Birchbox cofounder Hayley Barna (firstround.com)

The rain was really starting to come down hard, but the female CEOs at Internet Week appeared undaunted by the passing storm. Birchbox's Hayley Barna, Learnvest's Alexa von Tobel, Nest.io's Caren Maio, Mashable's Sharon Feder and Artspace's Catherine Levene joined CNNMoney reporter Laurie Segall for a discussion about gender in tech.

The panel was entitled "Why Being a Good CEO Has Nothing to Do with Being a Woman," but it was clear from the first question that the women on this panel were more concerned with talking about their businesses than how being a woman has hindered their growth in the tech sector. And who can blame them? After all, the panel was specifically about how gender had nothing to do with their success--though almost all of the questions revolved around their experience as women in a male-dominated world.

"A good executive has everything to do with being a woman," said Ms. Levene. "I think they make amazing leaders, great managers. They have a different way of communicating with people, so I think it’s a fantastic opportunity. As it relates to women in technology, you just have to face the fact that there are not that many."

"I wish this was less about being a women and more about the businesses that we’re building," added Ms. Barna.

Once we got the gender politics (mostly) out of the way, the ladies elaborated upon their advice for building a successful business--whether you have two X chromosomes or not.

1. Have a good mentor.

"I think that it’s been really helpful for me to have a series of mentors that I've had throughout my entire career, and that’s been incredibly helpful," said Ms. Levene. "My advice is to find someone that you can really trust, that you respect, that you look up to."

2. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

"Building your business is a lot of asking the right questions, knowing how to collect the data and knowing when you’re wrong and turning it in another direction if necessary," Ms. Barna said. "So it’s really a balance between confidence, vision--but then also being able to ask the right questions."

3. Don't ask permission. Just do it.

"My advice for people who want to start a company is: start it," advised Ms. von Tobel. "Don’t ask for it. Go out and really start it. There’s great capital out there, and I really believe if you work your ass off you can have whatever you want."

"Don’t ask permission," added Ms. Maio. "If it’s something that you’re really passionate about, you really feel that fire in your belly and you’re ready to do it, then do it."

The eyes have it.

Master merchandiser Rachel Shechtman is treating the launch of her new store not unlike the launch of a startup. To that end, the stealth shop, which was hidden behind an installation by the artist JR, launches today at 144 Tenth Avenue at 19th Street, "in beta" with the e-commerce component to follow in February.

"I kind of geek out around new business models and I think the future of the physical retail environment are gonna become less about consumption and more about content and community, so that’s what we’re doing." said Ms. Shechtman, who founded her own retail consulting group Cube Ventures in 2003, and has offered an amalgam of marketing, merchandizing, and business development to clients like Gilt Groupe, Tom's Shoes, Bliss Spa, and AOL.

"The concept," she explained, "Is a space that has a point of view like a magazine, but it changes like a gallery and it sells things like a store."

"In the same way you go to MoMA and there’s an exhibition by Andy Warhol made possible by Proctor & Gamble, the idea is in February, you might walk into the store and it's our 'Love Issue' and it’s a made possible by Match.com," said Ms. Shechtman. "You would not only be able to buy wonderful, cool curated merchandise, but maybe we’ll have a whiskey tasting with Doctor Ruth or we’ll show Love Story on a movie screen."

For her first "shopping exhibition" in the 2,000 sq. ft. space, Ms. Shechtman, who sits on the board of startups like Birchbox, Fashism, and Smartypants, went with a world she knew well. "A Startup Store," as the six week exhibition ending January 12th is called, will feature beauty items from Birchbox, jewelry from BaubleBar, gadgets and gifts from Quirky, accessories from Joor, and art from Artspace. "It was very deliberate choosing a startup store as our version of beta so I can get practice and comfortable in the space before our launch in February," she said. "I consider us as much of a startup as Bonobos when Andy [Dunn] launched it. We’re just launching with our physical space and our e-commerce is coming second."

Rendering of the space.

In the case of the "A Startup Store" the Doctor Ruth equivalent would be classes from SkillShare, Ms. Shechtman said she was working with co-founder Mike Karnjanaprakorn on hosting classes that match the startup theme.

As for the name of the actual store, Mr. Shechtman declined to share that at the moment. "I am not talking about that just yet," she demurred. "We’re just waiting on some final legal stuff from the Patent and Trademark office." See? Talking like a startup already!

The newest player is Artspace, which just launched with $1.2 million in funding. It's the brainchild of Catherine Levene, who worked at the email list Daily Candy before it sold to Comcast for $125 million.

Levene hopes the site will be half educational space, half online gallery. The business will be a weekly private sale for members in the model of Gilt Groupe.

It's a little tough to say who the target market will be. Artspace is partnering with big names like The Guggenheim, but says its going after folks who typically shop for art at  retail stores like Home Depot and Crate and Barrel.

The recently launched Artsicle, out of Dogpatch labs, offers rentals on relatively unknown artists, making it an easier choice for first time buyers just dipping their toes in the market.

On the other side of the spectrum, Art.sy is going after the high end customers, bringing on Larry Gagosian as an advisor and scrapping its initial plans to pursue young customers.

Who's got the best business model? It's all in the eye of the beholder (investor).