Boost Your Rolodex In <6 Hours
This Event Happened on 4/9/2019, 1:30 p.m.
WeWork Labs Portland
This Event Happened on 4/9/2019, 1:30 p.m.
WeWork Labs Portland
The Female Founders Alliance Access Series is designed to help founders move their business forward by fostering meaningful connections with the people and organizations that are most difficult to access for underrepresented founders. Access Portland addresses the top three things founders need the most: access to investors, partners and fellow founders.
Through a combination of panels, 1:1 VIP coaching, founder AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and facilitated networking, our guest speakers and coaches will meaningfully support founders in their area of business expertise. Founders will leave with new connections and newfound wisdom that will help them build a profitable, sustainable business.
See below for the full roster of investors and speakers.
Learn from experienced founders in Ask Me Anything sessions. Use this time to get real answers to questions you've been dying to ask other entrepreneurs.
1:1 meetings with some of the Pacific Northwest's top VC and angel investors. Use this time to pitch your company, get feedback, and kick off a relationship. VIP ticketholders only.
Diane lives in Portland, Oregon and has been a Partner with Voyager Capital since 2007, focusing on software and digital media investments in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon. Diane is on the boards of Act-On Software, Stackery, TiE Oregon, University of Oregon Seed Fund Advisory Board, the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator, and Providence Child Center. She is also a board observer of Chirpify, Lytics, and SheerID, She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Biomedical Engineering, and received an Executive MBA from Insead in Fountainebleau, France.
Nitin Rai is Managing Director of Elevate Capital (elevate.vc), a venture fund that includes Elevate Inclusive Fund, a seed stage fund that invests in diverse and underserved entrepreneurs in Pacific Northwest. Nearly 60% of Elevate Capital investments are in women, and 40% in African American and LatinX founder/CEOs led startups.
Since 2016, Elevate has invested in over $5 Million in 24 startups. These companies have raised follow-on funding of over $80 Million, with a market cap of $250 Million and created 300 plus jobs. These companies also report 50% of their employees as diverse. Elevate has already had an exit, with one of its portfolio companies, Portland-based RFPIO. Nitin Rai also serves as Chairman of TiE Global of Board Trustees. In this
role, Nitin leads the Board of Trustees mission to help its 60 plus global chapters to help entrepreneurs become successful through global programs and initiatives. Nitin serves as Chair of TiE Global Angels to help
entrepreneurs across the globe get funding from TiE Charter Members.Since 2007 Nitin has been an active angel investor, mentor, and is a founding charter member and President of the Board of TiE Oregon. In this
role, TiE Oregon has grown to a full-fledged angel investment group with a successful mentoring program. It has launched several education and accelerator programs including TYE and TIE XL. TiE Oregon Angels have
invested over $12 million in 52 startups with 6 exits that returned over 3X in cash to the angels. TiE Oregon ranks in the top 5 chapters globally and routinely receives recognition for its angel investment, women, and youth programs. Nitin has invested in over 50 startups since 2011 personally and through his fund.
Nitin is also a successful entrepreneur. He started his career in Silicon Valley as an engineer in two startups. In 1994 he founded First Insight Corporation (first-insight.com) a highly successful Electronic Health
Records (EHR) and practice management software company for eye care professionals, based in Hillsboro, Oregon and Pune, India. First Insight is a leader in the optometry and ophthalmology software industry with its flagship product MaximEyes.
Tim is a Managing Director at Madrona, a Seattle-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. Tim focuses on investing in business software companies, particularly those specializing in intelligent applications and SaaS, cloud native software, machine learning, and security. Tim serves on the boards of Algorithmia, Echodyne, Eclypsium, Highspot, Integris, Jama Software, Jobalign, Pixvana, Saykara, and Uplevel. He was previously on the boards of companies with successful exits such as Heptio, Lattice Data, Z2, buuteeq, Appature, Shippable and Mobilisafe. Tim received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Dennis is an active member to two of the most active angel groups in Seattle – the Alliance of Angels (AoA) and the Puget Sound Venture Club (PSVC). He screens deals and leads due diligence teams for both groups.
