Heidi Roizen

Heidi Roizen represents the voice of the entrepreneur, having been one herself. But she also represents the voice of the user, as those are the roots that led her to start a company in the first place.

At Stanford majoring in English, she went from a Corona typewriter with Wite-Out (Google it) to an early word processor— and deemed it “a religious experience.” She co-founded a software company with her programmer brother Peter to bring the benefits of personal computing to ‘mere mortals’ – non-techies. That mission has shaped her philosophy and her work ever since.

After Heidi earned her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford, she co-founded T-Maker, where she served as CEO for over a decade through its acquisition by Deluxe Corporate in 1994. Next, she joined Apple as VP of worldwide developer relations, and from there, Mobius Venture Capital. She’s since been named to the Corporate Board Member’s “Top 50 Women in Tech” list and Hot Topics’ Top 100 Women in Tech. She has earned the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives Annual Achievement Award, among other accolades.

In addition to being DFJ’s operating partner, Heidi co-leads the DFJ Entrepreneurial Leaders Fellowship Program in the Management Science and Engineering department at Stanford University. She’s on the board of directors of Intematix, ShareThis, Zoox, and DMGT (LSE:DMGT).

She has served on more than 30 boards, so it’s no surprise that she sees patterns. She understands how stuff works and can spot opportunities and potential challenges, often before others do. And, because she has been in their shoes, Heidi has tremendous understanding of – and empathy for – the entrepreneur’s journey.