Podcasts about illuminate ventures

In this episode of the IoT: The Internet of Threats podcast, host Eric Greenwald and Dino Boukouris, Founder and Managing Director of Momentum Cyber, delve into the increasing demand for detailed, actionable data in providing cybersecurity services. Eric and Dino scrutinize the role of regulations, assessing whether they inspire innovation or inadvertently stifle growth. They also examine the crucial part that data analytics and Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) play in today's risk management practices.  Will the increased prevalence of AI and emerging regulations bring about significant improvements in managing cyber risks? Join the conversation to find out.   Interview with Dino Boukouris    Dino Boukouris is a Founder of Momentum Cyber as well as its Managing Director. Momentum serves as a strategic advisor to founders, CEOs, and boards in the cybersecurity space. Dino specializes in cybersecurity, M&A, venture capital and private equity. He also has a background in engineering and finance.    Prior to founding Momentum Cyber, Dino served in a variety of capacities at strategic advisory services  and VC firms, including Illuminate Ventures and Advatech Advisors. Earlier in his career, he held the position of Engineering Manager at Cameron Health, a start-up later acquired by Boston Scientific.    Dino earned an MBA with honors from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a Masters of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan's College of Engineering.      In this episode, Eric and Dino discuss: The increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats and marketplace demand for better data risk management The role of regulation in driving and governing the proliferation of AI and whether it also stifles growth The double-edged sword that these advances bring to cybersecurity tools and threats  Whether AI's promises of efficiency will be a game-changer to today's cybersecurity practices   Find Dino on LinkedIn:   Dino Boukouris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantinosboukouris/   Learn more about Momentum Cyber: https://www.linkedin.com/company/momentumcyber/   Thank you for listening to this episode of the IoT: The Internet of Threats podcast, powered by Finite State — the leading supply chain cyber-security solution provider for connected devices and embedded systems.   If you enjoyed this episode, click subscribe to stay connected and leave a review to get the word out about the podcast.   To learn more about building a robust software supply chain security program, protecting your connected devices, and complying with emerging regulations and technical standards, visit https://finitestate.io/

Tata Consultancy Services has won a contract from TAP Air Portugal to modernise the airline's IT systems and business processes to improve customer experience, as part of which it will establish a digital centre for innovation that will eventually serve other airlines in the region as well. Google has added UPI Autopay as a payments option for subscriptions on its Play app store. And content management system provider ContentStack nearly doubles its funding. Notes: Google has added Unified Payments Interface, or UPI — India's most popular payments method – in its Google Play app store. Users can now use UPI Autopay to pay for subscriptions on Google Play, Google said in a post on Tuesday. UPI Autopay helps people make recurring payments using any UPI application that supports the feature. To use this method on Google Play, after selecting a subscription plan for purchase, tap on the payment method in the cart, select “Pay with UPI”, and then approve the purchase in your supported UPI app. WhatsApp's India head Abhijit Bose and Meta's public policy head for the country Rajiv Aggarwal have both quit — just days after Meta's India head Ajit Mohan left the company to join rival Snap, TechCrunch reports. Meta confirmed the departure of both executives yesterday, according to TechCrunch. The company also announced the appointment of Shivnath Thukral as its director of public policy in the country — replacing Aggarwal, who joined the company only last year from Uber. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway disclosed yesterday that it had purchased a $4.1 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, one of the world's largest chipmakers, CNN reports. TSMC accounts for an estimated 90 percent of the world's super-advanced computer chips, supplying tech giants including Apple and Qualcomm. Tata Consultancy Services has won a contract from TAP Air Portugal to modernise the airline's IT systems and business processes to improve customer experience. TCS will establish an Airline Digital Centre (ADC) in Portugal, staffed with consultants with deep domain knowledge of the airline industry, solution architects and technology experts, the Mumbai company said in a press release. ReNew Power, a subsidiary of ReNew Energy Global, yesterday, signed a Framework Agreement with the Government of Egypt to set up a Green Hydrogen plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone with an investment of $8 billion and a targeted annual production of 220,000 tons of green hydrogen. The Framework Agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in July, the company said in a press release. Contentstack, a Silicon Valley and Mumbai SaaS company, which says it's India's biggest content management system provider, yesterday announced $80 million in Series C funding. Georgian and Insight Partners co-led the round with participation from Illuminate Ventures, according to a press release. All three firms continue to grow their investment with Contentstack, contributing to a $169 million total raised thus far. Contentstack's customers include global brands like Chase, Holiday Inn, Levi's, Mattel, McDonald's, Mitsubishi, and Shell. The Company will use the money to add people in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Virar-Mumbai, as it expands its operations, according to its press release. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

We hope you enjoyed this podcast and if you have any feedback, then drop us an email at podcast@finfoc.com! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/financefocused/support

Illuminate Ventures focuses on finding, funding, and accelerating great founders in the B2B, Enterprise cloud, and mobile computing spaces - BUT, without a crystal ball into the future, how do they determine what are the right trends and technologies to back? In this episode, I speak with Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing partner at Illuminate Ventures, to find out how they're leveraging data to make the best investing decisions.From artificial intelligence and machine learning to hybrid cloud and human capital, we go over all the tools that go into building a platform that excels at serving customers and setting companies up for success. Cindy delves into how these can help siphon through the overlays of technologies and tailwinds to determine what is really needed in the market, what are the next best great ideas, and help identify which companies are most likely to prosper.   Cindy Padnos on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindypadnos/CIO Exchange on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmwcioexchangeYadin Porter de León on Twitter: https://twitter.com/porterdeleon [Subscribe to the Podcast] On Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cio-exchange-podcast/id1498290907 For more podcasts, video and in-depth research go to https://www.vmware.com/cio

Episode #52 Cindy Padnos, Founder & Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures. Discussing: · What it was like being a woman founder and CEO raising VC funding in Silicon Valley decades ago. · What it has been like being a woman solo GP launching a VC fund in Silicon Valley compared to being a man doing the same. · Talking about the practical realities of how relationships are formed for women to men and women to women in MBA programs, the VC industry, and how Cindy has navigated and pioneered this reality in Silicon Valley over decades. · How Cindy has leveled the playing field while purely focusing on financial returns. · Building personal confidence and overcoming fears. · Talking about the reality of diversity investing and how this is changing at the VC and founder levels. · Valuations of SaaS startups now and portfolio construction. · How the market has been shifting up and down on valuations and what this means for founders and investors. · The enterprise investment focus of Illuminate Ventures. · Unique model of forming a 50-person advisory council for Illuminate Ventures with over 50% women. · How startups and VC funds will perform well even if the economy tanks. If English is your first language, please play us at 1.5x or 2x faster speed. Video: https://youtu.be/bdQpwhZRXHI. Subscribe to Fireside with a VC on YouTube, Spotify and all podcast platforms: https://anchor.fm/FiresideVC. Join the 7BC Venture Capital Syndicate to co-invest with our VC fund (https://angel.co/s/sevenbc/ZZAgQ) or invest in our 506c VC fund which co-invests with our main VC fund. Andrew@7bc.vc

