BusinessWeek Logo
Running Ning

Courtesy of Ning

Running Ning

Gina Bianchini
CEO, Ning

On paper, Gina Bianchini looks every bit the classic Valley entrepreneur. Fresh off her Stanford MBA, she won backing for her first venture, Harmonic Communications, from Valley heavyweight Sequoia Capital; browser pioneer Marc Andreessen served on the board. After Harmonic sold (for an admittedly small sum, after the bust) Bianchini kept her eye on the Internet, and in 2005 she co-founded Ning with Andreessen. Today the build-your-own-social network is valued at more than $500 million. Andreessen may be the technical visionary, but the CEO job lies squarely with the scrappy, hard-charging Bianchini.