Mike Speiser | $1B+
Get in touch with Mike Speiser | Mike Speiser, managing partner at Sutter Hill Ventures, is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capitalists, known for backing category-defining enterprise software and infrastructure companies at their earliest stages. Since joining the storied firm in the late 1990s, Speiser has led or co-led investments in transformative businesses such as Snowflake, Pure Storage, and NVIDIA-backed platforms, helping founders scale from technical breakthroughs to global market leaders. Renowned for Sutter Hill’s concentrated, long-term approach, Speiser combines deep technical insight with board-level stewardship, making him a central figure in the evolution of modern enterprise technology.
Sutter Hill Ventures is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California, specializing in early-stage investments in technology-driven startups across sectors such as software, healthcare, and semiconductors.[1] Founded in 1962 by Bill Draper and Paul Wythes, the firm has a long history of financing innovative companies and supporting entrepreneurs in scaling to market leaders, with a portfolio of more than 195 companies as of September 2025.[2][3] Known for its low-profile approach, Sutter Hill has achieved notable exits, including leading the $5 million Series A for Snowflake in 2012 and investing early in Sumo Logic around its 2012 Series B.[4][5]
The firm's investment strategy emphasizes building enduring companies through hands-on guidance, drawing on its origins as one of Silicon Valley's pioneering venture capital entities during the 1960s tech boom.[6] Over the decades, Sutter Hill has backed high-profile successes like C3.ai, Rigetti Computing, and Grail, contributing to significant IPOs and acquisitions that underscore its track record in enterprise software and biotechnology.[7] More recently, it participated in the growth of Astera Labs, which went public in 2024 with Sutter Hill holding a substantial stake valued at nearly $1.4 billion post-IPO.[8]
Led by a team of experienced managing directors including Mike Speiser, Sam Pullara, and Stefan Dyckerhoff, Sutter Hill maintains a selective approach, focusing on transformative technologies while avoiding broad publicity.[3] As an exempt reporting adviser with the SEC, the firm manages funds dedicated to venture opportunities, continuing to invest actively with three new deals in the 12 months leading up to September 2025.[9][3]
Overview
Founding
Sutter Hill Ventures was established in 1962 in Palo Alto, California, as one of the earliest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, with Bill Draper and Paul Wythes recognized as its founding partners.[1][10] The firm traces its roots to early Silicon Valley venture capital efforts, including the pioneering Draper, Gaither & Anderson, formed in 1958 by William H. Draper Jr., Rowan Gaither, and Fred L. Anderson, which laid foundational practices in risk capital for technology ventures. Bill Draper (William H. Draper III), who began his career at DGA, later became a key figure at Sutter Hill Ventures after joining in 1965.[11][12][13]
Some sources cite 1964 as the effective start of venture capital activities, attributing this to the formal incorporation of its Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) structure or the initiation of active venture capital operations under Wythes, who joined to lead the investment arm after the initial setup via Sutter Hill Capital Corporation in 1962.[13][14] This early formation positioned Sutter Hill Ventures to focus on financing nascent technology startups amid the emerging Silicon Valley ecosystem, capitalizing on the region's growing innovation in semiconductors and computing.[15] The firm's headquarters have remained in Palo Alto since inception, anchoring its operations in the heart of this technological hub.[1]
As one of the oldest continuously operating venture capital firms in the United States, Sutter Hill Ventures predates many contemporary players and has maintained an enduring presence through its emphasis on long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs.[16][17] This longevity underscores its role in shaping the venture capital landscape from Silicon Valley's formative years onward.[18]
Focus and Operations