Sabrina Horn is an award-winning CEO, communications expert, and C-suite advisor. She is also a bestselling author of Make It, Don't Fake It: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success (Berrett-Koehler, June 2021). Her career is highlighted by 25 years as Founder, CEO, and President of Horn Group, the iconic U.S. tech communications agency she founded in Silicon Valley at age 29. Her firm counseled thousands of tech executives and their companies through rapid growth, category creation, brand transformation, global expansion, IPOs and acquisitions, pivots, and crisis matters. Sabrina sold Horn Group in 2015 to Finn Partners, a global marketing agency, and was appointed Managing Partner of their Technology Practice. She is currently CEO of HORN Strategy, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping entrepreneurs and CEOs navigate the early stages of their start-up companies. Horn currently holds board member and advisory seats for: 4CRisk.ai, Boston University Alumni Council, Dieu Donné, Dogly.com, Illuminate Ventures, KloudGin, and The Jordan Edmiston Group. Horn has a B.A. in American Studies from Hobart/William Smith Colleges and an M.S. in Public Relations from Boston University. She has two amazing daughters Grace and Christina, and two very large golden doodles. What you will learn in this episode: How the concept of faking it until you make it began Why faking it until you make it is a bad mantra How to discern aspiration from white lies Why it's important to choose honesty during moments of pressure What is the difference between hype and awareness How to communicate with concise delivery Why leaders must tirelessly talk about their core values Resources: Website: https://sabrinahorn.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinahorn/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/horn-strategy-llc Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabrinahorn

Founders are often in the trenches when it comes to fund-raising, making new hires, and driving their company's growth. What often goes under the radar however is how founders can navigate their way through a board room. In this episode of The Orbit Shift Podcast, we talk to Cindy Padnos, a VC with 25 years of experience in the tech industry who sits on the board of six companies. We talk about

Host Neha Sampat, CEO of Contentstack, and Cindy Padnos, founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures, get together over a glass of wine and discuss the realities of capital raising and how to increase access to funds for underrepresented populations. Illuminate Ventures is a seed and early stage venture capital firm that invests exclusively in enterprise/B2B software companies. Cindy has been working with enterprise tech startups for more than 25 years - as a founder/CEO of a VC-backed company, a startup operating executive, and more recently as an investor. She is also the author of 3 research-based, widely-cited white papers addressing gender diversity in the tech sector. Neha and Cindy discuss:How venture capital worksWhat investors look for in a startupHow to make your startup stand out from the restThe importance of a strong networkWhy startups failThe Dreammakers enjoyed a glass of wine while they talked: Jean-Paul Droin Chablis Vaillons Premier Cru 2018. It's a Chablis from northern Burgundy, France. It's floral and mineral with flavors of citrus, green apple, green olive and toast. It's medium-bodied with sharp acidity. Other show notes:You Are My Sunshine is Cindy's wake up song1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus is Cindy's book recommendation for her 19-year-old-selfVin Perdu is Cindy's wine recommendationFollow Host Neha Sampat on LinkedIn and @nehasfFollow Guest Cindy Padnos on LinkedIn and @IlluminateVCFollow @Contentstack

In this episode of "Keen On", Andrew is joined by Sabrina Horn, the author of "Make it Don't Fake it: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success", to discuss gaining the clarity of thought necessary to make sound business decisions. Sabrina Horn is an award-winning CEO, author, tech communications expert, and advisor/board member. Her career is highlighted by her 25 years as Founder, CEO and President of Horn Group, the iconic U.S. tech communications agency she founded in Silicon Valley at age 29. Her firm counselled thousands of tech C-level executives and their companies through their business and marketing challenges including category creation, brand transformation, global expansion, IPOs and acquisitions, pivots, and crisis matters. Horn Group had multiple offices across the U.S, a global partner network, and received numerous awards including Best Employer and Best Tech Agency in the U.S. Sabrina sold Horn Group in 2015 to Finn Partners, a global marketing communications agency, and was appointed Managing Partner of their Technology Practice. In 2018, she became a Senior Advisor to the firm. She is currently CEO of HORN Strategy, LLC, a bespoke consulting firm focused on helping entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs navigate the early stages of their start-up companies. Horn currently holds board member and advisory seats for: 4CRisk.ai, Boston University Alumni Council, Dieu Donné, Dogly.com, Illuminate Ventures, KloudGin, and The Jordan Edmiston Group. Horn has a B.A. in American Studies from Hobart/William Smith Colleges and a M.S. in Public Relations from Boston University. She has two amazing daughters Grace and Christina, and two very large golden doodles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rasty Turek has gone from living on his own at 14 years old to raising $64M for a startup that may be in one of today's fastest-growing markets. His company, Pex has successfully raised funding from top-tier investors like Susa Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, and Amaranthine.

Rasty Turek has gone from living on his own at 14 years old to raising $64M for a startup that may be in one of today's fastest-growing markets. His company, Pex has successfully raised funding from top-tier investors like Susa Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, and Amaranthine.

ZoomInfo, a market intelligence company, has acquired Insent, a conversational platform provider for businesses, in an undisclosed deal.With the acquisition of Insent, companies, ZoomInfo's clients, will use the chat at a large scale.Marqeta, a payments service company, has gained a market capitalization of over $17.2 billion on its debut. This is due to the company's share rise of more than 20%. Marqeta's clients include Uber Technologies and DoorDash, Inc. The shares of the financial technology firm started at $32.50, up from its initial public offering (IPO) price of $27 per share. Genasys Inc. has acquired Zonehaven. First responders, public safety organizations, and communities can use Zonehaven's planning, training, and resources to handle evacuations and repopulations successfully. Zonehaven's services are trusted by more than 170 fire districts, 140 law enforcement agencies, and 200 communities.Zenoti is an all-in-one cloud-based platform for salons, spas, and medi-spas founded in 2010 by Sudheer Koneru and Dheeraj Koneru has raised an additional $80 million in its Series D round. This additional funding was led by TPG, a global alternative asset fund. Appointment scheduling, online booking, billing, built-in marketing, inventory management, CRM, and loyalty functions are included. ChartHop, an organization management platform that builds the data-driven status of a company to help them design their future, has announced its raise of $35 million in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Elad Gil, Cowboy Ventures, and SemperVirens had participated in the round. ChartHop will use the proceeds from the investment to accelerate its roadmap, build and improve its existing features, and in growing its team.Vancouver, Canada-based Commit, which works with remote-first startups, connecting engineers to founders, has raised its first round of funding worth $6 million in a seed round led by Accomplice, with participation from Kensington Capital Partners, Inovia, and Garage Capital. BukuWarung, an Indonesian fintech focused on digitizing business for MSME merchants, has raised its Series A funding worth $60M. The proceeds shall be used to double the workforce, improve payment infrastructure. The total funding for the startup now crosses over $80M, and before Series A, in February this year, BukuWarung had raised $20M from rocketship.vcUnified experience management (UXM) software solutions provider 1E has announced that global investment firm Carlyle Group has acquired a majority stake in it in a deal that reportedly values the company at $270 million. Other financial details of the transaction were not disclosed by either of the companies. According to Carlyle's press release, Sumir Karayi, founder and CEO of 1E, will retain a significant minority stake in the company now and shall remain the CEO. Most of 1E's senior management staff will be retained, while Cormac Whelan will be appointed as the chairman. Employees will own a portion of the business and share in the company's future growth.Sinch, a Swedish cloud communications company, has acquired MessageMedia, a messaging service provider for businesses, for $1.3 billion. The $1.3 billion transaction comprises $1.1 billion in cash and the remaining in shares. The transaction would be completed in this year's second half. Pennylane, a full-stack financial management platform, has raised $18.3 million in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital.The company has been working on an accounting platform that would benefit both clients and their accountants. The organization, which focuses on small and medium businesses, has already attracted hundreds of clients.Contentstack, a headless content management system provider, has raised $57.5 million in a Series B round led by Insight Partners. Other participants include new investor Georgian and existing investors Illuminate Ventures and GingerBread Capital. With this round, the company's total has gone up to $89 million.The new fund will be used to accelerate the company's investments in this technology, drive its worldwide expansion, and extend its partner network.Cash flow problems that stem from the payments cycle of an organization continues to be a major problem for businesses today, Jesse Ghansah, co-founder and CEO of Float, said in an interview with TechCrunch. Float solves the problem with its credit solution. Originally named Swipe, Float aims to tackle cash flow problems for small and medium-sized businesses in the African region. According to Mr. Ghansah, cash flow problems occur, typically after the product is serviced, when businesses have to wait for 30-90 days to receive payments for service. This causes them to fall behind in meeting their own expenses.Aserto, a cloud-native authorization service that provides enterprise-ready permissions for SaaS applications, has raised $5.1 million in its first seed round funding led by Costanoa Ventures and Heavybit Industries. Aserto creates a sophisticated service for developers, giving them fine-grained control over roles access control based on policies that it calls “policy-as-code approach to authoring, editing, storing, versioning, building, deploying and managing authorization rule”. 

Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Director at Illuminate Ventures, discusses the impact of Covid on the fund’s portfolio, as well as trends she sees.

Cindy Padnos, founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, invests in B2B SaaS, enterprise cloud and mobile computing startups. She shares her incredible journey as a female founder of a venture capital firm. Named one of the Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley by New York Times, Cindy cares deeply about increasing diversity in the technology industry.Founders are judged for who they are and for the people they attract to the teamIf you aren't always innovating, you're likely to be left behindThe technology you choose should differentiate your business or provide advantage in a significant wayDomain knowledge and customer understanding are among key things to find in prospective founders.Non-profit: ASTIA  and Springboard Enterprises 

Cindy is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures, a seed stage firm investing exclusively in Enterprise/B2B software startups. Previously, she was founder/CEO of SaaS startup Vivant (now part of Oracle), CEO of Acumen and VP marketing at Scopus (IPO then acquired by Siebel). Cindy has been recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Tech (Fast Company), Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley (New York Times) and dubbed ”Queen B2B” (VentureBeat).

Cindy Padnos is an innovator and an advocate for all things entrepreneurial. She is a founder (both of a VC-backed tech startup and a VC firm), with a passion for enabling experimentation that can lead to the discovery of new business models and unique points of leverage. Cindy bleeds B2B/Enterprise Tech – gaining the moniker “Queen B2B” and a place at the table with the top institutional investors in the category. Cindy has been working with enterprise technology startups for more than 20 years - as a founder, operating executive, adviser, or investor. She founded Illuminate Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that invests exclusively in enterprise cloud and mobile software companies. Illuminate seeks entrepreneurs that are "re-inventing the enterprise" with products that deliver dramatic productivity and decision making improvements while leveraging better, faster, cheaper - cloud technologies and innovative business models. Prior to her investing career, Cindy led several successful venture-backed entrepreneurial efforts. She was the founder/CEO of Vivant (now part of Oracle) an early Software as a Service (SaaS) company. She was CEO of Acumen, orchestrating a profitable M&A, and VP Marketing for Scopus, helping position this early CRM company for its successful IPO. Early in her career, Cindy served as a management consultant at Booz Allen and Arthur D Little. Illuminate is particularly interested in companies delivering: - B2B SaaS applications and infrastructure - Application of AI and blockchain technologies to the Enterprise - Enterprise mobile solutions - Predictive and prescriptive analytics that improve business results - Business model innovation enablers - Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)” Cindy is also an investor at various companies, such as Jacobi, Cafe X Communications, Bedrock Analytics, Peerlyst, ChannelEyes, Pyze Inc., JetStream Software Inc. Influitive, Hoopla Software, Xoupang, Contentstack, BrightEdge, and Allocadia. During this interview we cover: 00:00 - Intro 02:09 - Early SaaS Experience from Raising VC Capital to Acquisition 15:00 - The Decision Behind Illuminate Ventures and Transformation to what it is today (Metrics) 22:21 - Experience & Perspective on the Volatility of Deal Flow Investments with the COVID-19 Pandemic 24:10 The Value of a Dollar & Current Challenges in the COVID-19 Environment 26:18 How Founders Deal with the Slow Down in Decision to Buy or Renew Software from Customers and Some Strategies for the New Normal 31:34 What Illuminate Ventures Share with Startups Beyond Capital Support 38:46 What is a Founder Heroic & Why Any Founder Should Aim to Become One 40:54 Cindy's Winner Startup Criteria for Investing 42:29 Cindy's Turn Down Startup Criteria for not Investing Mentions Terms: - https://www.techopedia.com/definition/9339/shelfware (Shelfware) - https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rrsp.asp (RRSP) People: - http://www.illuminate.com/employees/jennifer-savage/ (Jennifer Savage) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-goldman-552a472/ (Ken Goldman) - https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Stonebraker (Michael Stonebraker) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophercabrera/ (Chris Cabrera) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9M_zqZgmFk (Gary Swart) "The future of work Ep." Companies: - http://www.illuminate.com/ (Illuminate VC) - Vivant Corp. - https://aws.amazon.com (AWS) - https://www.oracle.com/assets/technology-price-list-070617.pdf (Oracle) - https://cloud.google.com/products (Google) - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/ (Azure) - https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeopleSoft (People Soft ) - https://www.sap.com/trends/cloud-solutions/saas.html (SAP) - Evolve - http://www.expressventures.com (Express Ventures) - https://www.ariba.com (Ariba) - http://xactlycorp.com (Xactly) - https://www.vistaequitypartners.com (Vista) - https://www.brightedge.com/glossary/world-search-engines (BrightEdge) -...

Judy Robinett is the author of Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup released by HarperCollins in February 2019, and How to Be a Power Connector: The 5-50-150 Rule, #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Inc.com. Robinett is a business thought leader who is known as the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex. She has been profiled in Inc., Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of super connectors who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California, and Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC. She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly-traded Medical Discoveries; and she served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. She consults internationally with businesses looking for U.S. investors. She was a member of the Department of Commerce team that defined performance criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in Healthcare, for which she received an award from President Bill Clinton. Robinett has given over 400 speeches worldwide for audiences at Deutsche Bank-London (TedX invitation-only event), MIT, BIO-Europe, ActionCoach-Sao Paulo, Brazil (2019), CalPoly, AT&T, Westinghouse, and the Department of Energy. She is the co-author of a chapter in Crowdfunding for Dummies by Sherwood Neiss, Jason W. Best, and Zak Cassady-Dorion (Wiley, 2013). Robinett lives near Salt Lake City, Utah. What You Will Learn: How Judy became the leading expert in strategic business relationships What venture capitalism is, and how Judy uses this approach to build wealth How Judy navigates the hurdles of working in a field dominated by men Judy’s philosophy of adding value to other’s lives without expecting any value in return How to present yourself in different business scenarios How to recognize the strengths and gifts you’ve been given and grow into them Resources: Website: http://www.judyrobinett.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judyrobinett/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejudyrobinett Twitter: @judyrobinett YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/judyrobinett Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thejudyrobinett/

Cindy Padnos has not only done it twice, she's in a great position to advise those who only need to do it once. Cindy is unique in that she founded her own tech company that was purchased by Oracle. She then found her second company, one that funds entrepreneurs.  Her advice? Focus on the things that matter - then go off and build a great business! Cindy believes she has founder genes in her DNA - always thought like a founder. She launched her first company Vivant because, as she put it, she had no more excuses. When describing starting a company: It was back breaking, gut wrenching work - and the most fun she'd ever had! What does she look for in a founder? Someone scrappy, resilient, who demonstrates the ability to attract talent and knows how to celebrate wins. If you take away fear and uncertainty and focus on building a solid business you'll be the better for it. Focus on getting a few things right then when the uncertainty is lifted you'll be in a much better position.

