Michael Speiser

Bio

Mike is Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures. He was Founding CEO of Pure Storage and is now co-Chairman. He was Founding CEO of Snowflake Computing and now sits on the board. He is currently Founding CEO of Laserlike and sits on the board. His other directorships include Sumo Logic, Sila Nanotechnologies and Sigma Computing and other investments include Bracket Computing and Instart Logic. Mike’s previous investments include Platfora (acquired by Workday) and Clover (acquired by First Data).

Mike joined Sutter Hill Ventures in 2008 from Yahoo!, where he was Vice President of Community Products. He joined Yahoo! through the acquisition of Bix, where he served as Founder & CEO. Previously, Mike was Vice President and Technical Advisor to Symantec’s Chairman & CEO and served as Vice President of Product Marketing and Product Management at VERITAS Software, which was acquired by Symantec. He also co-founded Epinions.com, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and was an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston.

Mike holds a BA from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.  He is also an avid, though not very talented, alpine skier.

Academic Degrees

• MBA, Harvard Business School, 1998
• BA, University of Arizona, 1993

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Stanford GSB, 2016-present

Professional Experience

• Managing Director, Sutter Hill Ventures, 2008-present
• Co-Chairman, Founding Investor and Board Member, Pure Storage, 2009-present
• Founding Investor and Board Member, Snowflake Computing, 2012-present
• Founding Investor and Board Member, Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., 2011-present
• CEO, Founding Investor and Board Member, Laserlike, 2015-present
• Series B Investor and Board Member, Sumo Logic, 2011-present
• Founding Investor and Board Member, Sigma Computing, 2014-present
• Founding Investor, Bracket Computing, 2011-present
• Series B investor, Instart Logic, 2013-present
• Series A Investor and Board Member, Platfora, 2011-2016
• Founding Investor and Board Member, Clover Network Inc, 2010-2012
• Vice President-Community, Yahoo!, 2006-2008
• Vice President, Product Management and Product Marketing, Symantex, 2001-2006
• Co-Founder, Epinions, 1999-2001
• Associate, McKinsey & Company, 1998-1999
• Associate, Analyst, Credit Sussie First Boston, 1993-1996

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

STRAMGT 351: Building and Managing Professional Sales Organizations

The focus of this class is on the challenges and key issues associated with the creation and management of a professional sales organization. Our emphasis is developing and managing the selling effort of business-to-business and business-to-...

STRAMGT 353: Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures

This course is offered for students who at some time may want to undertake an entrepreneurial career by pursuing opportunities leading to partial or full ownership and control of a business. The course deals with case situations from the point of...

2016-17

STRAMGT 353: Entrepreneurship: Formation of New Ventures

This course is offered for students who at some time may want to undertake an entrepreneurial career by pursuing opportunities leading to partial or full ownership and control of a business. The course deals with case situations from the point of...