Lorenzo Thione is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for the intersection of technology, art, design, communication and social value.

He’s the Managing Director of Gaingels and a co-founding chairman of StartOut, two of the leading groups dedicated to supporting and elevating LGBTQ+ leaders in the venture startup ecosystem.

As the Managing Producer at Sing Out, Louise! Productions, Lorenzo is also a Tony-Award and Drama Desk winning Broadway producer (Hadestown, The Inheritance) and the co-creator and lead producer of Allegiance, the Broadway musical starring George Takei and Lea Salonga, of which he also directed and produced the 2016 film.

In developing Allegiance, he spearheaded social-media viral strategies that led to astounding growth and unprecedented awareness and audience engagement for George Takei, and to the founding of The Social Edge, for which he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer.

He previously co-founded startups Powerset (acquired by Microsoft in 2008) and Artify.it; he is an investor, board member, and advisor for startups such as Figure Eight (now Appian), Weights & Biases, CrowdMed, Famo.us, Gobble, Just, and Lucid, and many more.

He's an outspoken LGBT advocate and was named one of the most influential LGBT people in tech in 2014 and 2018 by Business Insider.

He was born and raised in Milan, and completed my studies at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he holds a M.S. in Computer Engineering.