Janis Machala

Janis is the Managing Partner of Paladin Partners, the pre-eminent firm mentoring and coaching start-up companies in the Pacific Northwest. Janis has been the co-founder of such companies as Performant, RIPL, and BigScreenLive. Paladin Partners has worked with hundreds of start-up companies, placing executive team members in critical C-Level roles and recruiting board members and advisory board members (often even bringing together co-founders). Paladin Partners has been involved in hundreds of millions of dollars in venture and corporate investment in companies and tens of millions of dollars in angel financing. Janis gets intimately involved with business strategy, financing strategy, and team development. Since November, 2008 Janis has been supporting the acceleration of companies formed from University of Washington technology and in forming a set of services under Tech Transfer, called LaunchPad. Before founding Paladin Partners in 1995, Janis Machala served as President and CEO of Pinnacle Publishing, a leading provider of component software and technical newsletters for developers. After seven years of operating losses, Pinnacle achieved profitability for seven straight quarters under her leadership. Prior to Pinnacle, Janis held senior management positions in marketing and business development at major technology companies, including Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Wang Laboratories, often working in a mentoring or start-up capacity. She also helped form Seraph Capital Forum, a woman’s angel investing group, and FWE Seattle, which supported women entrepreneurs. From 1994-1998, she served on the board of the Washington Software Alliance (now called WTIA) and was on the board of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network for 10 years, including 2 years as Board Chair. Janis received an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Augustana College in Illinois. In her spare time, she plays bridge, reads voraciously, and travels as much as possible.  Janis is on the Board of Lake Washington College and Junior Achievement of King County.