Did you know that by supporting women entrepreneurs, we could have the world economy grow by $2.5 Trillion Dollars?
As the world moves forward and women grow stronger in business, invest and get funded more- the impact they have on the global economy becomes a major factor in future changes. So what’s so special about the way women do business? and what part do they have in the upcoming growth cycle? Join us to find out everything about the upcoming trends in FemTech industry.
Gail Christine Gannon,
WaveEdge Capital Managing Director & CEO of Ensante
From Harvard School of Public Health to Strategic advisor of innovative health tech solutions, an entrepreneurs best friend.
Managing Director, Golden Seeds and Chair, Angel Resource Institute, brings over 30 years of experience building products, services, and profitable business units in high technology sectors into her work as an angel investor and advisor to entrepreneurs. From Stanford Research Institute to Fortune 50 executive (SBC, Nortel Networks, Bell Canada) to Venture Capital backed technology start up CEO, Gwen has been both a business builder as an “intrapreneur” as well as an entrepreneur with venture capital backing. She now unites the knowledge of successful brands, experience with scale, and the skills of managing innovation with a deep understanding of what it takes to successfully invest in new innovative companies. As an investor she brings the power of an operator, and the understanding of what it takes to build a successful company. She also has studied ecosystems well beyond her home base of Silicon Valley, with experience leading educational programs with other angels and entrepreneurs from Jordan to Malaysia – in 14 countries and more in planning. Since 2001 Gwen has been working in advisory capacities with angel and venture backed companies assisting with capital formation, key milestone achievement to enhance value, developing target market strategies, cultivating customer input, and assisting in the execution of key deliverables. By 2009 she had developed her own Investment thesis, and decided investing her own capital along with her talent was a risk well worth taking. Beginning her career at Stanford Research Institute in Telecommunications Sciences, she was grounded in science and a passion for innovation. She joined Bell Canada, in Montreal, for international experience and the opportunity to apply her research. She was soon responsible for the development and launch of a major content delivery network internationally (iNet).
Gwen returned to the United States with Nortel Networks, and became Vice President of Sales for their largest unit. Her desire to understand real market needs, through customers providing real feedback on product / market fit, was innate. Not knowing these inherent skills were key to revenue generation, she was labeled a “rainmaker” before she knew the meaning of the word. Within the telecommunications industry Gwen also built a P&L center focused on the Healthcare market, and later was appointed President of Pacific Bell Network Integration and Business Internet Services, which she grew from a $50 Million business to $400M in less than 24 months, delivering enterprise wide customer networks, and integrating an acquisition.
She was awarded Cisco’s prestigious award for the fastest growing channel for their market by John Chambers personally. In 2000, fearless, networked, and skilled, she joined a venture and angel funded startup, Middlewire, as CEO. Despite the most challenging times in ’01, she never looked back and has been operating in the entrepreneurial and investing ecosystem ever since.
Gwen co-founded the San Francisco / Silicon Valley chapters of Golden Seeds, a 300-person member angel investment organization focused on women led companies, and remains active in the leadership of the organization. She also serves as a domain expert advisor for Astia, another angel organization dedicated to the success of women entrepreneurs. She is active in syndication of opportunities within the broader ecosystem, looking for ways to ensure companies have the most relevant networks and access to capital. She also actively manages a portfolio of over 24 high growth companies, in which she is personally invested. In 2017 Gwen was appointed Chair of the Angel Resource Institute, a preeminent research and educational non-profit organization producing the bi-annual Halo report and educating angels, family offices, and other high net worth individuals on the risks and rewards of angel investing. ARI also works with entrepreneurs to help them understand the investor perspective, as well as other key participants required to build vibrant ecosystems. Gwen holds BA, MA, and MBA Degrees from University of California, Santa Barbara, California State University, San Francisco, and Pepperdine University in Linguistics, Communications, and Business.
Managing Director of Wave Edge Capital & Socorro Ventures, and CEO of Ensanté LLC, has 20+ years of experience helping entrepreneurs turn their great idea into market success. She guides them through identifying target markets, finding grants and persuading investors, prototyping and refining their product or service, defining the business model, securing their first customers, and growing into new markets or partnerships. She has been instrumental in helping companies build to scale and to successful acquisition. Her most recent ventures include business coaching on behalf of the World Bank for the Republic of Georgia GITA, to helping startups establish commercial partnerships for ex-US companies.
Previously, she worked with government and NGOs (e.g. PATH for the Gates Foundation), allocating health investment dollars to the most promising innovations.
Gail has worked with entrepreneurs from across Asia, Europe, Africa and America on a wide range of products and services, from healthcare improvements (e.g., hospital infection control systems; software for efficient emergency medical care) to innovative technologies (pneumatically-powered exoskeleton for post-stroke recovery; motion-sensing game-controller ring; augmented reality safety training for oil and electric workers) to mobile apps (speechdriven travel app; diabetes management) to social media platforms. Gail earned her master’s degree from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Patricia Roberts Harris Fellow.
She also holds a Certificate of Honor in Biotechnology from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an AB with honors from University of California, Berkeley. Gail mentors entrepreneurs through Stanford University’s SPARK and University of California San Francisco’s Lean Launchpad, and other government and NGO innovation institutes, (StartUp Grind). Gail routinely presents at major conferences on international congresses, and at investor forums (Health 2.0/HIMSS, BIO International, Keiretsu Forum/Wilson Family Office). She is known among Corporate Venture Capitalists (Johnson & Johnson, Qualcomm). Silicon Valley “angel investor” groups (Astia, Band of Angels) seek Gail’s advice on whether and when to invest in promising startups.
