Watch Webinar: Expert Private Equity Perspectives on the Evolving Software M&A Market

René Yang Stewart , Senior Managing Director at Vista Equity Partners & Co-Head of Vista Endeavor Funds

René has been a software investor almost her entire career. In 2007, she joined Vista, one of the world’s most active enterprise software investors by deal volume. Since 2016 Rene has led the firm’s Endeavor Fund, which lends capital, support and the operational tools and knowledge to founders and CEOs running five to 50 million ARR businesses to really help them grow to 50 to 100 million dollars in a sustainable and predictable way.

Alongside directing all investment decision for the $1.5+ billion Endeavor funds, Rene serves as a member of Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s governing and decision-making body for the overall management of Vista’s private equity platform. She currently sits on the boards of Dispatch, iN2L, OfficeSpace, Tripleseat, WorkTango and Zapproved.

Rene graduated from Columbia University. She was born in China and spent her early years living in Canada before moving to Silicon Valley as a teenager. Outside of work, she is passionate about spending time with her family and skiing in Tahoe.

Gavin Turner , Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Mainsail Partners

Gavin Turner co-founded Mainsail Partners to partner with founders of bootstrapped software companies to help them realize their potential. Over the past 20 years, the firm has grown into an experienced team of over forty software investors and operators that specialize in helping founders and executives navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with rapidly scaling software companies. Gavin has extensive experience investing in vertical SaaS, financial technology, infrastructure software and information services technology companies. He has been an active board member on numerous software companies including Nexus Systems, ResMan, SentryOne, nCourt, PayLease, GTreasury, and eSecuritel. Currently, Gavin serves as a Director on the boards of Centerbase, Flight Schedule Pro, and SourceScrub. With offices in Austin and San Francisco, the firm has raised over $2.2 billion in committed capital and invested in more than seventy companies.

About Mainsail:
Mainsail Partners is a growth equity firm that partners with founders of bootstrapped software companies to help them realize their potential. For nearly 20 years, Mainsail has been helping management teams navigate the challenges and opportunities that come with rapidly scaling a software company. The firm includes women and men who are former software company operators who have seen these challenges first-hand. Mainsail offers assistance across a variety of functional areas including talent, finance, customer success, sales and marketing, product management, and R&D. With offices in Austin and San Francisco, the firm has raised over $2.2 billion in committed capital and invested in more than seventy companies.

Sarah Sommer , Co-Founder & Partner, Level Equity

Sarah is a Co-Founder and Partner at Level. She has been investing in growth-stage software and technology businesses since 2003. Her current and past investing experience includes BoardEffect (acquired by Diligent), Criteria Corp (recapitalized by Sumeru Equity Partners), Hoxhunt, HVR (acquired by Fivetran), Lytho, MomentFeed (acquired by Uberall), Optimere (acquired by CivicPlus), Onit (acquired by K1), Security Journey, SiteHawk (acquired by Sphera), and Wombat ( acquired by Proofpoint).

Prior to co-founding Level, Sarah was a Senior Associate at Insight Venture Partners, where she worked as a member of the investment team with companies including Achieve3000 (acquired by McGraw Hill), eVestment Alliance (acquired by NASDAQ), and IAG Research (acquired by Nielsen).

Sarah graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Joseph Wharton Scholar. Recently, she was featured in Buyouts Insider’s Women in Private Equity feature article, where she discusses the role of mentorship in her private equity career.

Sarah was born and raised near Akron, OH, and now lives in Westchester, NY. Outside of work, Sarah is passionate about spending time with her two young daughters, cooking, golf, and fitness.