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David O. Sacks

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David Sacks
Sacks in 2011
Born
David Oliver Sacks

(1972-05-25) May 25, 1972 (age 52)
Cape Town, South Africa
Education
OccupationTech entrepreneur / investor
EmployerCraft Ventures
Known forFormer CEO of Zenefits, former COO of PayPal and CEO of Yammer
Spouse
Jacqueline Tortorice
​
​
(m. 2007)​
Children3

David Oliver Sacks (born May 25, 1972)[1] is a South African-American[2] entrepreneur, author, and investor in internet technology firms. He is a general partner of Craft Ventures, a venture capital fund he co-founded in late 2017. Additionally, he is a co-host of the All In podcast, alongside Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg.[3] Previously, Sacks was the COO and product leader of PayPal,[1][4] and founder and CEO of Yammer.[5][6] In 2016, he became interim CEO of Zenefits for ten months.[7] In 2017, Sacks co-founded Craft Ventures,[8] an early-stage venture fund. His angel investments include Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, and Airbnb.[9][10][11]

Early life and education

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Sacks was born to a Jewish family in Cape Town, South Africa, and emigrated to Tennessee, United States, with his family when he was five.[12][13] Though Sacks did not know he wanted to become an entrepreneur, he did not want to work a profession like his father, who was an endocrinologist. He took inspiration from his grandfather, who started a candy factory in the 1920s.[14]

Sacks attended Memphis University School in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Stanford University in 1994[14] and a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.[15][16][17]

Career

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PayPal

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In 1999, Sacks left his job as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company to join Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek's e-commerce startup Confinity.[18][19] Later that year, Sacks was the inaugural product leader of Confinity's milestone product, and corporate successor, PayPal.[19][20] Upon promotion to Paypal COO, he built many of the company's key teams, and was responsible for product management and design, sales and marketing, business development, international, customer service, fraud operations, and human resources functions.[19][21] PayPal had their initial public offering in February 2002. It was one of the first IPOs after the September 11 attacks. The stock rose more than 54% on the first day.[22] In October 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion.[23]

Sacks is a member of the so-called "PayPal Mafia", a group of founders and early employees of PayPal who went on to found a series of other successful technology companies. They are often credited with inspiring Web 2.0 and the re-emergence of consumer-focused Internet companies after the dot com bust of 2001.[24][25]

Film producer

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Following PayPal's acquisition, Sacks produced and financed the political satire Thank You for Smoking, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival, was acquired by Twentieth Century Fox for theatrical release in 2006, and was nominated for two Golden Globes, including ‘Best Motion Picture.’[1]

Sacks developed and produced the 2023 biopic Dalíland about artist Salvador Dalí.[26] Dalíland premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia Pictures for theatrical release in 2023.[26]

Geni.com

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In 2006, Sacks founded Geni.com, a genealogy website. In 2008, Sacks and co-founder Adam Pisoni spun this internal communications tool into a standalone company called Yammer.[27] Geni was acquired by MyHeritage in 2012.[28]

Yammer

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In 2008, Yammer launched the first Enterprise Social Network, a secure solution for internal corporate communication and collaboration,[29] winning the grand prize at TechCrunch50 conference.[30] According to Social Capital,[31] Yammer's viral approach made it among the fastest-growing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies in history, exceeding eight million enterprise users in just four years. Yammer received approximately US$142 million in funding from venture capital firms such as Charles River Ventures, Founders Fund, Emergence Capital Partners, and Goldcrest Investments.[32]

In July 2012, Microsoft acquired Yammer for $1.2 billion as a core part of its cloud/social strategy.[33]

Zenefits

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In December 2014, Sacks made a "major investment" in Zenefits.[34] In January 2016, Zenefits' board asked him to step in as interim CEO amidst a "regulatory crisis" regarding the company's licensing compliance, ousting CEO Parker Conrad.[35] Conrad would later come to characterize the change in leadership as a "coup" instigated by Sacks.[36]

Over the next year, Sacks negotiated a resolution with insurance regulators across the U.S. – receiving praise for "righting the ship".[37] Sacks also revamped[38] Zenefits' product line with an initiative he named "Z2",[39][40] introducing a SaaS business model. Shortly after, PC Magazine noted that Zenefits had become "the best HR software on the market," while Buzzfeed reported the company was losing over $200 million annually.[41][42] After just 10 months in the role, Sacks was succeeded by former Ooyala CEO Jay Fulcher.[43]

Angel investments

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Sacks has been investing in technology companies for twenty years.[44] As an angel investor, his investments include Addepar, Affirm, Airbnb, Clutter, Eventbrite, Facebook, Gusto, Houzz, Intercom, Mixpanel, Opendoor, Palantir Technologies, PayPal, Postmates, ResearchGate, Rumble, Scribd, Slack, SpaceX, SurveyMonkey, ThirdLove, Uber and Wish.[9]

