NPG 20: Blurb
When we set out to identify the 20 women founders and companies we wanted to regularly track here we reached out to readers and email subscribers to share who they felt were women to watch. No other company was mentioned as much as Eileen Gittins of Blurb.com. Gittins nabbed major tech industry cred from working in high level positions at Kodak, Wall data, and several other companies as well as advisory and board member positions. But it was a love for photography that moved her to launch what’s becoming one of the most interesting startups in the web 2.0 space. A micro-publisher of sorts, Gittin’s startup enables anybody to create and publish a beautifully designed and created photo essay book — like nabbing a book deal at Harper Collins without the hassle. Today, Blurb.com fills the gap, providing a simple, low cost publishing service that turns anybody into an author, from bloggers, to parents, to marketers and more. What we admire about Eileen isn’t just her high tech and business accomplishments, but the passion that you can see and feel behind her project. Not only has she created an incredible platform with the potential to take book publishing into a new future, but its obvious in every way that she’s empowering people. It’s no wonder we saw so many Power Girls suggesting her for the NPG 20!
