Pete Sonsini ’96 MBA | From Research to Returns

I was so impatient when I got out of business school. You want to just change the world immediately, but sometimes you got to take your time. — Hi, my name is Pete Sonsini. I'm a venture capitalist and I invest in early-stage technology companies. Pete's the sort of investor that will always have your back. He really, really supports the founders and the companies that he invests in. He's enabled organizations to carry out their success and carry out their vision because he's seen it through. What makes Pete successful is he's got a unique blend. He's able to truly understand the technology, understand how to create business value, and how to work with people. — He really supported, mentored, and stood by his founders and I think that he uniquely did that in a way that almost no other investor does. I was very hopeful that I'd be able to have a hand in some really awesome things and uh play a small part in helping to build them. He helped VMware strike a deal with IBM, which is obviously one of the largest companies in the world. That partnership put VMware on the map. I invested in Databricks before they had any software revenue. They went out to raise money and it was a challenging fundraise. One of the reasons that we're still here today and we're, you know, a $134 billion market cap company is that Pete actually kind of stuck out his neck, invested in us when no one else wanted to. — I really believed in the team and so I actually stepped up and raised my hand and said I'll lead the financing. I'll pay the price that you guys really want to make everybody feel good. We almost went under and he just jumped in and said, you know, I got you guys. He's turned into an entrepreneur now these days. He both had the drive and tenacity to be a co-founder, to like take this leap of faith. I teamed up with my partner Andy Kunawicz. We talked about building a very focused firm on investing in deeply technical, research-driven entrepreneurs. Those are the individuals where I can add the most value. There was like a magical team up of us building our next thing and Pete building his next thing and having opportunity to build it together. I think this was touched up or something. I That doesn't even really look like me. I guess that is me. That's pretty funny. I'm very proud to be a Kellogg alum. Kellogg has had such a significant role in my dad's life. Whether it's the marketing class or the management strategy class or organizational behavior class, these are important skills that you need to execute well in business. I think Kellogg really champions leaders who are ambitious and driven, but also leaders who value strong interpersonal relationships. I have tremendous respect for what the school is doing, staying relevant, embracing AI in these changing times, and so I want to support that. I didn't fully appreciate that I would get so much fulfillment out of teaming up with the entrepreneur, encouraging them to take the risk to do great things. Throughout his life, he's always really valued the people that he works with and the relationships that he cultivates in addition to his success and drive. I'm super proud of my dad. I feel like I don't say it enough. — He genuinely cares about his family and about your family as well. For him, it's always been family first. I've been so fortunate to have such a present, engaging, thoughtful dad. He's uh been there whenever I wanted advice or needed help of any kind professionally. He's been a true colleague and a friend. He's not going to bail on you if things get rough. He inspired us and, you know, we modeled after him. Hey Pete, congratulations on winning this amazing award. It is a great recognition of all the great things you've done over a 25 year career. Grateful for the partnership and friendship and hopefully we continue to be friends for, you know, many decades to come. It's been my to be a co-founder with you of something that's aiming to have even more impact than you've had so far in your illustrious career. I hope you know how proud I am of you and how lucky I feel to be your daughter and congrats.