3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: June 12

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Mompreneurs are succeeding in the tech industry. There is much to be said for women who have figured out how to have children and a successful career at the same time. There is even more to be said for the women behind high-growth tech companies with children, as in a recent New York Times profile of women breaking through the barrier of the typical image of a tech entrepreneur.

One of the biggest challenges for female tech entrepreneurs is raising capital. Apparently the investment world -- also male-dominated -- remains skeptical about a woman's ability to combine the two and be successful, says the founder of e-commerce site Send the Trend, which was recently bought by QVC, a subsidiary of Liberty Interactive (LINTA), and investors can be wary if a founder isn't allocating all of her time to the business.

Some female entrepreneurs say investors tend to react differently when they say they are pregnant or have young children, while male entrepreneurs don't typically get asked about their family life when pitching to investors.

2. Senate introduces Go Global Act of 2012. U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the head of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), have introduced the Go Global Act of 2012, a bill that would require the Small Business Administration to provide more resources and dedicate staff to help small businesses export goods and services, according to The Associated Press.

Under the legislation, the SBA will need to develop an export strategy that includes improving export opportunities for small businesses and providing ways to protect businesses from unfair trade practices outside the U.S.

3. Guess what? Facebook can be a great tool for marketing. While there has been skepticism around whether Facebook (FB) is an effective tool for marketing, Business Insider notes a ComScore study saying Facebook users who saw Starbucks (SBUX) messaging in their newsfeed were 38% more likely to visit a store and buy something than users who didn't see the message in their feeds.

Facebook hasn't figured out how to monetize that kind of advertising yet, though.

"Facebook's greatest value in the long run will be that 900 million people use it as their online identity in the process of communicating, transacting, gaming and sharing in the digital realm. If Facebook doesn't blow it, that's a resource more valuable than oil," BI says.

-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.

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