Linda Yates
Chief Executive Officer
Linda Yates is the Founder and CEO of Mach49 — unlocking venture-driven growth at scale for global businesses through venture building and venture investing. Mach49 partners with the Global 1000 to build their growth engines — creating portfolios of organic ventures, external investments, strategic partnerships, and targeted M&A that disrupt markets and create new ones.
Focused 100% on execution, Linda and her team of successful serial entrepreneurs, top-tier VCs, and C-Suite executives bring Silicon Valley expertise and a teachable, scalable approach to venture building and investing that builds client capability, not dependency. Mach49’s new Growth Institute extends the model, offering Heads of Talent a whole new playbook for professional development and transformation related to innovation and growth — while Mach49’s newly launched Shift AI digital platform fulfills the firm’s promise to democratize, digitize, and scale access to their methodology, tools, processes, templates, frameworks, and more.
Linda is a seasoned CEO with over 30 years of experience creating global strategy and driving innovation for large multinationals around the world. As a native of Silicon Valley, she has an extensive network and has served as a bridge between the startups and VCs of Silicon Valley and the boardrooms and C-Suites of international corporations throughout her career.
Linda spent a decade as a member of the Board of Directors for NYSE-traded Sybase Inc. (now SAP) and has served as a Board Member and Advisor to many entrepreneurs and private companies. She was CEO of Strategos — pioneering the field of corporate innovation with Co-Founder and Chairman, Professor Gary Hamel. Prior to Strategos, Linda spent six years with the Mac Group / Gemini, where she was Head of the San Francisco Office and Co-Head of the High-Tech Practice on the West Coast and, later, Europe (based in Amsterdam). Her career began with two years at Smith Barney in corporate finance and M&A. She has extensive global experience, having lived, worked, or traveled to over 70 countries.
Linda is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is an environmental activist and with her husband, Paul Holland, built Tah.Mah.Lah., the greenest home in the US. She is also a 21st-century education advocate, having worked on many projects to transform public schools and co-founding Creekside Learning Lab as a demo site for best practices in 21st-century learning. She holds a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and an MA in international relations and comparative politics from Stanford University, where she guest lectures.
A highly sought-after speaker and author, Linda’s new book, The Unicorn Within — How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Speed, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in October 2022. The book has done extraordinarily well and has been highlighted across leading business media outlets, including Bloomberg, Financial Times, CEO Magazine, Inc., Investor's Business Daily, Sifted, Forbes, Borsen, and Reid Hoffman on his Masters of Scale podcast. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List, the Top Ten Business Books of 2022 by Forbes, and recently selected by Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink as one of “7 Startup Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read;” was the number one new release on Amazon in both the Strategic Planning and Venture Capital categories; and is already being used as a textbook for several entrepreneurship and executive education programs across the world. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List.
Focused 100% on execution, Linda and her team of successful serial entrepreneurs, top-tier VCs, and C-Suite executives bring Silicon Valley expertise and a teachable, scalable approach to venture building and investing that builds client capability, not dependency. Mach49’s new Growth Institute extends the model, offering Heads of Talent a whole new playbook for professional development and transformation related to innovation and growth — while Mach49’s newly launched Shift AI digital platform fulfills the firm’s promise to democratize, digitize, and scale access to their methodology, tools, processes, templates, frameworks, and more.
Linda is a seasoned CEO with over 30 years of experience creating global strategy and driving innovation for large multinationals around the world. As a native of Silicon Valley, she has an extensive network and has served as a bridge between the startups and VCs of Silicon Valley and the boardrooms and C-Suites of international corporations throughout her career.
Linda spent a decade as a member of the Board of Directors for NYSE-traded Sybase Inc. (now SAP) and has served as a Board Member and Advisor to many entrepreneurs and private companies. She was CEO of Strategos — pioneering the field of corporate innovation with Co-Founder and Chairman, Professor Gary Hamel. Prior to Strategos, Linda spent six years with the Mac Group / Gemini, where she was Head of the San Francisco Office and Co-Head of the High-Tech Practice on the West Coast and, later, Europe (based in Amsterdam). Her career began with two years at Smith Barney in corporate finance and M&A. She has extensive global experience, having lived, worked, or traveled to over 70 countries.
Linda is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is an environmental activist and with her husband, Paul Holland, built Tah.Mah.Lah., the greenest home in the US. She is also a 21st-century education advocate, having worked on many projects to transform public schools and co-founding Creekside Learning Lab as a demo site for best practices in 21st-century learning. She holds a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and an MA in international relations and comparative politics from Stanford University, where she guest lectures.
A highly sought-after speaker and author, Linda’s new book, The Unicorn Within — How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Speed, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in October 2022. The book has done extraordinarily well and has been highlighted across leading business media outlets, including Bloomberg, Financial Times, CEO Magazine, Inc., Investor's Business Daily, Sifted, Forbes, Borsen, and Reid Hoffman on his Masters of Scale podcast. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List, the Top Ten Business Books of 2022 by Forbes, and recently selected by Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink as one of “7 Startup Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read;” was the number one new release on Amazon in both the Strategic Planning and Venture Capital categories; and is already being used as a textbook for several entrepreneurship and executive education programs across the world. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List.