Judy Robinett is the author of “Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup" (HarperCollins, January, 2019) and “How to Be a Power Connector: The 5-50-150 Rule,” #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Inc.com. Robinett is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She has been profiled in Inc., Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; and Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC. She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly traded Medical Discoveries; and she served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. She consults internationally with businesses looking for U.S. investors. She was a member of the Department of Commerce team that defined performance criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in Healthcare, for which she received an award from President Bill Clinton. Robinett has given over 400 speeches worldwide for audiences at Deutsche Bank-London (TedX invitation only event), MIT, BIO-Europe, ActionCoach-Sao Paulo, Brazil (2019), CalPoly, AT&T, Westinghouse, and the Department of Energy. She is the coauthor of a chapter in "Crowdfunding for Dummies" by Sherwood Neiss, Jason W. Best, and Zak Cassady-Dorion (Wiley, 2013). To learn more about Judy Robinett visit: +++++ This Episode of The My Story Podcast is Sponsored by Furnace Hills Coffee Company Use Coupon Code MyStory to save 25% on your next order from Furnacehillscoffee.com The My Story Podcast is a production of ConjoStudios, LLC For professional, award-winning production, visit: www.conjostudios.com Like the music on the show? Check out Drew Davidsen's music at www.drewdavidsen.com Check out our pics on Instagram: @MyStoryPodcast Send us a tweet @MyStory_Podcast And LIKE us on Facebook. We like to be liked.  

Judy Robinett is an entrepreneur, business thought leader, consultant, and super networker. She is the author of Crack the Funding Code, How investors think and what they need to hear about funding your startup. She's been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes and Huffington Post. In over 30 years as an entrepreneur, she has served as the CEO for both public and private companies. She's been on the advisory boards of several VC firms including Illuminate Ventures, which is an early-stage venture capital based in Menlo Park. In her many years of experience in business, she realized that lack of funding is the #1 reason most businesses fail. Her new book was written to help business owners start on the right path to ensure that their companies do not end up in the business statistics. Resource http://judyrobinett.com/   This episode is brought to you by Collision Conf. Visit www.collisionconf.com to get your tickets to attend the #1 startup conference in the world.   www.odogwu.com/judyrobinett

Judy Robinett has been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes, Vogue, CNN and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. For more than 30 years, she has helped entrepreneurs find needed capital by connecting them with venture capitalists, angel investors, and other sources of funding. Known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex,” Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, Pereg Ventures, Springboard Enterprises, and Pipeline Angels accelerators. She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly traded Medical Discoveries; and served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. Previously, Robinett was a member of the Department of Commerce team that defined performance criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in Healthcare, for which she received an award from the White House. She regularly presents workshops and keynotes, and has given hundreds of speeches worldwide for audiences at NASA, TEDx, MIT, AT&T, and Walmart. She is the author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+150 Rule (McGraw-Hill), named the #1 Best Business Book of 2014 by TIME.com; coauthor of a chapter in Crowdfunding for Dummies (Wiley, 2013); and is set to release her newest book, Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup (AMACOM/HarperCollins Leadership) in 2019. What you’ll learn about in this episode: Why Judy wrote her book, “Crack the Funding Code”, as a way to help business owners find and access investor funding Why there is more venture capital money and other sources of funding available now than ever before Why coachability is crucial for attracting investors, and why arrogance will scare investors away Why you should be confident in what you are offering to potential investors and “kick your fear to the curb” Why investors will consider your character, honesty, and knowledge as much as they will consider the strength of your business Why it is important to mitigate as much risk as possible for your investors and be clear in the exit you’re offering How not having the funding or not finding customers are the only two reasons a startup will fail What “family offices” are, and how they can be a source of funding outside the traditional venture capital What steps Judy recommends for business owners looking for funding, and what resources are available in every state Judy’s strategies for building your confidence and kicking fear to the curb, and her “three golden questions” and why you should ask them Judy’s recommended funding resources: U.S. Small Business Administration: www.sba.gov America’s Small Business Development Centers: https://americassbdc.org New York Angels: www.newyorkangels.com Brad Feld’s Term Sheet Archives: https://feld.com/archives/tag/term-sheet Cora Capital Advisors: https://coracap.com/ How to connect with Judy Robinett: Crack the Funding Code by Judy Robinett: https://amzn.to/2HFwMnI Judy Robinett’s website: www.judyrobinett.com Email: judy@judyrobinett.com Twitter: @judyrobinett

On today's episode, Seth and Kevin speak to Judy Robinett, a CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies about cracking the funding code. Judy has been profiled in Inc., Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; and Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC. She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly traded Medical Discoveries; and she served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. She consults internationally with businesses looking for U.S. investors. She was a member of the Department of Commerce team that defined performance criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in Healthcare, for which she received an award from President Bill Clinton. Robinett has given over 400 speeches worldwide for audiences at Deutsche Bank-London (TedX invitation only event), MIT, BIO-Europe, ActionCoach-Sao Paulo, Brazil (2019), CalPoly, AT&T, Westinghouse, and the Department of Energy. She is the coauthor of a chapter in "Crowdfunding for Dummies" by Sherwood Neiss, Jason W. Best, and Zak Cassady-Dorion (Wiley, 2013). Learn more about Judy Robinett here, https://www.judyrobinett.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“So part of it is being really clear on what your goal is, and then think about who you need to help you get there, and then where do those people hang out?” - Judy Robinett A major challenge today for entrepreneurs with startups is the issue of funding. My guest on this episode of Finding Brave shares her deep expertise on what the funding ecosystem really looks like, how you can get funded faster, the key issues you’ll need to have a grasp on regarding your venture to get funded and more. Judy Robinett is the author of the new book Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup, and her previous book How to Be a Power Connector: The 5-50-150 Rule, #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Inc.com. Judy is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She has been profiled in Inc., Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Judy has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; and Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC. She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly traded Medical Discoveries; and she served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. She consults internationally with businesses looking for U.S. investors. Today, Judy offers a proven framework for taking action to get funding for your vision. As you’ll hear, there is no lack of funding available, but you must in the right room, connect with the right people, and know the rules in order to play the game. To learn more about today's guest, visit: https://www.judyrobinett.com/ 

