Margit Wennmachers

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Margit Wennmachers
Margit Wennmachers Andreessen Horowitz.jpg
Margit Wennmachers of Andreessen Horowitz
EducationUniversity of Lippstadt, Germany
Occupation(s) Venture Capitalist, Andreessen Horowitz

Margit Wennmachers is a venture capitalist at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and a co-founder of OutCast Communications (now The OutCast Agency), one of the tech world's top public relations firms according to The New York Times. [1] She is one of a handful of women at high-profile venture capital firms [2] and among the few venture capital marketing executives at the partner level. [1]

Contents

Biography

Born and raised in Breberen, Germany, Wennmachers' father was a mushroom farmer who pivoted to raising pigs. She was the youngest of four children. [3] Her mother died in a car accident when she was 18. [4] Wennmachers earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Lippstadt, Germany. [5]

Career

Wennmachers began her career in the European office of a U.S.-based startup. [6] [ better source needed ] She later moved to San Francisco to join Blanc & Otus, a high-tech communications firm. In 1997, she co-founded OutCast Communications with Caryn Marooney. By 2010, their clients had included Facebook, Autodesk, Amazon, Yahoo!, EMC, Netflix, Cisco, Zimbra and VMware, as well as Andreessen Horowitz. [2] Under her’ leadership, OutCast grew from two employees to a multimillion-dollar business. [1]

Wennmachers became a partner of Andreessen Horowitz in September 2010 [7] to help identify and evaluate new start-ups for investment potential and advise the firm and its portfolio companies on marketing and branding. [8] Andreessen Horowitz's investments include Twitter, Jawbone, [9] Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon, and Zynga. [10] [ better source needed ]

Wennmachers became a non-executive director at Next Fifteen Communications Group plc in 2011. [11] She also serves on the board of trustees for the World Affairs Council. [12] [ better source needed ] She has been a speaker at the DLD Conference in 2011 [13] and 2013, [14] Ad: Tech in 2012, [15] Upward in 2014, [16] and The Spark in 2016. [17]

Wennmachers was named to Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's list of 100 Women of Influence for 2012. [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Cain Miller, Claire (15 June 2010). "Andreessen Horowitz Hires a Female Partner". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  2. 1 2 Swisher, Kara. "Exclusive: OutCast's Wennmachers Joins Andreessen Horowitz as Partner". All Things D. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  3. Hempel, Jessi (2018-01-21). "The Spin Master Behind Facebook, Airbnb, and Silicon Valley As You Know It". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2018-12-27.
  4. Hempel, Jessi (21 January 2018). "How to Win Founders and Influence Everybody". Wired . Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. "Outdated Values: Germany in the Age of Disruption". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  6. "The real queen of Silicon Valley". 2 October 2014.
  7. Miller, Claire Cain (2010-06-15). "Andreessen Horowitz Hires a Female Partner". Bits Blog. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  8. Chapman, Lizette (4 April 2012). "Venture Firms Offer More Than Just Cash". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  9. Ozy, Lorena O'Neil (2014-10-02). "The real queen of Silicon Valley". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  10. "Portfolio Companies (Entire Portfolio)". Andreessen Horowitz. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  11. "Next Fifteen appoints Margit Wennmachers as non-executive director". News. The Drum. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  12. "Council Leadership". About Us. World Affairs Council. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
  13. "DLD11 - The Communications Difference (Brandee Barker, Brooke Hammerling, Margit Wennmachers)". YouTube. DLD. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  14. "DLDwomen13: Where are Marla Zuckerberg, Mary Jobs and Joan Bezos? (Margit Wennmachers)". YouTube. DLD. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  15. "CNET News: Are leading tech companies vulnerable?". YouTube. Ad: Tech. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  16. "UPWARD Topical Discussion: Women in Venture Capital (April 17, 2014)". YouTube. Upwards. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  17. "Talk mit Margit Wennmachers: "Investoren müssen Start-Ups in Ruhe arbeiten lassen"". Handelsblatt.com. Handelsblatt. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  18. "Women of Influence: Margit Wennmachers". Silicon Valley's Women of Influence 2012. San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 18 April 2012.