influential than our own Mom’s. My Mom, to me, is the world’s most successful entrepreneur and role model. “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my Mother”.
I hope all of you have the opportunity to tell your Mother how much she means to you today.
Thanks for the comment Teresa, glad you enjoyed the list. I also enjoyed your blog post as well.
Michael
Gosh .. .thanks so much for the recognition. And I thought I was still “flying under the radar.”
Barbara J. Feldman
http://www.Surfnetkids.com
Michael, fantastic list and so great to see you at the Continuity Summit -you gave me great ideas and inspiration. Keep it coming!
ann
http://www.authenticlifeinstitute.com
Hello Ann Great to hear, let me know how you get on and if I you need any help.
Michael
Next year I will be on the list too..
Great article having some interesting knowledge about the female internet entrepreneur.I aspect to publish the top ten men internet entrepreneur in the world
I have been following Heather Armstrong’s blog for quite some time… she is hilarious! It has become an obsession with me. When I click on my computer everyday I have to check out her blog before doing anything else. Hearing about successful women such as the stories listed on this site as well as from a recent book that I just picked up, “The Power of Women United” by Tina Dezsi and Lia Bandola, makes me feel inspired to be successful also. Thanks for the post!
You omitted Donna Maria Coles Johnson, founder of the Indie Beauty Network. She has had a wonderful effect on the careers of so many “cottage entrepeneurs”
There’s more to being a success than gross income.
Wow great inspiration ! I didn’t know of most of them so it was great to see.
Great list. These ladies are truly an inspiration! Thanks michael for publishing the list.
Wow. I’ve come across some of them. Thanks for researching this.
wow thats gr8 woman behind so many big successful sites. i didn’t knew abt this powerful women. Hard work pays in the end for sure
Rae Hoffman?
Anyway, my fave will be Elaine Wherry. Last time my college decided to block MSN and Yahoo Messenger so my other options is Meebo, thanks to her.
Absolutely amazing and truly inspiring.
Thank you to all of you wonderful ladies for showing us that all we have to do is be ourselves and anything is possible if we truly want it and work in the right way to get it.
Great list. Really women are rocking in this internet world.
Thanks for posting.
Where is IJustine???
Enjoyed that list a lot and learned about some success stories that weren’t on my radar.
An excellent list of the women out there making it happen !
Congratulations to all
Mark, thanks for compiling this list. This is something I’ll be referring back to from time to time. I’m going to put this in my favorites.
Now I realize you duly noted that success is more than numbers and what measure of income one generates. Nevertheless, I have a specific interest in knowing of which ones of these are considered to be millionaires. Do you or anyone around here have the answer to that?
Great list — many of the women are familiar. How about adding Ali Brown – the E-zine Queen. She has a huge event coming up in Las Vegas (SHINE) in November!
I just started up an online business, and seeing this great list of women is so inspiring!
I’m determined to keep pressing on until I’m on that list next year!
Thanks for compiling this list. it’s great to see so many women competing on a level footing with the guys and see that the Internet isn’t totally dominated by men. Go girls:)
Hi Michael – interesting list. How about making a list on most popular subjects? Men / Women – My feeling is that ii is the most strange subjects making success …
all the best
Helle
Amazing list really inspirational..
Thank you for the impressive and inspiring list .I am just starting out to explore online business and this is one great list to learn from.
Hey, great list!
This is what I call inspiration! I really need it right now.
Thanks, Michael =)
Wow, I’m a RSS follower on a couple of those sites and never new the founder was a woman! Girl power:) Thanks for sharing this info.
Wow, its great to see so many very successful women! Thank you for sharing this.
Is a great list and thanks for sharing with us on it. Now I knew that hard work and take action is needed to become top in the world.I will in list one day in the future(Man list) haha.
Thanks Michael. Really great stories, hope my name makes the list by the end of 2010, with figures!!
I will be in this list very soon.
Thanks for this I have been a fan of iJustine and Net a proter for a while so its interesting to see how successful they are. I think women are just as capable as men as long as they forget stereotypes.
I am setting my Mum up with a blog at the moment to try and help her make a bit of money now she has retired and as she loves writing and is an ex english teacher, this may be the inspiration she needs to work at it through those months when you get little back.
Hopefuly the next list you do will have both me and my Mum in
You made a good list my friend. I visit of them and I am impress what they achieve.
I hope I could be like them in the near future.
Great list Mike! These women are all fantastic!! Carrie is one of my mentors. I hope to be on this list soon!
I will be in this list very soon.
Thanks for this interesting information.
GREAT article!!
Maria Andros is the one I probably follow the most— she does put out some great content!
Favorite is probably Ariana Huffington. Content “curation” is a hot topic these days and she is certainly a pioneer on that front.
I am certain to be on this list soon.