Bio

Software geek meets data geek. I’m the CEO of Tableau Software, an Inc. 500 company. I can’t resist dissecting IPO data because I’ve worked on three sides of the IPO world: as a software entrepreneur, as a venture capitalist and as a securities analyst. Tableau makes fast analytics and visualization software, so what could be more fun than dissecting IPO data with our own tools?

Tableau was founded in 2003. We’ve recently experienced eighteen consecutive quarters of record orders. As our IPO ambitions grow, we’ve become frustrated with how difficult it is to examine public software companies in a meaningful way, so we started collecting and analyzing data ourselves.

Before starting Tableau, I was an Associate Partner at Softbank Venture Capital, where I focused on software investments. Before Softbank, I was the CEO and co-founder of BeeLine Software, a pioneer of next-generation route mapping software. BeeLine was acquired by Vicinity Corporation (NASD: VCNT) in 2000 and later by Microsoft. Earlier in my career I worked as a securities analyst for Cornerstone Research, where I first became a bona fide data geek, slicing and dicing the performance of public technology companies. I also published a finance book called Understanding the Euro: The Clear and Concise Guide to the Trans-European Currency (McGraw-Hill). I have MBA and Engineering degrees from Stanford University.