On today’s dialogue we are joined by legendary venture capitalist Ann Winblad, who is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. We spoke in detail about the impact of digitalization on the economy through the lens of venture capital, recommendations and advice regarding leveraging the COVID pandemic to explore and create impact-driven, human value-added technologies and innovation, the role that Gen Z is playing in the remaking of the digital economic landscape, and predictions about where future investments in AI and value-driven tech are headed. Biography:Ann Winblad is a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, a venture capital firm she co-founded in 1989. She is a well-known and respected software industry entrepreneur and technology leader. Her background and years of experience in the software industry have been chronicled in many national and international business publications. Hummer Winblad Venture Partners was the first venture firm focused exclusively on software. In her 30-yearcareer as a venture capitalist, Ann’s firm has launched over 160 enterprise software companies and led investments that pioneered successful companies across the enterprise software sector: Business Intelligence, Analytics, Software Development, Integration, Data Center Optimization, Cloud Computing and Security.
Ann began her career as a systems programmer at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. In 1976 Ann co-founded Open Systems, Inc., a top selling accounting software company. After the acquisition of Open Systems by UCCEL
(a NYSE company), Ann served as a strategy consultant for clients including
IBM, Microsoft, Price Waterhouse, and numerous start-ups. In addition, Ann has co-authored the book Object-Oriented Software and has written articles for numerous publications.Ann received a B.A. in Mathematics and in Business Administration from the St. Catherine University, as well as an M.A. in Education focused in International Economics from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ann also has an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of St. Thomas. Ann has served as a Director of numerous start-up and public companies including Hyperion, Mulesoft, Sonatype, The Knot, Net Perceptions and Liquid Audio. She currently serves as a director of Ace Metrix and OptiMine. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of St. Thomas and a Board member of the Richard Schulze Family Foundation. Ann is also a member of CNBC’s Platinum Group.
