Illuminate Ventures
Cindy Padnos is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures. Padnos focuses primarily in cloud computing sector with a particular emphasis on B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications and platforms, big data/real-time analytics, enterprise social, technology-enabled services and mobile communications investments.
She currently serves as a director of privately held portfolio companies BrightEdge, CalmSea, Hoopla and Xactly Corporation. Prior to founding Illuminate, she was a director of Outlook Ventures, where she sourced more than half of the firm's new investments including companies in the IT infrastructure, software/SaaS, consumer Internet and mobile application spaces.
Related Links: http://www.illuminate.com/
Last Updated: Mon, Jan 7, 2013
| Category | Title | Author/Speaker | Organization | Length | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Podcast | An Enterprising Approach to Investment | Cindy Padnos · Thomas J. Kosnik | Illuminate Ventures | 56:48 | 02/2013 |
| Video | An Enterprising Approach to Investment [Entire Talk] | Cindy Padnos · Thomas J. Kosnik | Illuminate Ventures | 56:54 | 02/2013 |
| Video | Creating Something New | Cindy Padnos | Illuminate Ventures | 02:16 | 02/2013 |
| Video | Investing in Yourself | Cindy Padnos · Thomas J. Kosnik | Illuminate Ventures | 01:39 | 02/2013 |
| Video | The Relationship Element | Cindy Padnos · Thomas J. Kosnik | Illuminate Ventures | 02:23 | 02/2013 |
| Video | Preparing for What's Next | Cindy Padnos | Illuminate Ventures | 01:47 | 02/2013 |
| Video | Women in Tech Entrepreneurship | Cindy Padnos | Illuminate Ventures | 03:05 | 02/2013 |
| Video | Invest in What You Know | Cindy Padnos | Illuminate Ventures | 02:51 | 02/2013 |
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. 
Investor Cindy Padnos explains why she chose to found Illuminate Ventures in 2009, based on trends she saw in how business processes were being altered due to major shifts in technology. "I am still an entrepreneur at heart," says Padnos, "and when you see an opportunity, you take advantage of it and create something new."
Investor Cindy Padnos describes the ways in which she built the trust of investment partners when she founded Illuminate Ventures. In conversation with Stanford Consulting Professor Tom Kosnik, Padnos explains how she initially utilized her own funding as a proof of concept on her ability to achieve returns and solid exits.
Illuminate Ventures Managing Partner Cindy Padnos shares how relationship formation and development plays a critical, and cyclical, role in the work of entrepreneurs and investors. In conversation with Stanford Consulting Professor Tom Kosnik, Padnos also explains why it is more difficult to raise money for a venture firm than it is for a startup.
"We won't predict where the future is, the entrepreneurs will," says Cindy Padnos, founder and managing partner of Illuminate Ventures. Here Padnos deconstructs how her firm identifies new opportunities by leveraging advisor relationships and completing due diligence on new spaces.
Entrepreneur and investor Cindy Padnos reveals the unique advantages and disadvantages of being female in the world of Silicon Valley. Padnos also articulates the need to develop larger groups of women connected through an affinity for technology entrepreneurship.
Enterprise business buyers fundamentally demand choice, says Cindy Padnos, managing partner of Illuminate Ventures. According to Padnos, this insight, along with thorough data, support her firm's passion for focusing on investments in enterprise software and cloud computing, instead of in the consumer internet space.