Mighty Ventures

Our mission is two-fold: first, to offer insights that enable people to discover both their personal and business potential; and second, to do so in a fun and effective way that fosters connection and community. We do this via business consulting, seminars and speeches.

A portion of the profits from our work are donated to non-profit causes. We’re passionate about...

		promoting volunteerism (www.VolunteerMatch.org)
		supporting people with life-threatening illnesses (www.AttitudinalHealing.org)
		protecting our environment (www.e2.org)
		encouraging literacy (www.Litquake.org)

and way too many entrepreneurial causes to name.

We can all choose to walk a path with heart and accountability. Our work can support our path to be one of personal development, contribution to society and positive bottom-line results.

 

Bill Gates calls her “super high bandwidth.” Bill Clinton has thanked her for “fostering American entrepreneurship.” Newsweek says “by reputation, Christine is the person you want to partner with.”

New York Times bestselling author Christine Comaford-Lynch is CEO of Mighty Ventures, an innovation accelerator which helps businesses to massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value. She has built and sold 5 of her own businesses with an average 700% return on investment, served as a board director or in-the-trenches advisor to 36 startups, and has invested in over 200 startups (including Google) as a venture capitalist or angel investor. Christine has consulted to the White House (Clinton and Bush), 700 of the Fortune 1000, and over 300 small businesses. She has repeatedly identified and championed key trends and technologies years before market acceptance. Christine writes the finance column on http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz.

 

Christine has led many lives: Buddhist monk, Microsoft engineer, geisha trainee, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Her triumphs and disasters are revealed in her New York Times (and USA Today, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Amazon.com ) bestselling business book: Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality. The book is available at all major retailers or via www.RulesForRenegades.com.

 

Christine has appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX Business Network, PBS, CNET and is frequently quoted in the business, technology and general press at large. Stanford Graduate School of Business has done two case studies on her and PBS has featured her in three specials (Triumph of the Nerds, Nerds 2.0.1, and Nerd TV ). CNET has broadcast two specials covering her unconventional rise to success as a woman with neither a high school diploma nor college degree. Christine believes we can do well and do good, using business as a path for personal development, wealth creation, and philanthropy.

 

 

Awards/Honors

• 2007 -  Rules for Renegades becomes #3 bestseller on the New York Times Hardcover Advice/How To list, #2 on the Wall Street Journal Business list, #1 on the USA Today Business list, and #1 on Amazon.com overall! 
• 2007 - Rules for Renegades is selected as one of Entrepreneur magazine’s Best Business Books for Summer 2007  
• 2007 -  Christine appears on CNBC’s “The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch”, MSNBC’s “Your Business”, and regional news in San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Portland, and throughout Canadian national TV. 
• 2007 – Christine’s Finance and Growth column is selected for permanent placement on the home page of www.businessweek.com/smallbiz. BusinessWeek.com was the fifth most highly trafficked site on the web in 2006.   
• 2006 – Interviewed by PBS for her third guest appearance, this time on NERD TV  
   
• 2005 - Provided on-air insights/commentary for the CNN/FORTUNE magazine TV special "The Top 25 Business Leaders" 
• 2004 – Included in The Computer History Museum’s photo exhibition (by Dr. Nancy Engel) of 60 movers and shakers in High Technology 
• 2003 – Consulted to BBC TV for “World’s Most Powerful” TV special 
• 2002 – Leader/Innovator/Visionary Award for Top Woman in Banking/Finance in the North Bay by North Bay Business Journal 
• 2001 – Named one of the Six Bold New VCs by Upside Magazine 
• 2000 -  Named one of the Top New VCs by Red Herring Magazine
• 1999 -  Named one of the Top 25 Women on the Web by SFWoW 
• 1996 - Named one of the Top Five "Renegade" entrepreneurs by Success magazine 
• 1996 - Named one of the Top Women in Computing by Business Week 
• 1996, 1998 - Featured in the PBS specials about the software industry: Triumph of the Nerds and Nerds 2.0.1 
• Received numerous additional entrepreneurial awards and recognition from premier press and business schools including Fortune, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Stanford, Harvard, Haas and Northwestern Universities .  

Publications, Speeches, Business Plan Judging, Special Projects  

• Published over 300 articles to date on software development and I.T. management for publications including assorted Ziff Davis magazines (PC Week, PC Magazine, Windows Sources), Forbes, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Harvard Business Review, IEEE Journal. #1 syndicated columnist on technology management issues and entrepreneurship from 1992-1997. 
• Quoted frequently as a respected industry speaker and pundit in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes and other high-profile publications.  Featured in cover stories for Fortune, Forbes, Upside, Wall Street Journal. 
• Assisted the White House and National Performance Review in the formation of the U.S. Government’s technology and intranet strategies (1996-1999)
• Passed a bill through Congress to increase the SBA’s SBIC leverage by over $4 billion. The bill was passed by Congress but vetoed by President Bush, who diverted the funds to the war in Iraq . (2002)   

Non-Profit Interests  

• 2007 – Volunteer for Hospice of Napa Valley  

• 2006 – Committee for Litquake, San Francisco ’s premier literary festival. 

• 2003 – 2004, Volunteer for Lifeworks (www.lifeworksinc.org), an organization that provides after school programs for at-risk children. 

• 1997 - present, Volunteer for CAH (www.healingcenter.org), an organization providing support for children, adults, families suffering from life threatening illnesses. Chaired fundraising Gala 2000- 2003.  Exceeded fundraising goals every year. 

• 1998 - present, Advisory Board member for Impact Online/VolunteerMatch (www.volunteermatch.org) a web site that helps individuals learn about and find volunteering opportunities for assorted non-profit organizations.  The company is nearing self-sustained (profitable) status.

   

Former Board of Director/Observer roles: ViewCentral, Motiva (NASDAQ: SEBL), Taviz, Toolwire, DataMirror (NASDAQ: DMCX), PlanetU (NYSE: NWS), Corporate Computing (NYSE: CA), Kuvera Associates.

 

Current Board roles:

 

Financial Management and Growth  

• Led her startup Corporate Computing (acquired by Computer Associates, NYSE: CA) in building a customer base of 700 of the Fortune 1000 in three years 
• Led her startup planet U (her shares acquired by News Corp, NYSE: NWS), to an increase in value seven-fold in the first 16 months 
• Participated in two IPOs: DataMirror (NASDAQ: DMCX, as a Board Director for 4 years) and LBMS (formerly NASDAQ: LBMS, acquired by Computer Associates) 
• Secured over $250 million in venture financing, IPOs, and acquisitions over four years’ time
• Has a personal track record of over 700% gains on the startups she founded, ran, and invested in