Julianne Brands is a Partner with the Oregon Venture Fund, and she’s the firms residents trail runner and trend tracker, keeping their team ahead of the curve when it comes to best practices in early stage investing. A former research analyst at an investment bank and an economic policy think tank, Julianne brings expertise in market research, finance, and emerging technology to help solve complex problems for entrepreneurs and investors alike. When she’s not talking to entrepreneurs about their next big idea, Julianne can be found within the Portland community – running rails in Forest Park and volunteering as a coach for local youth sports teams.
Genevieve LeMarchal is a General Partner of FoundersPad Fund 2, a women-led early stage focused venture capital fund with an actively managed mentoring program designed to help give very early startups their best chance for success. The FoundersPad portfolio consists of early stage companies including consumer tech, enterprise software, ML/AI, apparel/fashion, AR/VR, food and beverage, bioanalytics and consumer and B2B marketplaces.
She was a serial entrepreneur for almost 10 years, is founder and executive board member of XXCelerate, has an MBA from University of Washington, and runs a bootcamp program that helps early stage companies increase sales and build sales systems.
In the last decade, VP of Content Strategy Lydia Frank helped to scale PayScale from a disruptive startup to the market leader in compensation software. She leads a team of content creators and researchers who work to understand all of the various factors that impact compensation and provide guidance to both employees and employers on how to have more effective pay conversations that lead to more equitable outcomes. On the topics of salary negotiation, pay equity and compensation best practices, she is a frequent speaker, is regularly cited in the media and has contributed content to various publications (e.g. Harvard Business Review, Money, Fortune, TechCrunch.) She serves on the advisory board for Female Founders Alliance and is a strong advocate for creating more accessible paths to power for women, people of color and other underrepresented groups in the labor market and economy.
Matt is a General Partner with Seven Peaks Ventures with a primary focus on Enterprise Data Analytics and Machine Intelligence. He also focuses heavily on AR/VR, Security, and Quantum technologies and generally serves as the firms early adopter / expert on anything new. One of his strengths lies in translating how key technology innovations can be applied to solving inefficient business processes and workflows. He has spent over 20 years in the Enterprise software industry as an operator leading product management, engineering, customer success, and industry standards teams from companies ranging in size from 200 to over 100,000 employees. Matt most recently led a global engineering team at Oracle. Prior to Oracle Matt held similar roles at Hyperion (acquired by Oracle) and Arbor Software. He is on the Board of Northwestern’s Master in Science in Analytics (MSiA) Engineering program and serves as a guest lecturer at Northwestern’s McCormick Engineering school and Northwestern’s Kellogg Business school and holds a BS in Computer Engineering degree from Northwestern University.
Jenn Lynch became Managing Director of Portland Seed Fund in 2018, after three years as a Venture Partner. Jenn and her partners source and lead new investment, support portfolio companies, and manage investor relations for the fund’s limited partners. Jenn has led Portland Seed Fund’s investments in The Riveter, Argent and Goodwell + Co., among many others. Prior to Portland Seed Fund, Jenn was Managing Director at Upstart Labs, an early-stage venture fund focused on software as a service. Jenn’s operating experience spans product management, product marketing, user experience design and business development for cloud-based software providers including Yahoo and Kronos. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Journalism from the Medill School at Northwestern University. Jenn serves on the board of directors for Oregon Public Broadcasting, Business for a Better Portland and Schoolhouse Supplies. She lives with her husband and three school-age children in Southwest Portland.
Manish joined Trilogy in 2016. His responsibilities include evaluating venture investments and working with Trilogy’s portfolio companies. Manish joined Trilogy after several years with J.P. Morgan Chase in New York. Most recently, he worked in J.P. Morgan’s Chief Investment Office, where he helped develop portfolio strategy for the firm’s securities portfolio within a team of data scientists, portfolio managers, and research analysts. Prior to that, Manish was a research analyst reporting directly to the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. He started his career as a sell-side equity analyst covering the Communications sector for the firm’s institutional investor clients. With his coverage, he saw the impact of major industry trends, including the evolution from 2G to 4G, the launch of the iPhone, and the shift to over the top streaming video services. His coverage included over 30 domestic and multinational telecom, cable, and satellite services companies with market capitalizations ranging from $100 million to more than $200 billion.
Manish has a BS in Finance and Accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Outside of Trilogy, he serves on the Finance and Investment Committee for the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship. In his spare time, he can be found spending time with his wife, on the soccer field or hiking in the Cascades.