When it comes to funding; why is it that sometimes a company that seems fairly average beats out a far superior one?…What’s the secret?you know… The saying; it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. But maybe in the world of “start-up” financing it’s both.So often smart founders with compelling business models fail due to a lack of funding. But what if you had guidance from the kind of person who has the ear of the top venture capitalist you’d want to reach… what would you want to know? Wouldn’t you want to know how to grab — and keep! — investor attention?Well stay tuned because our guest on this episode is returning champion Judy Robinett and she’s created the ultimate guide for doing just that with her new book, Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup. Judy Robinett is the author of “Crack the Funding Code: How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your Startup” Judy is also the author of “How to Be a Power Connector: which was the #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Time.com. Judy is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She’s been profiled in Inc., Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Judy Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; and Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC.On this episode we'll examine:How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund Your StartupHow to deal with the fear of asking for the fundingWhere to get funding...You'll be shocked at how much is available!The 3 C’s Investors seek, what are theyWhat makes them (investors) Run awayAnd why Judy is so optimistic about the future of business To find out more about Judy Robinett: www.JudyRobinett.comTo find out more about hiring Dov Baron as a speaker or strategist for your organization: http://fullmontyleadership.com/consulting or http://fullmontyleadership.com/speakingRemember you can now also find us on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or wherever you tune into podcastsAnd on traditional radio stations across the US every Monday and Thursday on: 99.5 FM & 1520 AM Las Vegas102.1 FM & 1640 AM Lancaster, Philadelphia87.9 FM & 810 AM Macon, Gorgia 92.1 FM & 1630 AM Tampa, Florida97.7 The Villages, Florida96.3 FM Boulder ,Colorado90.3 FM Milwaukee, Wisconsin 94.7 FM Pittsburg, Philadelphia87.9 FM Colorado Springs, ColoradoAlso look for us on ROKU TV where there’s 100K subscribers. If you are a regular listener, then a big thank you to you for making us the #1 podcast Globally for Fortune 500 listeners! And with a potential reach of 2.5 to 3 million listeners for every show, we’re honoured and grateful to be cited in INC.com as The #1 Podcast To Make You a Better Leader. By the way you can now listen in via “Google Home” or “Alexa” Find us there by just saying: “Play Dov Baron’s Podcast” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to The Social Impactors Podcast! This podcast is all about impact. We work to highlight impactful individuals making positive social change in their communities. "If you are trying to make a social impact, go out and search out for the problem, there will always be a problem that needs a solution." - Max Mirho Episode #47 of The Social Impactors Podcast features #SocialImpactor Max Mirho, Student in Residence at Illuminate Ventures, and Founder of the LinkedIn video series #Entreprenerd. Max and I talk about his work being an entrepreneur in residence with Illuminate Ventures, finding innovative solutions to existing problems of networking with his close entrepreneurial friends in Pittsburgh, and why he believes business is evolving to be more socially impactful. Tune in on my #LinkedIn or #Anchor for the next featured #SocialImpactor Mabel Chan, Co-Founder Albert's List, one of the largest and most active Facebook community with 35,000 + members in the San Francisco Bay area. #SocialImpactEverywhere #TheSocialImpactors #Podcasting --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theimpactorspodcast/support

Welcome to The Social Impactors Podcast!  This podcast is all about impact. We work to highlight impactful individuals making positive social change in their communities. "Be completists rather than perfectionists. Let your idea exist, be out there, potentially fail, and then let it grow to be bigger." Episode #46 of The Social Impactors Podcast features #SocialImpactor Denise Stewart, Actor, Playwright, and Educator who works for the University of Virginia as a Lecturer in the Department of Drama.   Denise and I talk about her work in the gig economy as an actor or playwright, coaching young girls to be confident and empowered in themselves, travelling for her critically acclaimed play Dirty Barbie & Other Girlhood Tales, and currently directing a play called 'I Never Saw It Coming', a play about bringing light to sexual assault in teen relationships. Tune in on my LinkedIn or #Anchor for the next featured #SocialImpactor Max Mirho, Student in Residence at Illuminate Ventures, and Founder of the LinkedIn video series #Entreprenerd. #SocialImpactEverywhere #TheSocialImpactors #Podcasting  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theimpactorspodcast/support

Today there are more resources available than ever before...if you know how to get access. But how can you get access?Every now and again you will have the opportunity to sit down with a truly extraordinary human being, a person who is doing what not only seems impossible, not just for us, but more importantly they are doing what seemed impossible for them.On this episode that exactly what I got to do with Judy Robinett.Judy is a business thought leader who has been profiled in The Street, Vogue, CBS, NBC, Forbes, The Washington Post and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. She gives speeches worldwide on business strategy and high-end strategic networking to specific outcomes.In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, adventure capital firm based in New York; and Springboard Enterprises, an internationally recognized incubator whose founders have raised $7.4 billion and have had 145 strategic exits based in Washington, DC.Judy Robinett is the author of “How to Be a Power Connector: The 5-50-150 Rule,” #1 of The Top Ten Business Books of 2014 by Inc.com., and the coauthor of a chapter in “Crowdfunding for Dummies” by Sherwood Neiss, Jason W. Best, and Zak Cassady-Dorion (Wiley, 2013).Her second book “Crack the Funding Code” is released in September 2018.To find out more about Judy Robinett: www.JudyRobinett.comTo find out more about hiring the host Dov Baron as a speaker or strategist: http://fullmontyleadership.com/consulting or http://fullmontyleadership.com/speaking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, discusses a topic that we’ve been highlighting recently: the need for multiple seed rounds as a way to bridge the Series A gap.

Cindy Padnos is the Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures where she focuses on all things Enterprise/B2B cloud and mobile computing sectors. Prior to founding Illuminate in 2009, she was one of three investment professionals at Outlook Ventures responsible for committing the firm’s $140 million fund. Cindy also has extensive experience in the world of operations, where she founded and sold one of SaaS’ first on demand startups in the form of Vivant. In Today’s Episode with Cindy We Discuss: How Cindy made her way into the world of SaaS and later SaaS investing? Why does Cindy think SaaS is a democratiser for entrepreneurship? Is the proliferation of Sales and Marketing tools not a challenge for startups in terms of competing for the same VC dollars? Is it easier or more challenging for startups to raise VC funding today than in previous years? If so, why? How does Cindy assess product market fit with her portfolio companies? When is the right time to put pedal to the metal? What does Cindy make of the Micro VC market at the moment? How prominent are party rounds? Will we see consolidation? If you would like to find out more about the show and the guests presented you can follow us on Twitter here: Jason Lemkin Harry Stebbings Saastr Cindy Padnos

