In honor of Juneteenth, Insight Partners welcomes you to hear from Monique Woodard and Mckeever Conwell who are investing in the future of entrepreneurship and business to drive demographic change.
Their personal stories are filled with grit, determination and passion for building a more inclusive ecosystem. These are the voices with the vision to shape a more diverse future.
Monique Woodard is the Founder and Managing Director of Cake Ventures where she invests in areas where she sees the future of technology being driven by major demographic trends. She believes that shifting demographics are creating the next big emerging markets ‒ right here in the world's most active startup ecosystem. Monique has invested in global startup ecosystems in the US and internationally. As Venture Partner at 500 Startups, she invested in early stage companies in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Following her time at 500 Startups, Monique became a Venture Scout at Lightspeed Venture Partners and a trusted advisor to foundations and venture capital firms like SoftBank, where she continues to advise on the Vision Fund’s Emerge program. Before moving onto the investor side of the table, Monique spent 15+ years in the startup industry as a founder and operator.
McKeever “Mac” Conwell II is a software engineer by trade and was a former DOD contractor with a top-secret clearance. He was a two-time founder with an exit and a failure. Next Mac moved on to the venture capital world via the Maryland Technology Development Corporation as part of their Seed Investment Team. During his four years there, Mac amassed experience leading an initiative to create the Minority Business Pre-seed Fund, the first and only, at the time, state-backed pre-seed fund for women and minorities in the country. The program institutionalized the friends and family round for black-, women-, and minority-led startups and was subsequently funded long-term by the state of Maryland. In September 2020, Mac founded RareBreed VC, a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems.
Richard Wells will be leading this discussion with our esteemed speakers. Richard is one of the executive sponsors leading Insight's efforts to develop relationships with and support of diverse leaders of early stage funds. A leader in venture capital Richard, and Insight's Partners, operate with the core belief that fair and equitable access builds a stronger and more successful investment ecosystem.
Richard has over 20 years of experience in investing and advising managers of high growth technology companies. He joined Insight in 2005 and focuses on investments in application software, infrastructure management, DevOps, and cybersecurity.
Richard has sponsored over 26 investments at Insight and has realized 15 acquisitions and 2 IPOs. He has sponsored investments across the United States, Europe, and Israel.