Sutter Hill Ventures operates as a private equity firm specializing in venture capital for technology-based startups, providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in developing market-leading companies through strategic guidance, team building, and financing across public and private markets.[6][19]
The firm manages funds focused on long-term investments in high-caliber teams addressing ambitious technical challenges in large-scale markets, emphasizing scientific and engineering innovation over market demand risks. With assets under management not publicly disclosed, the scale of its operations is reflected in a portfolio featuring multi-billion-dollar outcomes from incubated ventures.[5]
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Sutter Hill Ventures maintains its primary operations in Silicon Valley, complemented by a selective international presence through an office in London, England.[2]
The firm adheres to a disciplined, selective deal flow, originating a small number of companies annually via its internal incubation process—often identifying problems and recruiting founders—while making targeted opportunistic investments in external opportunities.[5]
History
Early Years
Sutter Hill Ventures operated during the nascent growth of Silicon Valley in the 1960s and 1970s, capitalizing on the semiconductor boom by providing early-stage funding to hardware and computing firms through its Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) license obtained in 1962.[20] The firm, initially backed by Canadian investor Genstar Capital, focused on equity investments typically ranging from $100,000 to $250,000, scouting opportunities by directly visiting engineers and startups across the region.[13] This hands-on approach aligned with the era's explosive innovation in semiconductors and peripherals, where Sutter Hill supported pioneers amid limited competition from just a handful of West Coast venture firms.[21]
Key early investments underscored the firm's emerging reputation for high returns. The firm invested early in Diablo Systems, a disk drive and printer innovator founded in 1969, which Xerox acquired in 1972, yielding strong returns. In 1973, Sutter Hill backed Qume Corporation, a developer of printer technology including daisy-wheel models that became industry standards, which was acquired by ITT in 1978 for significant gains, marking one of the firm's first profitable exits.[21][13] By 1981, the firm seeded LSI Logic, a semiconductor designer that advanced application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and achieved substantial market impact, further solidifying Sutter Hill's credibility in the sector with returns contributing to an overall internal rate of return exceeding 36% from 1970 to 2005.[22][13]
Entering the 1980s, Sutter Hill expanded into networking technologies, notably providing seed funding to Banyan Systems, a software firm that developed virtual networking solutions for personal computers, reflecting the shift toward interconnected systems.[21] The firm navigated the early 1980s recession—a period of high interest rates and economic contraction—by maintaining a disciplined pace of deal-making, with incoming business proposals surging from a handful in 1973 to dozens daily by 1981, allowing selective investments amid broader market caution. This resilience was evident in slowed but steady activity, avoiding the no-deal years seen earlier during the 1974 oil crisis while building a portfolio of over 50 companies.[13][23]
Paul Wythes played a central role in operational leadership, handling deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management after co-founding the firm in 1962 with Bill Draper.[20] Wythes emphasized collaborative dynamics with Draper, fostering a partnership that balanced Draper's deal origination with Wythes' focus on execution until Draper's departure in 1981 for a U.S. government role, as documented in Wythes' oral history.[13] This era's successes, including in-house support for entrepreneurs like those at Measurex, established Sutter Hill's long-term model of active involvement in building enduring technology companies.[13]
Modern Developments
During the late 2000s, Sutter Hill Ventures shifted its investment approach toward actively originating and building companies, a strategy initiated with the arrival of Mike Speiser as managing director in 2008. This pivot marked a departure from traditional deal sourcing, emphasizing the firm's role in assembling teams and developing products from inception. The first major outcome was the creation of Pure Storage in 2009, a company focused on all-flash data storage solutions that addressed growing demands for efficient data management.[16][24][25]