Linda Yates
Chief Executive Officer
Linda Yates is the Founder and CEO of Mach49 — unlocking venture-driven growth at scale for global businesses through venture building and venture investing. Mach49 partners with the Global 1000 to build their growth engines — creating portfolios of organic ventures, external investments, strategic partnerships, and targeted M&A that disrupt markets and create new ones.
Focused 100% on execution, Linda and her team of successful serial entrepreneurs, top-tier VCs, and C-Suite executives bring Silicon Valley expertise and a teachable, scalable approach to venture building and investing that builds client capability, not dependency. Mach49’s new Growth Institute extends the model, offering Heads of Talent a whole new playbook for professional development and transformation related to innovation and growth — while Mach49’s newly launched Shift AI digital platform fulfills the firm’s promise to democratize, digitize, and scale access to their methodology, tools, processes, templates, frameworks, and more.
Linda is a seasoned CEO with over 30 years of experience creating global strategy and driving innovation for large multinationals around the world. As a native of Silicon Valley, she has an extensive network and has served as a bridge between the startups and VCs of Silicon Valley and the boardrooms and C-Suites of international corporations throughout her career.
Linda spent a decade as a member of the Board of Directors for NYSE-traded Sybase Inc. (now SAP) and has served as a Board Member and Advisor to many entrepreneurs and private companies. She was CEO of Strategos — pioneering the field of corporate innovation with Co-Founder and Chairman, Professor Gary Hamel. Prior to Strategos, Linda spent six years with the Mac Group / Gemini, where she was Head of the San Francisco Office and Co-Head of the High-Tech Practice on the West Coast and, later, Europe (based in Amsterdam). Her career began with two years at Smith Barney in corporate finance and M&A. She has extensive global experience, having lived, worked, or traveled to over 70 countries.
Linda is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is an environmental activist and with her husband, Paul Holland, built Tah.Mah.Lah., the greenest home in the US. She is also a 21st-century education advocate, having worked on many projects to transform public schools and co-founding Creekside Learning Lab as a demo site for best practices in 21st-century learning. She holds a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and an MA in international relations and comparative politics from Stanford University, where she guest lectures.
A highly sought-after speaker and author, Linda’s new book, The Unicorn Within — How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Speed, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in October 2022. The book has done extraordinarily well and has been highlighted across leading business media outlets, including Bloomberg, Financial Times, CEO Magazine, Inc., Investor's Business Daily, Sifted, Forbes, Borsen, and Reid Hoffman on his Masters of Scale podcast. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List, the Top Ten Business Books of 2022 by Forbes, and recently selected by Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink as one of “7 Startup Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read;” was the number one new release on Amazon in both the Strategic Planning and Venture Capital categories; and is already being used as a textbook for several entrepreneurship and executive education programs across the world. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List.
Focused 100% on execution, Linda and her team of successful serial entrepreneurs, top-tier VCs, and C-Suite executives bring Silicon Valley expertise and a teachable, scalable approach to venture building and investing that builds client capability, not dependency. Mach49’s new Growth Institute extends the model, offering Heads of Talent a whole new playbook for professional development and transformation related to innovation and growth — while Mach49’s newly launched Shift AI digital platform fulfills the firm’s promise to democratize, digitize, and scale access to their methodology, tools, processes, templates, frameworks, and more.
Linda is a seasoned CEO with over 30 years of experience creating global strategy and driving innovation for large multinationals around the world. As a native of Silicon Valley, she has an extensive network and has served as a bridge between the startups and VCs of Silicon Valley and the boardrooms and C-Suites of international corporations throughout her career.
Linda spent a decade as a member of the Board of Directors for NYSE-traded Sybase Inc. (now SAP) and has served as a Board Member and Advisor to many entrepreneurs and private companies. She was CEO of Strategos — pioneering the field of corporate innovation with Co-Founder and Chairman, Professor Gary Hamel. Prior to Strategos, Linda spent six years with the Mac Group / Gemini, where she was Head of the San Francisco Office and Co-Head of the High-Tech Practice on the West Coast and, later, Europe (based in Amsterdam). Her career began with two years at Smith Barney in corporate finance and M&A. She has extensive global experience, having lived, worked, or traveled to over 70 countries.
Linda is a Henry Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute. She is an environmental activist and with her husband, Paul Holland, built Tah.Mah.Lah., the greenest home in the US. She is also a 21st-century education advocate, having worked on many projects to transform public schools and co-founding Creekside Learning Lab as a demo site for best practices in 21st-century learning. She holds a BA in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and an MA in international relations and comparative politics from Stanford University, where she guest lectures.
A highly sought-after speaker and author, Linda’s new book, The Unicorn Within — How Companies Can Create Game-Changing Ventures at Startup Speed, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in October 2022. The book has done extraordinarily well and has been highlighted across leading business media outlets, including Bloomberg, Financial Times, CEO Magazine, Inc., Investor's Business Daily, Sifted, Forbes, Borsen, and Reid Hoffman on his Masters of Scale podcast. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List, the Top Ten Business Books of 2022 by Forbes, and recently selected by Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink as one of “7 Startup Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read;” was the number one new release on Amazon in both the Strategic Planning and Venture Capital categories; and is already being used as a textbook for several entrepreneurship and executive education programs across the world. The book was chosen for the HBR Press Ideas with Impact List.
