Venky Ganesan

Atheist, Business mentor, Change agent, Explorer, Idea generator, Investor, Parent, Performer, Technologist, World traveler

Venky joined Menlo Ventures in March 2013. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director at Globespan Capital Partners where he was part of the investment team since the firm’s inception. At Globespan, Venky led numerous successful investments including Palo Alto Networks (“PANW), Amobee (Acquired by Singtel for $321 Million), Exeros (Acquired by IBM), Jajah (Acquired by Telefonica for $207 Million), Sendia (Acquired by Salesforce.com) and Trigo (Acquired by IBM). In addition, he also led investments or served on the boards of the following private companies: Bityota, Gild, Kaminario, Marketlive, Nominum, oDesk, Redfin, Rev, SMSGupshup, and Strongmail. Most recently, Venky was recognized on the 2012 AlwaysOn Venture Capital 100 and 2011 AlwaysOn Power Players West List for his investment success. Prior to Globespan, Venky was one of the founders of Trigo Technologies and played a critical part in building Trigo into the market leader in the product information management space. IBM acquired the company resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesberg offices and at Microsoft where he started his career as a Program Manager. Venky holds a B.A. in Economics-Math from Reed College and a B.S. in Engineering and Applied Science with honors from the California Institute of Technology. Venky believes strongly in giving back to the community and is a board member of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the Co-President of The India Community Center, and a Trustee and Treasurer of Keys School.

Technology, venture capital, India, Entrepreneurship, Community Service, Cricket, Squash, Stockmarket, great stories, education, behavioral economics, microfinance, situational ethics

Writing stories, interviewing people