A landmark achievement under this model was the incubation of Snowflake in 2012, where Sutter Hill Ventures recruited key talent to develop a cloud-native data platform. The company's 2020 IPO raised $3.4 billion and valued it at more than $70 billion, delivering Sutter Hill a stake worth approximately $12 billion from an initial investment under $200 million. This success underscored the firm's ability to foster transformative enterprise software amid the rise of cloud computing.[26][16][27]
In response to evolving industry dynamics in the 2020s, Sutter Hill Ventures has directed resources toward artificial intelligence, advanced cloud infrastructure, and biotechnology innovations. Notable examples include leading a $156 million Series C for Observe, an AI-driven observability platform, in 2025; backing Ridge Biotechnologies' $25 million launch in 2025 to apply AI in linker technology for drug development; and supporting Integrated Biosciences' $17 million raise in 2024 for therapies targeting age-related diseases. As of 2025, these efforts contribute to a portfolio featuring 19 IPOs and 107 acquisitions, reflecting the firm's enduring influence in high-growth sectors.[28][29][30][3]
Investment Strategy
Origination Model
Sutter Hill Ventures employs a thesis-driven incubation model, where the firm proactively identifies unmet needs in the market, particularly in enterprise technology, and seeds promising ideas by recruiting technical founders and developing prototypes internally before launching formal startups.[16] This approach allows the firm to shape companies from inception, drawing on its network of experts to address complex technical challenges in areas like cloud computing and data management.[5]
The process begins with internal teams, including managing directors and entrepreneurs-in-residence, collaborating on early-stage development to validate concepts and build initial products.[16] For instance, the firm originated Snowflake by identifying the need for scalable cloud data warehousing, recruiting co-founders, and supporting prototype development in-house, leading to its Series A funding in 2012.[5] Similarly, Pure Storage emerged from the firm's incubation efforts focused on innovative storage solutions, with internal resources aiding product creation before its public launch.[16] Managing Director Mike Speiser often serves as interim CEO during this phase, dedicating significant time—up to 80%—to guide strategy and key hires for 1-2 years until a permanent leader is appointed.[5]
This model emphasizes enterprise technology problems, such as security and data infrastructure, and maintains a selective pace of 1-2 originations per year to ensure deep focus and high-quality execution.[16] By limiting the number of projects, the firm avoids dilution of resources and prioritizes ventures with potential for substantial scale.[5]
The benefits of this origination strategy include greater involvement in achieving product-market fit, as internal collaboration enables rapid iteration based on real-world feedback from the firm's portfolio.[16] Compared to traditional venture capital scouting of external pitches, this method reduces risk by establishing stronger foundational control and technical validation early on.[5]
Sector and Stage Focus
Sutter Hill Ventures primarily targets investments in computer technology, including semiconductors and software, as well as healthcare and biotechnology, telecommunications, and consumer technology sectors.[1] The firm also maintains secondary interests in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, reflecting a broader emphasis on innovative, technology-driven solutions.[6]
In terms of investment stages, Sutter Hill Ventures focuses on early-stage and seed opportunities, frequently employing an incubation model to support nascent companies from inception.[5] The firm primarily invests in early-stage ventures but has also participated in later-stage rounds.[1]
Selection criteria emphasize opportunities in large addressable markets with defensible technologies and exceptional founding teams capable of solving complex problems.[31] Sutter Hill Ventures adopts a long-term investment horizon exceeding 10 years, favoring sustained growth over short-term exits.
