Pioneers of the Possible: Women Entrepreneurs on Innovation and Impact

Silicon Valley is home to pioneers of the possible. From Bill Hewlett and David Packard to Mark Zuckerberg, history, media, and pop culture frequently showcase the stories of Silicon Valley’s male founders. What about women?

While tech companies and venture capitalists today are starting to actively support rising female stars, women entrepreneurs often are unheralded. During the past two years, female founders raising Series A capital jumped from 10 percent to 14 percent in 2015, but they are still too rare. What can we learn from successful women entrepreneurs who have forged their own paths for innovation and impact?

Heidi Roizen is a venture capitalist, Stanford lecturer, and “recovering entrepreneur.” In 1983 she co-founded software company T/Maker and served as CEO for over a dozen years until its acquisition. After a year as VP of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple, she became a venture capitalist, and is now the operating partner at DFJ. She serves on the the board of directors for DMGT, ICIX, Intematix, ShareThis, and Zoox and lectures at Stanford on entrepreneurship.

Michelle Zatlyn is co-founder and head of user experience for CloudFlare, a web performance and security company selected by the Wall Street Journal as the "Most Innovative Internet Technology Company" for two successive years and member of the unicorn club, with a private valuation of more than $1 billion. Zatlyn has been named "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum and "40 Under 40” leaders by the San Francisco Business Times.

Join us as these remarkable women founders sit down with Exponential Center Executive Director Marguerite Gong Hancock to share their entrepreneurial journeys.