Once the first sales manager at Google, Zurek is a founding partner in XG Ventures, which provides capital for Internet startups. Even more haute: she’s a professional auto racer.

The firm she co-founded was the first venture capital fund to invest exclusively in software companies. She’s been involved in entrepreneurship in the software industry for more than 30 years; in 1976, she co-founded Open Systems, an accounting software maker, with a $500 investment, which she sold six years later for some $15 million. She’s …

He’s called the Sherpa of Google not just because he wrote a six-figure check for its growth, but also because he was involved in the formation of the DNA of the company (he still sits on the board). The self-made billionaire started at Netscape, launched shopping site Junglee (sold to Amazon in 98), and then …

He’s a private-equity-firm investor turned tequila entrepreneur who happens to have the priciest home on the market in Sonoma—a 362-acre spread that features a stunning 11,600-square-foot, Tuscan-style villa on a hilltop. He bought the completely undeveloped property in 1990 for a little more than $3 million, and transformed it into a lavish estate that boasts …

He was one of the first investors in Twitter. He also had a pretty nice role at Google as head of special initiatives, where he oversaw projects like creating citywide WiFi access in Mountain View, California. He left Google to launch his venture capital firm, and based on his first bet in Twitter, he has …