As of September 2025, the firm's portfolio comprises over 195 companies, including four unicorns, with a balanced emphasis on B2B enterprise solutions across its targeted sectors.[3]
Leadership
Founders
Sutter Hill Ventures was founded in 1962, with significant contributions from William H. Draper III and Paul M. Wythes starting in 1965, establishing one of the earliest venture capital firms focused on Silicon Valley's emerging technology sector.[2][33][13]
William H. Draper III, born in 1928 in Scarsdale, New York, brought a strong foundation in business and military service to the partnership. After graduating from Yale University with a degree in history and earning an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with distinction, Draper served in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division during the Korean War era. Prior to joining Sutter Hill, he gained early venture capital experience at Draper, Gaither & Anderson, the first such firm west of the Mississippi River, established in 1958, and co-founded Draper & Johnson in 1962, which merged with Sutter Hill in 1965. At Sutter Hill, Draper emphasized investments in high-technology manufacturing companies on the West Coast, leveraging his network to identify opportunities in nascent Silicon Valley startups. His contributions included pioneering the firm's international funding model by securing $10 million from Canadian investor Genstar Capital Corporation in 1969, marking the first major foreign investment in U.S. venture capital.[33][34][33]
Paul M. Wythes, born in 1933 in Camden, New Jersey, complemented Draper's expertise with an engineering and operational perspective. A graduate of Princeton University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1955, Wythes served in the U.S. Navy from 1955 to 1957 before obtaining an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1959. Initially involved in sales and market research, Wythes joined Sutter Hill Company in 1964, where the precursor Sutter Hill Capital had obtained its Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) license in 1962 under the 1958 Small Business Investment Act, navigating the era's regulatory framework for venture funding. He met Draper in 1965 through the firm's real estate origins and focused on operational management and proactive deal sourcing, often driving through Silicon Valley to scout entrepreneurs and startups, such as early investments in Measurex and Kasper Instruments. Wythes' hands-on approach set a precedent for providing entrepreneurs with resources like office space and strategic guidance without taking controlling stakes.[13][35][13]
Together, Draper and Wythes raised initial capital from limited partners like Genstar, transitioning from the SBIC structure to a partnership model in 1970 that emphasized long-term, evergreen funding. Their collaboration fostered a supportive environment for founders, influencing the Silicon Valley venture capital ethos of active involvement over passive investment. Draper departed in 1985 to serve as President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States under President Reagan, later founding Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1994. Wythes retired from active roles in 1999 and passed away in 2012 at age 79. Their legacies endure in Sutter Hill's enduring model of patient, technology-focused investing that helped shape the modern VC landscape.[33][13][21]
Current Partners
Sutter Hill Ventures maintains a small, partner-led investment team of approximately 7 professionals, emphasizing technical depth and long tenure among its members to guide the firm's direction in technology investments. The firm does not publicly disclose full biographies of its partners on its website, reflecting its low-profile approach. Partners play a central role in deal origination, company incubation, and serving on portfolio company boards, leveraging their operational expertise to foster high-impact startups.[1][2]
Mike Speiser has served as a Managing Director since 2008, with deep expertise in enterprise software and a track record of leading company incubations. He spearheaded the early development of Pure Storage, where he acted as founding CEO, and Snowflake, serving as its initial CEO from 2012 to 2014 before its public listing. Prior to joining Sutter Hill, Speiser held product management and marketing roles at Hewlett-Packard, followed by positions at F5 Networks as Vice President of Marketing and at Symantec as Vice President and technical advisor to the CEO. In a 2025 interview, Speiser articulated the firm's philosophy of actively "creating great companies" by solving critical technical problems and building exceptional teams, rather than merely investing passively.[36][37][38]
Stefan Dyckerhoff joined as a Managing Director in October 2012, specializing in cloud computing and networking technologies. He founded Nicira Networks in 2007, which was acquired by VMware for $1.26 billion in 2012, and has held executive roles at Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems, including positions in technical leadership and product management. Dyckerhoff's background enables him to contribute to Sutter Hill's focus on infrastructure innovations, often taking operational roles in portfolio companies.[39][40]