Sabrina Parsons is CEO of Palo Alto Software, developer of the best-selling business management software, LivePlan and email management product Outpost. Palo Alto Software, with headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, develops software and tools specifically targeted for entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Palo Alto Software employs over 70 employees and gives all employees paid maternity and paternity leave, supports a generous short-term disability policy, and focuses on employee benefits that honor and respect their employees’ whole lives. Sabrina assumed the CEO role in May 2007.
Sabrina, as a mother of 3 boys 14 and under, is the author of a blog about the challenges and rewards of being a “Mommy CEO”. She writes for Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and Bplans.com. Sabrina has a passion for supporting women in the workforce, women in technology and all working parents. She has worked for Paid Family Leave Legislation in Eugene Oregon, for the state of Oregon, and has been featured in Business Insider and BusinessWeek for her advocacy for working parents
She is a staunch supporter of entrepreneurs, and supports entrepreneurial organizations. She has recently been appointed by Governor Kate Brown and voted by the legislature to the State of Oregon’s Workforce and Talent Development, as well as Co-chairing the Oregon Growth Board, another Governor appointed and legislature voted-on position. She is also on the board of the Princeton Entrepreneurs’ Network and is on the Board of Directors for RAIN, the Willamette Valley Regional Accelerator Innovation Network.
Sabrina believes in community involvement and is helping and volunteering in different organizations in Oregon to help further philanthropy, economic development and public education in the community: She sits on the Board of Directors for Oregon Community Foundation, and has been nominated by the School Board to join the budget committee for the 4J School District for 2 terms. She is also on the board for the Charlemagne Fox Hollow School PTO as the treasurer, and sits on the Lane County Stand For Children Strategy Team.
She is a graduate of Princeton University.
Jaime Schmidt is the founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, which originated as Schmidt’s Deodorant in 2010 in Portland, Oregon. Jaime became a leader and icon of the maker movement, bringing natural personal care products to the mainstream market.
Inspired by the enterprising creativity in her local Portland community, she started creating new formulas for natural products in her kitchen using local ingredients. Jaime emerged with her breakout deodorant product and turned her naturals business into an empire. Putting customer feedback and accessibility at the forefront of her product development, she brought Schmidt’s to Target, Costco, Whole Foods, Walmart and CVS. In 2017, Schmidt’s Naturals partnered with Unilever to continue its global expansion.
Now focusing her efforts on supporting other entrepreneurs as they pursue their own dreams, Jaime launched Color., an investment portfolio supporting the next generation of makers, with her business partner and husband, Chris Cantino. Jaime has been featured in prominent media including Forbes and Fast Company, and was recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs in 2017 & 2018.
Valeria is the Founder of TEADORA, an independent Clean Beauty start-up that crafts powerful, proprietary blends of Amazon rainforest superfoods while sharing ancient Brazilian beauty secrets. TEADORA uses technology to inform product development and drive consumer engagement. It aims to become the Patagonia of the Beauty Industry by becoming a leader in Amazon Rainforest conservation. Prior to following her lifelong passion for naturopathic wellness & conservation, Cole held several marketing leadership positions for fortune 50 companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Palm and Compaq Computer Corporation.
Cole is a 2018 Tory Burch Fellow. She holds an MBA from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, and a certificate in International Business Leadership from Thunderbird, and is attending Stanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs this fall. She is a mother of 3 and lives with her husband and co-founder Tom Moran in Portland, OR.
More than 15 years ago Jill Nelson founded Ruby Receptionists, and as a hands-on CEO has made it her passion to help other entrepreneurs discover new ways in which to set themselves apart and accelerate their own growth. Ruby’s friendly, live receptionists and chat specialists, powered by robust technology solutions, provide its more than 10,000 small businesses customers a platform to improve brand reputation, win new business, and build customer loyalty. Jill believes that in this technology-focused world, Ruby’s services fuel our customer’s success by making one human connection at a time.
Jill’s commitment to innovation along with a focus on providing a stellar customer experience has enabled double-digit revenue growth every year and has given Ruby the record-breaking position as one of Oregon’s fastest growing companies for the past 11 years. Jill has been recognized by her peers, receiving the Pacific NW 2017 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and named the 2017 Oregon Technology Executive of the Year—the first woman to receive this recognition.
