Mallun Yen has devoted the past 20 years to changing the status quo and shifting industry norms, as a founder, operator, investor, and category-creator. In 2019, she founded Operator Collective, a $150M venture fund and community, to make venture accessible to a group critical to a startup’s success but largely left out: top operators from diverse backgrounds who have built and scaled the most admired companies in the world. Its 200+ limited partner investors are 90% women, 40% people of color; most of whom had never invested in venture before.

Prior to founding Operator Collective, Mallun was a VP at Cisco and at the forefront of other category-creating companies also rooted in community, including RPX ($0-$100M and IPO in 3 years), SaaStr (world’s largest b2b software community), and of course ChIPs Network (7,000 members and 31 chapters around the world). She is also a member of Pure Storage Board of Directors and the US Patent & Trademark Office’s Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2), whose mission is to expand innovation by increasing opportunities and tapping into the strength of our nation’s diversity.