Mallun Yen
Founder & CEO of Operator Collective & Former Vice President of Worldwide Intellectual Property at Cisco
Mallun Yen is a board director, public company officer, technology executive, founder, and global intellectual property leader who has launched and scaled businesses, transformed markets by disrupting industry conventions, and created vibrant worldwide communities. She is the founder and CEO of Operator Collective, a venture capital fund and community that aims to open the venture ecosystem to tech leaders from diverse backgrounds. Operator Collective's investors include over 150 experienced operators from companies like Salesforce, Stripe, and Zoom.
With a deep understanding of Silicon Valley innovation and a proven track record of growth, Mallun has led companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 enterprises in developing transformational organizations, initiatives, and products using data, technology, and collaboration to shift behaviors and build new revenue streams.
Mallun spent eight years at Cisco Systems, Inc. and SaaStr, where as Vice President of Worldwide Intellectual Property, she led and built from the ground up the teams responsible for intellectual property protection of Cisco’s technology, products, and innovation globally, including actions against a major foreign competitor with strong governmental ties and containment of international and domestic data breaches. She was also a key contributor to Cisco’s renowned M&A organization, helping the company buy and integrate more than 60 companies including Linksys ($500M), Scientific-Atlanta ($6.9B), WebEx ($3.2B), Airespace ($400M), Ironport ($830M) and Tandberg ($3.3B).
While at Cisco, Mallun and fellow innovators came together to launch RPX Corporation to counter the spread of so-called patent trolls using a novel data-driven, market-based subscription model. As RPX’s EVP of corporate development and chief business and product officer, she guided the venture-backed startup to IPO in 2011 less than three years from inception and over $300 million in annual revenue. She served on the board of directors until its acquisition in 2018.
Mallun's vision for innovative, collaborative problem-solving extended into her role as founder of Operator Collective, a venture capital fund that debuted in 2019 with a $45 million fund, focusing on business-to-business technology companies. Her influential role in the Silicon Valley ecosystem saw her recruiting prominent names, such as Rachel Carlson from Guild Education, to serve as limited partners for the fund. She is also a co-founder of ChIPsNetwork.org, a global community for women in tech, law, and policy she co-founded in 2005 which, among other things, offers a free summer institute to inspire high school girls to become advocates, leaders, and innovators.
She has been an instructor or guest speaker for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Stanford Directors’ College, Stanford Law School, and the University of California Haas School of Business. Mallun has received numerous awards, including SF Business Times’ Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business, Forever Influential, World’s Leading Intellectual Property Strategists, and Innovators’ Award–Serial Innovator, and been featured in various publications, including The Secrets of Silicon Valley, Stiletto Network, Entrepreneur and Law.com.
Videos
News
Related Speakers View all
![]() |
Sallie Krawcheck
Wall Street Trailblazer, Founder of Ellevest, a Wome...
|
![]() |
Nicole Yeary
Entrepreneur, Growth Catalyst, Founder & CEO of Ms.Tech
|
![]() |
Angela Antony
Founder & CEO of Scoutible
|
![]() |
Allyson Kapin
Founder of Women Who Tech; Founder of web agency Rad...
|
![]() |
Morgan DeBaun
Founder, CEO of Blavity Inc.; Angel Investor; Small ...
|
![]() |
Arlan Hamilton
Founder of Backstage Capital, Venture Capitalist, Te...
|
![]() |
Dr. Monica F. Cox
Distinguished Professor of Engineering at The Ohio S...
|
![]() |
Kavita Shukla
Founder & CEO of The FRESHGLOW Co.; Inventor of FRES...
|
![]() |
Reshma Saujani
Lawyer, Politician, Founder of Girls Who Code & Moms...
|
![]() |
Pattie Sellers
Award-Winning Writer, Producer & Multimedia Journali...
|
![]() |
Mary Ellen Weber
Former NASA Astronaut & Legislative Affairs Liaison ...
|
![]() |
Deb Liu
President & CEO of Ancestry
|
![]() |
Janice Omadeke
Founder & CEO of The Mentor Method
|
![]() |
Melissa Guzy
Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures
|
![]() |
Melanie Perkins
Co-Founder & CEO of Canva
|
![]() |
Christina Qi
Co-Founder & Partner of Domeyard LP, Forbes 30 Under...
|
![]() |
Danielle Krettek
Founder & Principal of Google's Empathy Lab
|
![]() |
Tiffany Pham
Founder & CEO of Mogul
|
![]() |
Carol Reiley
Serial Entrepreneur, Investor & Active Advocate for ...
|
![]() |
Adena Friedman
Chair & CEO of NASDAQ
|