Other key partners include Sam Pullara, a Managing Director since 2012 with expertise in software infrastructure, drawn from his prior role as a senior infrastructure engineer at Twitter (now X) and engineering positions at Yahoo; Vic Miller, a Managing Director with a PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford, bringing experience from product incubation at Apple and Tesla; and Palmer Rampell, a Managing Director focused on product strategy, with a background in technology investments. This compact team structure allows for hands-on involvement, aligning with the firm's long-standing emphasis on technical acumen and sustained commitment to portfolio growth.[41][42][43][44][45][3]
Notable Investments
Early Investments
Sutter Hill Ventures made one of its earliest investments in Qume, an early investment in the startup founded in 1973 that developed daisy-wheel printer technology that became a standard for high-quality text output in the pre-laser printing era.[5] Qume grew rapidly to become the world's largest printer company before its acquisition by ITT Corporation in 1978 for $164 million, delivering substantial returns to Sutter Hill and highlighting the firm's ability to identify hardware innovations with broad market potential.[46]
Sutter Hill also invested early in Diablo Systems in the early 1970s, an innovator in disk drive technology that addressed early challenges in data storage for computing systems.[14] Diablo's products were pivotal in enabling reliable peripheral storage, and the company was acquired by Xerox in 1972 for $28 million, providing Sutter Hill with an early exit and reinforcing its focus on foundational computing hardware.[47]
By 1981, Sutter Hill provided seed funding to LSI Logic, a semiconductor firm pioneering application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that allowed customized chip designs for various applications, fueling the 1980s chip design boom.[14] LSI Logic went public in 1983, raising $153 million in its IPO and achieving rapid growth to become a leader in ASICs by 1985, which contributed significantly to Sutter Hill's reputation in high-tech venture investing.[48]
During the 1980s, Sutter Hill also seeded Banyan Systems, which developed networking software for systems integration, enabling better connectivity in enterprise environments amid the rise of local area networks.[14] Banyan Systems completed its IPO in 1987, marking a successful transition for Sutter Hill into software-enabled hardware solutions and providing strong returns during a period of expanding computer networks.[49]
These early investments in hardware and semiconductor pioneers from the 1970s and 1980s generated outsized returns for Sutter Hill Ventures, establishing it as a top performer in the venture capital landscape as chronicled in Sebastian Mallaby's history of the industry.[50] The successes exemplified the firm's strategic emphasis on the burgeoning personal computing and data storage era, building a track record that attracted subsequent limited partners and solidified its enduring influence in Silicon Valley.[51]
Recent Investments
Sutter Hill Ventures has made several high-profile investments in post-2000 portfolio companies, particularly in cloud computing, data storage, and emerging technologies, with a notable emphasis on incubated ventures that achieved significant exits. One of the firm's most successful incubations is Snowflake, launched in 2012 as a cloud data platform. Snowflake went public in 2020 in the largest software IPO to date, achieving a valuation exceeding $70 billion at its debut. Sutter Hill held more than 20% of the company post-IPO, with its stake valued at over $12 billion following the initial trading surge.[26][52]
In 2009, Sutter Hill originated an investment in Pure Storage, a pioneer in all-flash data storage solutions for enterprise environments. The company completed its IPO in 2015, raising $425 million at $17 per share, and has since established itself as a market leader in high-performance storage. At the time of the IPO, Sutter Hill owned approximately 27% of Pure Storage, valuing its stake at around $700 million.[53][26]
Sumo Logic, a cloud-based machine data analytics platform founded in 2010, received early funding from Sutter Hill, including participation in its 2012 Series B round. The company went public in 2020 and was subsequently acquired by Francisco Partners in 2023 for $1.7 billion, or $12.05 per share.[54]
Among other notable post-2000 investments, Sutter Hill maintained an early stake in NVIDIA, which has become a dominant player in graphics processing units (GPUs) essential for AI and computing applications. The firm also backed Glassdoor, an HR technology platform for employer reviews and job insights, which was acquired by Recruit Holdings in 2018 for $1.2 billion. In biotechnology, Sutter Hill invested in GRAIL, a multi-cancer early detection company that went public in 2021. Additionally, the firm supported Rigetti Computing, a quantum computing developer that achieved a public listing via SPAC merger in 2022.[55][56][57]
In September 2025, Sutter Hill participated in the Series B round of Luminary Cloud, a developer of cloud-based engineering simulation software.[6]
These investments reflect broader trends in Sutter Hill's post-2000 portfolio, including four unicorn companies and a strong focus on AI, cloud infrastructure, and innovative hardware-software intersections. As of September 2025, the firm had completed approximately 195 investments across its history, with 126 exits through IPOs and acquisitions.[3
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