Mona DeFrawi is CEO & Founder of Equidity, a long-term growth investing network and utility that builds direct relationships between top investors and companies to facilitate liquidty, better IPOs and returns. Mona has guided entrepreneurs & investors for over 20 years in fundraising, IPOs corporate development & investor relationship management, and was honored as one of the Silicon Valley Business Journal's 2010 Women of Influence. Previously, Mona was CEO & Founder of InsideVenture, which was acquired by SecondMarket in fall 2009.  A passionate supporter of innovation, Mona authored legislation in 1998 and successfully lobbied for Maryland pension fund investments in venture capital, that today total nearly $3B.  Mona also founded VentureQuest, a fundraising and business development advisory firm, and over her career, Mona advised over a hundred start-up companies, and founded three, two of which were acquired.