Business competitions can be great ways to get capital, exposure, or a chance to pitch investors.   But how can you win one?

Every business could use more money and expert input.

Can sports really provide a solution for the ills affecting girls and young women worldwide? The founders of Activyst seem to think so.

Fashion has long been stereotyped the ultimate vapid industry, a world where style matters more than substance and political discussions are anath

Three women have embarked on a creative mission to spread awareness on street harassment by way of a fun pastime: comic books.

The Women Entrepreneurs Festival is not a typical business conference. Rather, it's a celebration of women who run their own companies and those about to make the leap. Here’s what’s different about WEF: Hugs. And clothes. Everyone greets one another with full-body presses -- something that you don’t get at other tech meet-ups. And these entrepreneurs wear some rocking outfits that you also don’t usually see at women’s business events.

A recent infographic from OnlineBusinessDegree.org looks at female entrepreneurship, and specifically how such entrepreneurs are on the rise. "Just 40 years ago an woman could be denied a small business loan because of her sex," the graphic notes. But today, nearly four decades after the 1974 Equal Credit Act made such discrimination illegal, nearly 1-in-3 businesses are owned by women, and women are starting businesses at nearly twice the rate of men.

Seeing makeup's ill effects on actresses inspired Jane Iredale to create a new line of cosmetics. Founded in 1994, Jane Iredale Mineral Cosmetics was one of the first mineral makeup brands. That was way before people talked about parabens or BPA, or even bothered reading labels.

School House is the Facebook of sweatshirts. While Facebook started at Harvard before going global, School House began at Duke and has expanded its collegiate wear to 32 different colleges, with thousands more sure to come. What’s more, this purveyor of American collegiate wear is actually Made in America. It's an ethical fashion company that produces well-designed collegiate wear, rather than sweatshirts that make you look like a potato.

For many women entrepreneurs today, the most grotesque “F-word” one can conceive of and utter is “failure.” According to top startup investor and advisor Judy Robinett, the most successful entrepreneurial ventures typically fail three times before hitting success, however many women take failure personally and abandon entrepreneurship entirely. While men typically bounce back in the face of failure, women tend to internalize failure and struggle to recover.

Singers may dream of performing on American Idol or dancers may hope to appear on Dancing with the Stars. But women tech entrepreneurs have their own star-making vehicle: PITCH, Women 2.0’s startup competition. The event took place this week in New York City in a darkened old theater. Ten women-led tech companies competed for three prizes; they had to sell the panelists their business idea.

A new video presented by LinkedIn and Citi as part of their Get Connected series features Cheryl Kellond, the founder and CEO of athletic technology company Bia Sport, which Kellond describes as "the first iconic fitness brand built around data and women." In the three-and-half-minute video, Kellond talks about how she transitioned from being a single mother making $20,000 a year to being a businesswoman and founding her own successful company.

Who doesn't hate knotted up earbud cords. Cindy Glass certainly does -- that’s why her company created the Unlace.

A start-up called the Legacy Movement has launched a new program to support entrepreneurs in underserved communities. The subscription-based "educational ecosystem" will connect underserved entrepreneurs, including women, veterans, and minorities, with mentorship and funding opportunities. The goal is to help these entrepreneurs "launch and sustain new businesses, build generational wealth, attract capital and create more jobs."

A new report from Dow Jones VentureSource looks at women's representation at venture-backed companies and how women in executive positions can boost a start-up's odds of success. The report, Women at the Wheel: Do Female Executives Drive Start-Up Success, uses the following question as a jumping off point: if women earn more advanced degrees than men (as became the case in 2010), then why are there not more female senior executives?