Meet Tomorrow’s High-Performance Companies

February 16, 2011

Meet Tomorrow's High-Performance Companies

A new report underscores the current and potential value of more diverse executive teams to the technology industry.

By Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures

I'm not an equal rights activist. I'm a veteran start-up executive and venture capitalist in the technology industry. Our firm, Illuminate Ventures, invests in companies led by strong, entrepreneurial teams in a cross-section of high-tech sectors leveraging next generation technologies and services, with a particular focus on cloud computing and real-time analytics.

In the process of researching potential investments, I became aware of a significant innovation opportunity overlooked by many early-stage tech companies: The inclusion of female executives on management teams. As a result of this research, the overall impact of gender diversity in technology then became the subject of a report we developed, "High Performance Entrepreneurs: Women in High-Tech."

This excerpt illuminates the opportunity represented by the current gap between the fast growing pool of skilled women entrepreneurs in high-tech and their fairly limited level of inclusion within start-ups today. It disabuses the mistaken beliefs that the sheer numbers of venture-backable women are small, that they are not entrepreneurial or that diversity should be considered because it is the "socially responsible" thing to do, by documenting the growth and impact of women in high-tech as well as the fundamental business value of creating environments where more diverse viewpoints are enabled and encouraged. In an entrepreneurial community that exults innovation, the value of diverse and creative ideas is obvious.

Complimentary Passes for the Cloud Summit

Meet the executives, investors and companies that are driving the cloud computing revolution at the Cloud Industry Summit on March 8-9 in Santa Clara, Calif. As host of the event, Sand Hill Group’s M.R. Rangaswami has obtained complimentary passes for the first 10 SandHill.com readers who send him an email.

Click here to find out about the event.

Avoiding the Commodity Pricing Trap

Lincoln Murphy of Sixteen Ventures explains why SaaS vendors must focus on value pricing and keep themselves out of the commodity pricing fray in this post to the SandHill.com Blog on SaaS.

The New Innovators

John Kunzweller of M Squared Consulting looks at why the move to a flexible workforce may be the key to a competitive advantage in this challenging business environment in this post to the SandHill.com Blog on Enterprise 2.0.

Take Part in an Executive Networking Dinner

Join Sand Hill Group's M.R. Rangaswami, ServiceSource executives and customers on Tuesday evening, March 8, at Parcel 104 in Santa Clara, Calif. for an intimate networking dinner and lively discussion about service industry trends and innovative ways to optimize recurring service revenue streams. Seating is limited to 20 executives, so please take this opportunity to RSVP today!

Three Steps to Building a Better Top Team

When a top team fails to function, it can paralyze a whole company. Read what CEOs need to watch out for in this analysis from The McKinsey Quarterly.

Poll: Female-Powered Innovation?

Can the inclusion of women drive performance at high-tech companies?
Take our Pulse Poll >>

Hear Deepak Chopra at Akshaya Patra's "Food For Education" Benefit

The SHG Foundation is proud to support Akshaya Patra's efforts to feed underprivileged children in India. Join keynote speaker Deepak Chopra at the India Community Center in Milpitas, Calif. on Sunday, March 6 at 5:30pm for the organization's second annual "Food for Education" benefit dinner. Click here to find out more and buy tickets for the event.

The Latest Software Business News on SandHill.com

All Headlines: Clay Christensen’s “Milkshake Marketing.”

VC Activity: Open source video platform Kaltura receives $20 million.

M&A Deals: HP beefs up software with Vertica Systems acquisition.

Executive Moves: salesforce.com named Jeff Lautenbach SVP of Enterprise Commercial Sales in America.

Quote of the Week

“The key here is that we have ubiquitous and pervasive technology and what that means is there's an awful lot of purchases that are made which include technology in them. That doesn't necessarily mean the buyer thinks they're buying technology - but an increasing number of decisions that involve technology are being taken outside the IT organization”

- Gartner VP and fellow Andy Kyte on the shift in technology procurement

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