Amy LaMeyer is a partner at the WXR Fund supporting early stage companies in spatial computing and artificial intelligence. She is also an investor and advisor to start-ups in cybersecurity and music tech. Amy is on the board of ARVR Academy which promotes diversity in emerging technologies through education. She writes for Virtual Reality Pop on topics such as Concerts in VR and created EnteringVR.net to assist others to learn about the potential of AR/VR across industries.
Amy has over 18 years of experience in a high growth technology industry in corporate development and operations. As a Senior Director of Corporate Development at Akamai Technologies Amy led global, cross functional teams in acquisitions valued at over $1.4B through the diligence process, closing, and integration. Her experience also includes strategic partnerships, divestitures, international expansion, profitability modeling, financial and product operations and engineering scale. She also managed a cybersecurity start-up accelerator in partnership with Microsoft Ventures.
Jennifer has been a group fitness instructor for over 20 years. Despite being a busy mom of two young kids, she launched Handful in 2006 because she could not find a bra that could keep up with her fun, active and energetic lifestyle. Jennifer grew up in Great Falls, Montana where her Dad started muttering early on, “She’s a Handful!”. Jennifer graduated from the University of Montana.
Samantha, our Vice President of Business Alliances, is a tech and startup veteran with 20 years of experience in business growth, channel development and management, and sales management.
Claire is a partner in the firm’s Seattle office, and a member of the corporate practice group. She represents clients across a broad spectrum of industries on corporate, securities, and financing matters. Her practice is focused on representing growth-stage companies and venture capital and private equity investors. In addition, her experience includes advising clients as buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions, complex financings, and general contract and corporate governance matters.
Jane is Managing Director of the Portland office of Silicon Valley Bank where she helps early stage companies by connecting them with capital and community. She has been the CFO of multiple young technology companies including The Clymb, an ecommerce company in the outdoor industry; ShiftWise, a healthcare SaaS company; RuleSpace, a security SaaS company; and myAgro a mobile technology/agriculture company. She has helped raise more than $150MM from VCs, PEs, angels, lenders, leasing companies and impact investors.
Jane was also an investment banker in Kenya with the World Bank/IFC where she structured and negotiated financing for startups throughout East Africa. She worked for Dole Foods in Chile and for The North Face and began her career as a mechanical engineer in solar energy. Jane holds an MBA from Stanford and a BS in mechanical engineering, geology and math from Vanderbilt. She spends her free time hiking, biking, backpacking, skiing, running, playing soccer and traveling to remote corners of the world whenever possible.
Mary Hull is a partner in the firm’s Corporate practice group and is Chair of the firm’s Technology Ventures Group. She has a general corporate and securities law practice with an emphasis on the representation of emerging-growth companies. Mary regularly advises start-up and early-stage companies on general corporate governance matters and equity compensation issues, and she has extensive experience in representing these clients in venture capital and angel financings. Mary has broad experience representing public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, debt financing transactions and executive compensation matters. She also has experience representing clients in the health care industry, including physician groups and coordinated care organizations. Mary has also worked on dozens of affiliations between dental practices and companies that provide business support to dental practices.
Brie Bridegum focuses her practice on general corporate and securities law matters for emerging-growth companies. Brie also counsels clients on commercial contracts, technology licensing, and other agreements involving intellectual property rights. She advises clients in many industries, including technology, food and beverage, and outdoor and athletic apparel. Brie brings a unique, in-house perspective to advising her clients, as she has been seconded and worked extensively on site with Portland’s two largest software companies: Viewpoint and Puppet.
Shiau Yen Chin-Dennis is the managing partner of the Portland office of global law firm K&L Gates. Shiau Yen has years of business and legal experience, focusing her practice on corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, post-acquisition integration, joint ventures, restructuring, corporate governance, and other international transactions. Shiau Yen has extensive experience working on international corporate and cross-border matters, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, including market entry, expansion and exit; governance, commercial and licensing agreements. Shiau Yen serves on the K&L Gates firmwide diversity committee; is one of the co-founders of the Women’s Leadership Alliance of Portland and SW Washington; and was a 2014 Leadership Counsel on Legal Diversity fellow. Additionally, she was one of the 2016 recipients of the Portland Business Journal “Women of Influence” award. She currently serves as the Chair of the District Export Council of Oregon (DEC), a position appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.