Video interview with Helen MacKenzie Founding Managing Director Women’s Venture Capital Fund that invests in gender diverse teams building game-changing companies. Helen has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs to help them drive maximum revenue from their smart ideas. She applies strategic vision and practical financial objectives to innovative ideas – helping entrepreneurs shape their visions into profitable companies. Having accompanied dozens of high-growth companies on the journey from startup through to exit, Helen offers a clear perspective on how to leverage business acumen and strategic partnerships into financial success.
Capital Access – Financing
Demian Entrekin: Gender not Problem Sourcing Venture
Video Interview with Demian Entrekin, Founder Innotas. Demian is the Founder of Innotas , an industry leading provider of PPM for IT. As founder and CEO from 1999 to 2006, Demian oversaw company vision, marketing, product development, sales and services for the company. After reaching cash flow positive and then raising venture capital in 2006, he took over the CTO role until 2008. Prior to Innotas, Demian co-founded Convoy Corporation and was Chief Architect of its product lines. In that role, he helped the company lead the middleware market with an annual growth rate of 670 percent. Convoy was acquired by New Era Networks in 1999. A recognized thought leader in Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Software as a Service (SaaS), Demian has published numerous papers on PPM and his blog (PPM Today) explores current issues related to successful PPM implementation. You can find Demian on Twitter @dentrekin & his blog
Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures: Women Venture Capitalists
Cindy Padnos is the founding Managing Director of Illuminate Ventures, focusing primarily on Internet, SaaS/cloud computing, digital media, technology-enabled services and mobile communications investments. Cindy currently serves as a director of privately held companies BrightEdge, CalmSea, Wild Pockets and Xactly Corporation. Prior to founding Illuminate, Cindy was a Director of Outlook Ventures where she was one of three investment professionals responsible for committing the firm’s $140M fund.Before entering the venture capital community Cindy gained almost 20 years of operational experience culminating in her role as founder and CEO of Vivant, an innovative SaaS company, where she successfully led this venture-backed company to its acquisition (EVLV). Cindy can be found at Illuminate Ventures & on Twitter @IlluminateVC .