GREAT 197 IDEA: Kay Koplovitz—Leverage a New Technology

Kay Koplovitz is the first woman to start a cable television network. She's also a venture capitalist who cofounded Springboard Enterprises, an organization devoted to preparing women business owners to raise venture capital. She also serves as chairman of the board of Liz Claiborne Inc.

Koplovitz told me her greatest idea came to her during a lecture at the London School of Economics. “I went to a lecture on geo-synchronous orbiting satellites,” recalled Koplovitz. “I learned that satellites provided a way of communicating anywhere on earth. No one could jam or stop those signals. This information was so moving and so powerful I decided to do something with it.”

In 1968, she wrote a master's ...

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