| @venkyganesan |
| California Institute of Technology, B.S | 1996 |
| Engineering and Applied Science with focus on Computer Science | |
| Reed College, BA | 1994 |
| Economics/Math | |
| Shri Nehru Vidyalaya | 1991 |
Venky Ganesan Managing Director
Venky is a Managing Director and has been part of the investment team of Globespan Capital Partners since the firm’s inception. He is based in Globespan’s Palo Alto office where he focuses on investments in Software and Internet/Infrastructure start-ups. Venky, a successful entrepreneur himself, shares his intense focus on results, strategic market view, and technical expertise to help the firm’s portfolio companies achieve market leadership. Most recently, Venky was recognized on the 2011 AlwaysOn Power Players West List.
Venky serves on the boards of Gild, Kaminario, MarketLive, Nominum, oDesk, Palo Alto Networks, Redfin, SMS GupShup, and Strongmail. Venky previously served on the boards of Amobee (acquired by SingTel), Challenge Games (acquired by Zynga), Exeros (acquired by IBM), Jajah (acquired by Telefonica), Plaxo (acquired by Comcast) and Sendia (acquired by Salesforce.com).
Prior to Globespan, Venky served as Vice President of JAFCO Ventures. While at JAFCO, Venky co-founded Trigo Technologies, Inc. where he later served as Chief Operating Officer. He envisioned the idea behind Trigo’s middleware as an Associate in the Boston office of JAFCO Ventures. He and the founding team then incubated the software company in JAFCO’s Palo Alto office. Venky helped to build Trigo into the market leader in the product information management arena. The company was acquired by IBM resulting in a substantial return for all investors. Venky also previously worked at McKinsey & Co., in the firm’s Los Angeles and Johannesberg offices.
He started his career as a Program Manager at Microsoft’s Encarta Group, where he realized that “ultimately jobs are all about people - working for people, working with people, working to make people successful. It’s a life lesson I use everyday.”
Today at Globespan, Venky has the “privilege and opportunity to meet and work with some of the most passionate, motivated and intelligent people in the world. It’s very humbling to know that I can play a small part in making their vision a reality.”
Venky believes that working as a team with entrepreneurs means “having shared vision, shared reality and a shared commitment to make the vision a reality.” Venky earned degrees in Math, Economics and Computer Science from Reed College and the California Institute of Technology. He was a Rhodes Scholar Finalist from India and played squash for his college. He lives in Menlo Park with his wife and three daughters. When he finds the time, he loves to read, enjoys sports, and is a die-hard cricket fan. Venky is a board member of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the Co-President of The India Community Center, a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a Trustee of Keys School and actively volunteers for Caltech and Reed College.
