Cindy Padnos

Founder and Managing Partner, Illuminate Ventures

Intrapreneur/Entrepreneur: What Are The Lessons in Creating a Startup, either Externally or Within a Company?

Cindy Padnos is the founder and managing partner of Illuminate Ventures, an early stage, high-tech venture capital firm. Illuminate is cutting edge in style and strategy, making investments in start-ups leveraging new technologies and business models, with a particular focus in the fast growing category of cloud computing. Current investments include BrightEdge, CalmSea, Red Aril and Xactly Corporation.

Named by Fast Company magazine as one of the Most Influential Women in Technology and by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Most Influential Women in Business in the Bay Area, Cindy has been helping accelerate emerging technology companies for over twenty five years - as an entrepreneur, executive, advisor, investor and board member. She has helped to raise and deploy more than $100 million in venture funding to help launch dozens of innovative start-up companies.