Illuminate Ventures: Raising a Venture Fund

It was the spring of 2010 and Cindy Padnos had just been named to Fast Company’s list of “The Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010.” Cindy had worked in the venture capital (VC) space for over a decade, launching her own firm, Illuminate Ventures, in 2009 with a focus on early-stage companies in the enterprise cloud computing space. Cindy’s portfolio of personal investments was performing well, and if she could perform as well for Illuminate, the future would be bright. Regardless, before she got to make any investments on behalf of Illuminate Ventures I, she would need to raise capital for her fund in one of the most challenging economic times in recent history. While acknowledgements by media outlets like Fast Company never hurt, such accolades were not enough to secure the $35 million that was her target. As she looked back over her professional experiences in the corporate world and ahead to the hundreds of investor meetings that lay before her, Cindy reflected that this was perhaps one of the most difficult, but most rewarding, challenges she had ever undertaken.