Episode 066: Judy Robinett – Creating A Titanium Digital Rolodex: The 5+50+150 Rule I would like to thank John Corcoran for introducing me to Judy Robinett.  Both John and Judy are such great givers… Always trying to help others and they’ve done so much for me.   I was fascinated with Judy.  She is incredibly intelligent and is a very deep thinker.  It was a joy to get her to put some of those thoughts on tape for this great podcast episode. Judy Robinett is the author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+150 Rule (McGraw-Hill, May 2014), a book that provides instant, effective strategies for meeting the people you need to know and bonding with them fast to further your goals and theirs. Robinett is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She has been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC; and Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) accelerators based in New York. Episode 066: Judy Robinett – Creating A Titanium Digital Rolodex: The 5+50+150 Rule Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Radio The Learning Leader Show “Forget an MBA… Learn to network.” – Jack Welch Some Questions I Ask: What are common characteristics of high achievers? How have you learned how to create luck? What did the book “How To Win Friends and Influence People” help you? What is the 5 + 50 + 150 rule? How did you become known as the “woman with the titanium rolodex?” What are the 5 things to never do and say? What does being a “giver” mean to you? In This Episode, You Will Learn: The importance of “guts and luck” How being shy and bullied helped propel Judy to big things You are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with Keeping a “victory log” of achievements How to connect others and make important introductions Process to create a TED Talk The definition of a Learning Leader  “Creating value is how you create wealth.” – Judy Robinett Continue Learning Read this Forbes Article about Judy: Forbes: Judy Robinett Read her book: "How To Be A Power Connector" Follow Judy on Twitter @judyrobinett You may also like these episodes: Episode 001: How To Become A Master Connector With Jayson Gaignard From MasterMind Talks Episode 002: How To Take Over And Set Bigger Goals With Chris Brogan Episode 004: How Todd Wagner (and Mark Cuban) Sold Broadcast.com To Yahoo! For $5.7 Billion Episode 010: Shane Snow – How To Accelerate Success Using Smart Cuts Did you enjoy the podcast? I love discussing how we can all become at connecting people.  It’s a fascinating topic and Judy is one of the best at it!  I really enjoyed speaking with her.  Who do you know that needs to hear this?  Send them to The Learning Leader Show! Episode edited by the great J Scott Donnell   Bio From JudyRobinett.com Judy Robinett is the author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+150 Rule (McGraw-Hill, May 2014), a book that provides instant, effective strategies for meeting the people you need to know and bonding with them fast to further your goals and theirs. Robinett is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She has been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC; and Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) accelerators based in New York.

Known for her titanium rolodex,  our guest today speaks and consult with professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses on the topics of strategic networking, relationship capital, startup funding strategy, strategic alliances, and leadership. In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader,  she has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and also in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC; and Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) accelerators based in New York. But nowadays it is really as a speaker and author of business books such as How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+100 Rule for Turning Your Business Network into Profits , a book that provides instant, effective strategies for meeting the people you need to know and bonding with them fast to further your goals and theirs. As she says, "I'm all about dots -most people don't have, cant connect the ones they've got or more importantly don't leverage for the good of all. Sad because nothing happens without people and all resources are connected to them. With seven billion folks on earth, $369 trillion in global private wealth, countless opportunities and information doubling in less than six months - there is no scarcity of resources to achieve any dream!" So what is it about reaching out to others that is simply a gamechanger? And why of course do so many people feel that they don't have value to provide in return, so will run scared of reaching out? Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Judy Robinett

There is deep value in creating meaningful relationships. It is through building relationships that we can truly be servant leaders and add value to others. Our guest Judy Robinett shares how she went from a shy small-town girl to the pinnacles of the business world by doing just that. Judy shares practical steps on what it means to give before you get! Judy Robinett shares how to build a network based on serving others. This is a critical factor for success in business, ministry and in life. She grew up in a small town in Idaho of less than 300 people, so she has had to put in the time, effort and energy to build her network.  In addition, Judy had to overcome her shyness and emotional scars from years of being bullied in school.  Judy shares the turning point that created a shift in how she viewed relationships that changed the trajectory of her life. The key is knowing the value of relationships and how to connect with people to build and solidify those relationships. She says it boils down to a few things; one of those is being in the right room.  You have to connect and bond with people who share your same values and passions and are willing to help; and you have to know the right rooms to find them in. Regardless of where you are in your life, Judy says we all have the following to offer others: Your ability to listen and be a friend. Your willingness to put aside your own troubles and give them the gift of your time. Just talking it over with a trusted friend, solutions can be found to many problems. Listening to someone allows them to know, like and trust you. And when someone knows you and likes you and trusts you, they are far more likely to help you with your problems and to connect you with their sphere of influence. What you will Learn A Biblical model for networking How to find and connect with the people you need in your network The three golden questions and when to ask them – These are powerful! How to be authentic in asking your network for help What it takes to leverage your network to add value to others Resources   Judy Robinett’s web site How To Be a Power Connector, by Judy Robinett Judy on Twitter   Bio Judy Robinett is the author of How to Be a Power Connector: The 5+50+150 Rule (McGraw-Hill, May 2014), a book that provides instant, effective strategies for meeting the people you need to know and bonding with them fast to further your goals and theirs. Robinett is a business thought leader who is known as “the woman with the titanium digital Rolodex.” She has been profiled in Fast Company, Forbes, Venture Beat, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek as a sterling example of the new breed of “super connectors” who use their experience and networks to accelerate growth and enhance profitability.In her more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate leader, Robinett has served as the CEO of both public and private companies and in management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She has been on the advisory boards of Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California; Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm based in New York; Springboard Enterprises based in Washington, DC; and Women Innovate Mobile (WIM) accelerators based in New York.She was a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network (the third most active angel investment group and one of the largest in the U.S.); the CEO of publicly traded Medical Discoveries; and she served on the faculty of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Small Businesses program.She was a member of the Department of Commerce team that defined performance criteria for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence in Healthcare, for which she received an award from President Bill Clinton.Robinett has given hundreds of speeches worldwide for audiences at MIT, BIO, BIO-Europe, CalPoly, AT&T, Westinghouse, and the Department of Energy.She is the coauthor of a chapter in Crowdfunding for Dummies by Sherwood Neiss, Jason W. Best, and Zak Cassady-Dorion (Wiley, 2013).

Illuminate Ventures Founder Cindy Padnos talks candidly with Stanford Consulting Professor Tom Kosnik about the value of leveraging advisor relationships, the sometimes surprising responsibilities of a CEO, and the fundamental differences between the roles of entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Illuminate Ventures Founder Cindy Padnos talks candidly with Stanford Consulting Professor Tom Kosnik about the value of leveraging advisor relationships, the sometimes surprising responsibilities of a CEO, and the fundamental differences between the roles of entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Illuminate Ventures Founder Cindy Padnos talks candidly with Stanford Consulting Professor Tom Kosnik about the value of leveraging advisor relationships, the sometimes surprising responsibilities of a CEO, and the fundamental differences between the roles of entrepreneur and venture capitalist.

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with Shanna Tellerman Product Line Manager, Autodesk Date: October 3, 2011 [intro music] Lucy Sanders: Hi, this is Lucy Sanders. I'm the CEO of NCWIT, National Center for Women & Information Technology. We're working hard to encourage more girls and women to pursue computing, education and career paths. This interview series with women who have started great technology companies is very inspirational. and to be having great advice for all entrepreneurs in terms of starting companies. With me Larry Nelson, w3w3. Hi Larry. Larry Nelson: Oh boy! It's a pleasure to be here. This is a great, great series. I know your listeners want to pass this interview along to others and you know would be interested and they can listen to it at couple of different places that we'll give you at the end of the show 24/7. Lucy: Today, we have another great person to interview. The talent just keeps coming. Today, we're talking to Shanna Tellerman who is currently at Autodesk, Cloud Services and Applications, but before that she was Founder and CEO of Wild Pockets. Shanna is in a post- acquisition mode. That's a very exciting thing to have a company that you are the founder of, be acquired. Wild Pockets is an end-to -end open source solution that supports creators through the life cycle of 3D game development. I can't wait to hear more about it. It was Shanna's first technology company out of graduate school, but she attended Carnegie Mellon University, which is just a great, great school. She attended the Entertainment Technology Center. Doesn't that sound like great deal of fun? Shanna welcome. We're really happy to talk to you today. Shanna Tellerman: Thank you, glad to be here. Lucy: Tell us a little bit about Wild Pockets/Autodesk and what's happening. Shanna: My company was Wild Pockets. We were building out a 3D game engine that you could access in a web browser. What we were trying to do is make the ability to build games, 3D games specifically, easier and more broadly accessible to anybody. When my company first met with Autodesk, Autodesk is the creator of 3D tools and all kinds of products for the media world, the entertainment world, architecture, manufacturing, engineering. They saw what we were doing and saw that we had an idea that could be applicable to a lot of their different tools and products here at Autodesk. There was a lot of synergy between our teams and the company. Ultimately they decided that we should join them. Now I work at Autodesk. I'm the Product Line Manager for our new Autodesk cloud product line, something that's coming out this fall. It has been started through the summer last year. It's a really exciting new space for Autodesk. We're doing some awesome new things. Lucy: Well, that's pretty exciting. We don't often talk to people who are in that post-acquisition mode, so maybe a sentence or two about what that was all like. Shanna: This Autodesk acquisition of our company was a pretty quick experience. We had been talking to them and working with them a bit over the course of two years. Then, when I met with one of their directors of engineering, he was really an exciting person to talk to and visionary here at Autodesk. Then I would think up on what we were doing and what he was doing on a fairly regular basis. We did that a couple of times over the course of two years. Finally, they said, "We really want to move forward. We want to make their team part of our company." Once they said that, the process went really quickly. It was really about working together, figuring out the right terms, making sure investors were happy, et cetera, but we all had the end goal in mind. Within a couple of months, the whole deal was closed. Our team in Pittsburgh can move into an Autodesk office in Pittsburgh. I was in San Francisco. I had moved into their San Francisco Office. Before I knew it, I was completely part of the Autodesk Company. Lucy: Surprised. That's very good. Congratulations. Shanna: Thank you. Lucy: Shanna, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about how you first got into technology? Everybody is always curious to know what was it that first sparked your interest. Shanna: I first got into technology during college actually. I had gone into college for fine arts, of all things. I was painting and drawing and doing very traditional art, but Carnegie Mellon is an extremely practical and tech-heavy school. It's one of the number one computer science schools across the country and a great engineering program. They have a lot of interdisciplinary programs. Even though I was in the art school, it didn't take very long before I was introduced to all of the amazing things going on in the computer science program. Specifically, I had seen this one presentation from this course called "Building Virtual Worlds." They did a big presentation for the whole school at the end of their semester. It was really like a show they put on. People were standing on stage, wearing these 3D virtual reality glasses, and taking you through like video games that were being projected live. They were playing through it in real time. I looked at that. I was like, "This is the coolest thing I have ever seen. I have to go to that class. I have to take that class, because they combine artists with computer scientists, so I would get to build these worlds, but I didn't have to know how to program them." That was really what drew me in to technology. I had played around with some of the different editing programs, Photoshop, and other kinds of programs, Director, and a little bit of the 3D tools, but it was the end result. It was looking at the incredible things that could be produced. They were both visual, but also interactive that drew me in. Lucy: Well, Carnegie Mellon does that so well. They are so well known for interdisciplinary curriculum and computing, a great place to be drawn in, I must say. One more technology question for you. When you look out, your purview of the technology landscape, what technologies do you think are particularly interesting or up-and- comer? Shanna: Well, I'm going to have to say it's really all about the cloud right now. That's what I'm excited about working on it at this very moment. It's about not having to be tied to one particular device or your laptop or your computer or your phone, but it's about being able to take the thing you're doing anywhere that you want to be. You're working on a document. You can access it from or your phone or your iPad even, you're playing a game and you log in here and then log out and then you log back in from your TV. It's in the same place and remember who you are. The cloud is providing incredible opportunities for us to be super- connected and also things that people don't really usually think about, which is it can process in compute intense data at a rate that a single machine can't. Some of the really cool things we're doing here at Autodesk includes rendering in the cloud. Rendering when you take like a 3D model and you create a photorealistic version of that 3D model with all of the perfect lighting and the materials that were just like they do in the real world. Usually you'd be an artist and you'd be sitting at your computer and maybe building a model of a house. If you want to do a rendering a bit to show the client what that house is looked like, then you had clicked the render button and then you would probably log out for the evening and let it run for hours while it creates that photorealistic rendering. When you send that to the cloud, you can scale up. You can do renderings in minutes or they can take a few hours, but you keep working on your machine, because it's not processing locally anymore. That to me is just the tip of the iceberg of the incredible things that the cloud can do. Lucy: Speaking of rendering, too, I remember about eight or nine years ago watching something I thought was pretty simple get rendered, and it did, it took forever. Larry: Yeah. Lucy: Speeding this stuff up is good. Larry: I'm more empathetic than I want. Lucy: Yes. Larry: Shanna, can you hear me? You came out of Carnegie Mellon and you formed a company. Why did you become that entrepreneur and what is that about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Shanna: I became an entrepreneur totally accidentally. I came out of Carnegie Mellon. Actually well I was still within Carnegie Mellon. I was working on a project in graduate school that to me felt like a really had legs. It was something that we had prototyped and we had shown to our end users. They were excited about it and they wanted to start using it in the real world. I said, "Oh! How can we make that happen?" The university was not planning to continue to develop it into a commercial product. They build prototypes, they build samples, but they don't commercially distribute software. I started looking at can we get grants to the university to commercialize this or is there another path? Before I knew it, I started talking to local business people and investors. They said, "I think there is a commercial opportunity here." At which point, I said, "OK. Well, let's see if we can make this happen." Really it was my eagerness to try to get something from prototype to reality that drove me into entrepreneurship. Larry: Wow! Lucy: Well, I suppose that the accidental entrepreneur is may be more common than we think. Larry: Yes. Lucy: You know for sure. Who influenced or supported you to take that path? It sounds like people, perhaps at CMU or in the local community who you had talked to, were encouraging you to take that technology outside the university. Who else influenced you? Shanna: I had a bunch of great mentors along the way. The very first one was somebody named Randy Pausch, which perhaps you've heard. He is famous for the book he wrote and the talk he gave called "The Last Lecture." He was actually the person who ran that class that I talked about Building Virtual Worlds. He was the reason I got into technology. He was influential through my whole course into starting a company and supporter all along the way for everything I was doing. He was one of my first mentors and I recommend seeing "The Last Lecture" if you've not seen that, because he unfortunately passed away from cancer a few years ago. But before he got sick, he was an incredible teacher. Another mentor for me was someone named Jesse Schell, very well- known in the game industry. He's done a bunch of talks on something called "Gamification" and he worked at Disney Imagineering and he's now a professor at the Entertainment Technology Center, he has a game studio. He was one of my early advisers, an adviser/co-founder when we started this company. He was somebody who really was there in the early days supporting me and encouraging me and helping me figure out how to get this company up and running. Very quickly after that, I met somebody name Jake Witherell. He had been a former entrepreneur who was a local person. He was just an informal adviser and guided me through all kinds of the bumps and chaos of starting a company in the early days. Then in the later days of the company, I moved from Pittsburgh where I started the company in the area of Carnegie Mellon. I moved out to San Francisco where I started working with venture capitalists and investors in Silicon Valley. There was one woman that I met out here who was actually a Carnegie Mellon grad as well. She was an accomplished entrepreneur as well as an accomplished venture capitalist. Her name is Cindy Padnos. She was an amazing mentor for me. She helped me establish myself out here. She connected me to people to invest in the company. She also connected me with lots of partners and lots of opportunities. A really incredible woman. Lucy: She is incredible. She has a venture fund that she's forming called Illuminate Ventures. She's just a fabulous person. Larry: All of these different things that you've done, graduating and starting your own business and getting acquired. What is the toughest thing that you've had to do? Shanna Tellerman: There's a lot of tough things when you're an entrepreneur. Stacking them up and saying the toughest one is a hard thing to pick, but I would say that actually it had to be letting people go. One of the toughest things that you have to do is manage a team. A team of people works best together when the culture and the environment is right. Oftentimes you'll hire somebody and they may be really talented or really smart or really good in some way, but they just aren't fitting. They aren't fitting the team or they aren't doing the work they need to do. To have to make the call that that person doesn't belong in the company anymore is the hardest call that I've ever had to make in my life. We've had that happen a few times. I really liked and respected the people, but the fit wasn't right. I just knew that that kind of a bad seed on your team can disrupt your progress. Lucy: I think too that generally the people themselves know that they're not a fit. They're going to be happier someplace else. That's what I always used to tell myself. "I'm doing them a favor." Shanna: You do think that. You think after the fact, I hope that their next opportunity really makes them look back at this and say, I'm glad that things ended and I'm glad I was able to move on, but in the moment it is such a difficult thing when the person is unhappy. I'm one of those people who really thrives on energizing people and getting them excited and making them motivated and happy. To deliver a message that's the total opposite is really difficult. Lucy: It is difficult. I think almost everybody that I had to let go ended up being the better for it and came back and told me so. Larry: There you go. Lucy: I can tell so far in listening to you that you have a great deal of passion about the technology and about energizing people and having a great team. What other kind of advice would you give a young person about entrepreneurship? What other kinds of things do you think are really important? Shanna: The first thing that's really important is just doing it. I think that most people stumble on the idea that they're not ready, that they're not prepared, that there's one more thing that they need to do first, the time isn't right, etc., etc. My personal feeling is if you've got an idea, you're motivated to make something happen of it, the best thing in the world you can do is go for it. You're going to definitely make mistakes. You're definitely going to fumble. It may not work out, but that's not the end of the world. It's really that journey and the learning experience that you get from it that's the most meaningful. The worst thing you can do is sit around and wait until everything feels like it's perfectly ready to go. Getting yourself out there and getting something started is the best thing that you can make happen. The other thing that I would say is surround yourself with incredible people. It's the people who have been around me that have made me who I am and have made these opportunities possible. I never could've done this on my own. I've always looked to a great team of people to work with, to a great team of people to advise me, to a great team of professionals to work with whether that be legal or whether that be HR or accounting, you look for people that you trust and that you know are going to be partners through what will hopefully be a long and very fruitful adventure, but could also be difficult and strenuous at times. Larry: Once again, you've been through a number of different things. I'm very fascinated by it, as well as your company. What are the personal characteristics that you have that makes you an entrepreneur? Shanna: I think entrepreneurs are generally curious people. They are people who get excited by the world and are excited by the possibilities of what they can do to change the world. They believe in themselves that they might have the opportunity to make that happen. I think there's a bit of confidence you have to build as an entrepreneur. There's a bit of fear of nothing. You have to believe that anything is possible and that your wildest dreams could come true. I also think you have to be extremely dedicated and extremely motivated because it's a lot of hard work. You need to focus and you need to get a lot done. You're probably the kind of person, if you're an entrepreneur, who has always over-committed or overdone everything that they've tried to do because that's just the personality that you have. But number one is really that curiosity or you're the kind of person who wants to explore and wants to try to make things happen. Lucy: I think that reminds me of the word "invention," too. You're curious. You take it one step. You see what happens. You take it another step and you just keep pushing forward with that relentlessness to really get it to move. You mentioned hard work and being dedicated. That gets us to our next question around having both a work life and a personal life. How would you integrate the two? Some people would even say balance, although I think we've come to realize that there is no such thing as balance in entrepreneurship. How do you address that in your own life? Shanna: Well I think the first thing is you have to love your work, because if you're an entrepreneur you're working a lot more than most people work. It does seep into every area of your life. If you don't like what you're doing you're not going to be very happy. That's the first thing I recommend. On top of that, I do think it's important to structure in balance. My first year or two I found that I was always on, I was always stressed, I was always anxious. I didn't really take time off for myself. It had a negative result. It made me more tired. It made me less focused at times when I needed to be focused. Eventually, by the 3rd or 4th year of my company, I started realizing on the weekends I need to take a good day or so where I'm not checking email and I'm not working, maybe even two days, which for an entrepreneur is a lot, but you need that time to rest and to get your mind off of everything going on. For me, I'm pretty active. I do that through sports. I've done triathlons. I've made a lot of friends out in the Bay area who also do triathlons. It's such a beautiful place to live in, the Bay area. There's so many places to explore that I just found being outside and being around people really rejuvenated me and put a lot of balance into my life. Larry: Wow, I could get tired just watching you, I think. Lucy: I think you might be an extrovert. Larry: Lucy, she does a lot of running too. Lucy: And I'm an extrovert: Larry: You have achieved a great deal for such a young person. I have to say that while you talked about the cloud and the things that you're doing with the company right now. What do you see is next for you? Shanna: I'd like to start something again at some point in my life. Right now I'm at Autodesk. I'm loving what I'm doing here at Autodesk. If it keeps going as it is today there's a good chance I will stay here because we're getting to start all kinds of things within the structure of a big company. I could also see an opportunity where something comes along and starting another company just makes sense and I dive into that and grow something from the ground up again. I'm pretty open. I usually let things come to me and roll in as they happen. I take the opportunity when something feels right to jump on it and try it out. Larry: Wow. I love it. Lucy: I think that's great. One thing I wanted to mention when you said that Shanna has accomplished a lot. I just have to give her a shout out for being named "Business Week's" best young entrepreneurs in 2009. That must have felt real good. Shanna: Maybe. Lucy: Yeah. One other thing too that I want to thank you for is your participation in organizations around women and computing and thank you for that. Great organizations like Astia, Women 2.0, Girl Geeks, etc. Thank you for your participation with those groups. They are most excellent. Thank you Shanna. We really enjoyed talking with you. Larry, do you want to remind listeners where they can find this interview? Larry: Absolutely. A couple of really neat places, ncwit.org, up there for sure, also at w3w3.com. You can listen to both 24/7. You'll see it in our podcast as well as our blog. Lucy: Shanna, thank you very much. Shanna: Thank you very much. This is definitely the area of passion for me. I hope that more girls do get into technology. I love opportunities like this. Thank you for having me. Lucy: Thank you. Larry: Thanks for being here. Shanna: OK. Thank you. Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Shanna TellermanInterview Summary: Shanna Tellerman describes herself as an “accidental-entrepreneur” who turned a course project from Carnegie Mellon University into reality in the form of her first tech company, Wildpockets. The company focused on democratizing access to game development by providing a cloud hosted game engine. It was later acquired by Autodesk Cloud Services and Applications, where Shanna currently works as the Product Line Manager. Release Date: October 3, 2011Interview Subject: Shanna TellermanInterviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry NelsonDuration: 20:42