The Women's Technology Cluster or WTC was renamed, Astia (a name derived from the Greek word for “star”) in 2007.
Astia is a global not-for-profit organization built on a community of experts whose goal is to ensure the success of women in high-growth start-ups.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the WTC was founded as part of the Three Guineas Fund in 1999, by Cate Muther, former CMO of Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

, and was spun off in 2003 as an independent non-profit.

Mission

Astia's (formerly the WTC) mission is to propel women’s full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth.

Program

Doing it Right is a transformative program. In 2009, the Astia Doing it Right program expanded with programs now running in Silicon Valley, New York, London and in 2010, India. The rigorous multi-day boot camp is followed by a two-month program of personalized coaching.

Highlighted speakers have included:
Mitchell Kapor; Audrey MacLean; Roger Pedersen from the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

; Zach Hall, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine was created by California's Proposition 71 , which authorized it to issue $3 billion in grants, funded by bonds, over ten years for embryonic stem cell and other biomedical research. It is claimed to be the world's largest single backer of...

, Stewart Alsop

Stewart Alsop

Stewart Johonnot Oliver Alsop was an American newspaper columnist and political analyst.Born and raised in Avon, Connecticut, Alsop attended Groton School and Yale University...

; excutives from Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

, BEA Systems

BEA Systems

BEA Systems, Inc. specialized in enterprise infrastructure software products known as "middleware", which connect software applications to databases and was acquired by Oracle Corporation on April 29, 2008.- History :...

, Netscape Communications, SAP AG

SAP AG

SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...

 and many other prominent Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

 companies; Priya Mathur, CalPERS

CalPERS

The California Public Employees' Retirement System or CalPERS is an agency in the California executive branch that "manages pension and health benefits for more than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families"...

; Mayor Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom

Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...

; Hillary Clinton; and other prominent figures.

See also

• Business incubator
  Business incubator
  Business incubators are programs designed to accelerate the successful development of entrepreneurial companies through an array of business support resources and services, developed and orchestrated by incubator management and offered both in the incubator and through its network of contacts...
  
  
• Startup
  Startup company
  A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
  
  
• Entrepreneurship
  Entrepreneurship
  Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response...
  
  
• Business plan
  Business plan
  A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals....
  
  
• Venture capital
  Venture capital
  Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
  
  
• Angel investor
  Angel investor
  An angel investor or angel is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity...