Yesterday, we had the rare pleasure of attending ITP’s Women Entrepreneur Festival, organized by Joanne Wilson and Nancy Hechinger, and hosted at NYU.

This is the third year that Joanne and Nancy have hosted the festival and every year the two-day event is an opportunity to meet amazing ladies who are making it happen (or on the brink of making it happen) and a chance to discuss our collective challenges and triumphs. The conference is inspiring, challenging, interesting, and always educational.

We wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of the amazing women we met yesterday, and also, use the experience as a launch pad to discuss some of the thornier issues that arose.

Even if you couldn’t make it, you can enjoy the livestreams!
One of the coolest things that Joanne and Nancy did this year is that they taped all of the sessions and made them available via Livestream. Go take a look!

So many incredible women doing such cool things
Yesterday we met an amazing number of women doing an amazing number of things. Their ventures ranged from nonprofit to for-profit, from social mission driven to consumer focused to health care tech to large-scale, environmental sculpture. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to meet every single woman at the conference, but here is a list of some of the companies we did learn about:

• PopVox: Your Voice. Verified. Quantified. Amplified.
• Don’t Panic Management: We can help you organize and execute so you can focus on growing your business.
• Seventh Reach Media: Our mission is to develop and produce media products that foster meaningful collaboration and innovative thinking
• Mahzedahr Bakery: Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery transports the curious on a delectable journey of mystery and desire that will elevate the baked good to a piece of comforting decadence that can be experienced every day.
• It’s A Dog’s Life: NYC’s premier pet care and training service.
• Videolicious: Make great videos! Just talk and tap.
• Clear Health Costs: Your Source for Finding Health Care Prices
• Roomscraper: a product discovery site and marketplace for local, independent furniture designers
• CookBook Create: With Cookbook Create, you’ll have all the tools you need to make your own cookbook, whether you’re making a family cookbook, a community cookbook, personalized wedding gift, or turning your blog into a published volume.
• Little Borrowed Dress: Rent a bridesmaid’s dress
• Artisan Kitchen: we curate the increasingly popular world of handcrafted food, share unique stories and bring artisan goods from kitchens all over the country right to your table.
• Tilonia: a non-profit organization established to provide marketing and business development assistance to the crafts section of the Barefoot College, in Tilonia, Rajasthan, India.
• The Modern Village: A Continuing Education Series for Parents
• The Megawatt Hour: An energy decision platform
• VitaminW: Your Daily Dose of Women’s News, Philanthropy & Business
• myPlanit: Connecting your life across time and place
• Lady & Lara: Lady & Lara is the online luxury destination for our adorable companions, where you will find high-end, branded pet accessories.
• Brunch Critic: New York’s only ALL brunch resource
• Willa: Natural skincare for girls, developed by girls
• Plum Alley: Shop products of substance and beauty from female founded companies.
• Out Think Inc: We are launching the next generation of super scientists with a series of game based apps, starting with Tornado Maker and Tornado Masters.
• The Fashion Hoop: Mapping, Fashion, fit, and style to busy women
• Butterbeans: seasonal school meals + fun food and cooking classes
• Global Good Fund: Empowering Leaders for Exponential Impact
• Shkatulka Jewelry Designs: When diamonds just won’t work.
• The Difference Engine: We’re digital innovation & design strategists

For a more complete list of attendees, go here.

Are you a woman entrepreneur? Tell us about your company in the comments!

Of course, no women’s conference is complete without controversy
One neat thing about the conference is that every attendees is added to an email list where we are able to connect before and after the conference.

Last night, after we all went home an investor who had attended the conference sent an email out saying that he had loved the conference but that he wanted to give a word of advice to all the women entrepreneurs.

What he said, in short, was that women need to make sure not to undersell themselves. As he put it, it’s not a “lemonade stand,” it’s a “beverage distribution platform.” His concern was that he felt like too many of the women entrepreneurs were talking about their ventures in a manner that didn’t adequately project the big opportunity they were attacking. His most important piece of advice: remember, “you are not small.”

As you might imagine, these comments were a bit controversial. After all, who’s to say that calling a “lemonade stand” a “beverage distribution platform” is either appropriate or indicative of a better business person?

What do you think? Are women too quick to downplay their accomplishments? Or to undervalue their own ideas? Is this uniquely feminine affliction?

We want to know what you think!