[1] Poizner has also been a Silicon Valley technology entrepreneur, founding and selling SnapTrack, Inc., Strategic Mapping, Inc, and EmpoweredU, and he is currently the founder and CEO of next generation GPS startup OneNav Inc.

In 2001, following privately held SnapTrack's sale for $1 billion to Qualcomm, Poizner served a year as a White House Fellow in the National Security Council.

Starting one week before the September 11 attacks, Poizner held the position of Director of Critical Infrastructure Protection, and was involved in developing Homeland Security programs relating to cybersecurity and emergency response communication protocols.

In June 2011, Poizner co-founded Empowered Careers, a mobile learning platform technology company in partnership with UCLA and Creative Artists Agency.

"The purpose of the alliance is to make it easier for tech talent, especially students and professors at area universities, to start companies that commercialize the technology they've worked on.

"[6] In 2001, Poizner co-founded EdVoice, an educational non-profit organization dedicated to improving public schools and serving the interests of K-12 children in California.

From September 2002 to June 2003, he served as a volunteer teacher in San Jose's Mount Pleasant High School teaching 12th grade American Government.

Poizner authored a New York Times best selling book about his experience – "Mount Pleasant" – which has been both praised and criticized for its depiction of a low income public high school.

At the end of his term, Poizner was praised for his efforts to streamline and modernize the CDI through spending cuts and conducting a top-down review of the department.

[8] Poizner oversaw nearly 2,800 fraud-related arrests, the most in CDI history, in a 3-year span[9] and conducted the first ever terror finance probe by a US Insurance Commissioner, which resulted in millions of dollars diverted from Iran.

He ran unopposed in the Republican primary on June 6, and won the general election on November 7 by defeating Democrat Cruz Bustamante, then Lieutenant Governor of California, by a 12.4% margin.

As Chairman of the No on 93 campaign, Poizner contributed $2.5 million of his own money, secured No on 93 endorsements from over forty newspaper editorial boards, and appeared on talk radio across the state.

[21] EmpoweredU formed its first partnership with UCLA Extension to offer professional certificates and career counseling for adults seeking to remain viable in today's job market.

"The purpose of the alliance is to make it easier for tech talent, especially students and professors at area universities, to start companies that commercialize the technology they've worked on.

"[6] In late 2019 Steve Poizner founded OneNav, Inc. A technology startup that aims to create the world’s first pure L5 GNSS receiver supercharged by artificial intelligence.