Columbia Womxn in Tech

What Columbia Womxn in Tech does

Columbia Women's Business Society (CWBS) is a non-profit, student-run pre-professional organization founded in 2003 at Columbia University in New York City. It self-identifies as the largest pre-professional club on Columbia's campus and serves undergraduate women interested in business careers through networking, mentorship, and professional development programming. The organization is led by student officers, with Sophia Naqvi currently serving as President, and operates under the Columbia University campus community.

CWBS's core offerings consist of three product lines: (1) its flagship Annual Women's Business Leadership Conference, which drew over 400 participants in 2025 under the theme "Towards Tomorrow"; (2) recurring on-campus programming including company site visits and industry speaker panels, totaling dozens of events per year; and (3) "The Scope," a multimedia content platform featuring the editorial series "It's Her Business" and "Woman of the Scope," along with an associated podcast series. The organization does not build proprietary technology; its digital infrastructure is limited to a Squarespace-hosted website and standard email/newsletter distribution, and the value proposition rests on community and event programming rather than software.

The business model is sponsorship-funded: CWBS charges no membership fees, and all programming is underwritten by corporate sponsors whose logos are displayed on the website (UBS as a core-tier partner, with FWA and Cerity Partners as supporting sponsors). Distribution is entirely direct and geographically bounded to Columbia's undergraduate campus community, with no plans disclosed for geographic expansion beyond a single institution.

Name

Columbia Womxn in Tech

Legal name

Columbia Women's Business Society

Website

https://columbiawomensbusinesssociety.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Columbia Women's Business Society (CWBS) is a non-profit, student-run pre-professional organization at Columbia University serving undergraduate women interested in business through networking events, speaker panels, and an annual leadership conference.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship: Corporate sponsors provide financial and logistical support for CWBS programming. Sponsors include companies like UBS and others whose logos appear on the website. The organization states that none of its yearly programming would be possible without sponsor support.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Columbia Womxn in Tech (operating as Columbia Women's Business Society / CWBS) is a Columbia University-affiliated, student-run pre-professional organization that delivers networking, mentorship, speaker events, corporate site visits, an annual Women's Business Leadership Conference, a multimedia publication ("The Scope"), and a podcast. Its programs target undergraduate women at Columbia interested in pursuing business and adjacent professional careers.

Product overview

Columbia Women's Business Society (CWBS) is a pre-professional student organization (not a technology product company) offering networking, mentorship, and professional development programs for women in business at Columbia University. The organization provides a core membership network, hosts the Annual Women's Business Leadership Conference (drawing over 400 participants), operates The Scope multimedia content platform including a podcast, and organizes regular site visits and speaker panel events. CWBS functions as an academic/campus organization rather than a software or technology product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual Women's Business Leadership Conference

Quantifiable outcome

• 400+ participants at 2025 conference
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Catalyst: Global nonprofit focused on advancing women in business through research, employer partnerships, and inclusion initiatives. Comparable in mission (women in business advancement) and in reliance on corporate partnerships for funding, though operating at enterprise rather than student level.
• Ellevate Network: Large professional women's network (formerly 85 Broads) providing community, mentorship, and events for women in business. A scaled, paid-network analog to the community and programming model CWBS offers free to Columbia undergraduates.
• Forte Foundation: Nonprofit focused on launching women into business careers through MBA and undergraduate programming, conferences, and corporate partnerships. Operates at broader industry scale than CWBS but shares the women-in-business sponsorship and event-driven model.
• Lean In Foundation: Women-in-business nonprofit founded by Sheryl Sandberg, providing circles, education, and community for women's professional advancement. Overlaps with CWBS's mission of supporting women through peer community and career programming, though at national scale.
• National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA): Member organization supporting women pursuing MBAs and business careers through chapters, conferences, and corporate partnerships. Comparable to CWBS in mission and member-driven programming model, though serving graduate rather than undergraduate students at broader scale.

Emerging players

• Girls Who Code: Nonprofit working to close the gender gap in technology through clubs, summer programs, and college-and-career programming. Closest scaled peer given the firm's listed name 'Columbia Womxn in Tech,' though CWBS's actual operations center on business rather than technology.
• AnitaB.org: Nonprofit focused on women in technology through events (Grace Hopper Celebration), communities, and career programs. Relevant peer given the organization's 'Womxn in Tech' naming and its community-and-event-driven programming model.

Direct peers

• Stanford Women in Business: Undergraduate-run women-in-business organization at Stanford University, hosting conferences, speaker events, and mentorship programming for women interested in business careers. Same membership/event-driven model as CWBS at a peer-elite institution.
• Wharton Women in Business: Pre-professional women-in-business student organization at the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), operating the same model — speaker panels, conferences, site visits — to support undergraduate women pursuing business careers. Most structurally comparable peer to CWBS.
• Kellogg Women in Business: Pre-professional women-in-business organization at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern), running speaker events, conferences, and mentorship programming. Direct structural peer to CWBS operating the same student-run, sponsorship-funded model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Columbia Womxn in Tech