Craft Ventures

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In late 2017, Sacks co-founded Craft Ventures and raised an initial fund of $350 million.[45] Craft raised $1.1B in 2021, which brought total assets under management to $2B, according to a Medium post published by the company.[46] Unicorns in Craft Ventures Fund I and Fund II include Bird,[47] BitGo,[citation needed] ClickUp,[48][49] Pipe,[50] Reddit,[51] SourceGraph,[52] and SpaceX.[53][45]

Glue

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In 2021, Sacks and his former colleague from Craft, Evan Owen, co-founded workspace chat company called Glue. Their product is an AI tool that could be invoked from specific chats on platforms like Google Meet and Zoom, allowing employees to get AI assistance during conversations. It was launched to the public in May 2024.[54][55]

Political views

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According to The New Republic, "Sacks is using his wealth and online clout to unite conservatives and former leftists in a reactionary movement against liberalism".[56]

The Diversity Myth

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After graduating from Stanford, Sacks co-authored with Peter Thiel the 1995 book The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford, published by the Independent Institute.[57] The book is critical of political correctness in higher education and argues that more intellectual diversity is needed on college campuses.[57] The following year, writing for Stanford Magazine, he argued against affirmative action in the United States, saying that it had hurt the "disadvantaged", not helped them, and had led to increased segregation at Stanford University in the name of "diversity".[58]

Support for political campaigns

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According to the Federal Election Commission, Sacks donated $50,000 to Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2012. In 2016, he donated nearly $70,000 to Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.[59]

In the 2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections of members Collins, Moliga, and Lopez, Sacks gave one of the largest contributions to support the recall.[60][61] He is also a significant booster of Republican candidates, sponsoring a spring 2022 fundraiser for GOP senate hopefuls including JD Vance and Blake Masters alongside his former colleague and partner Keith Rabois.[62] In total, Sacks directly gave over $1 million to Senate candidates in 2022.[63]

Sacks was the moderator when Ron DeSantis announced his 2024 presidential campaign on Twitter Spaces on May 24, 2023. He praised DeSantis and donated $50,000 to his campaign.[64] Later in June 2023, Sacks hosted a $10,000/plate fundraiser for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[65] He also hosted a campaign fundraiser for Donald Trump at his home in June 2024, which raised around $12 million.[66][67] Sacks was a speaker at the 2024 Republican National Convention.[68][69] He voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.[70]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Since October 2022, Sacks has been commenting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, typically taking a view against U.S. involvement in Ukraine, and especially U.S. military funding for Ukraine.[71] During the 2024 Republican National Convention, Sacks said that the United States had "'provoked' Russia to invade Ukraine" and denied a claim that he was booed by delegates for his Putin-friendly diatribe.[72]

Silicon Valley Bank bank run

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During the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) bank run in March 2023, Sacks advocated for urgent government action to guarantee the deposits of SVB customers.[73]

Personal life

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On July 7, 2007, Sacks married Jacqueline Tortorice.[74] The couple have two daughters and one son.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Thomas, Owen (June 25, 2012). "Meet The Yammer CEO Who Just Made Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Selling To Microsoft". Business Insider. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  2. ^ @DavidSacks (April 20, 2024). "I became a U.S. citizen in 1982" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "ALL-IN with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg". allinpodcast.co.
  4. ^ "eBay to Acquire PayPal-- Shared Mission Will Expand Platforms and Benefit Consumers". eBay (Press release). July 8, 2002. Archived from the original on November 21, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  5. ^ Bryant, Adam (July 16, 2011). "Fostering a Culture of Dissent". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  6. ^ "With $1.2 Billion Yammer Buy, Microsoft's Social Enterprise Strategy Takes Shape". TechCrunch. June 25, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  7. ^ Manjoo, Farhad (October 12, 2016). "Zenefits, a Rocket That Fell to Earth, Tries to Launch Again". The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  8. ^ "David Sacks teams with Bill Lee to raise $350 million VC fund". Axios. January 4, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Rao, Leena (November 8, 2011). "Max Levchin, Keith Rabois And David Sacks Back The Uber For Carwashes, Cherry". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  10. ^ Bort, Julie (July 6, 2016). "Why one of the most successful people in tech took the No. 2 job at a startup". Business Insider. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  11. ^ Griffith, Erin (June 5, 2014). "Meet the Uber Rich". Fortune. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  12. ^ Markoe, Lauren (May 23, 2023). "Who is the Jewish guy who will 'moderate' DeSantis' presidential launch on Twitter?". The Forward. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  13. ^ Guynn, Jessica (July 1, 2012). "Yammer CEO: A Voice To Be Heard". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Herel, Suzanne (February 22, 2012). "Meet the Boss: David Sacks, CEO of Yammer". SF Gate. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
  15. ^ "PayPal: executive officers and directors". March 1, 2002. Archived from the original on January 19, 2017. Retrieved February 18, 2011 – via EDGAR.
  16. ^ "Management bios". Yammer. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
  17. ^ Davis, Joshua (September 2007). "Take2.0: Former PayPal executive and Hollywood producer David Sacks returns to the start-up world, harnessing Web 2.0 to build a collaborative family-tree site". University of Chicago Magazine. Vol. 100, no. 1.
  18. ^ Lillington, Karlin. "PayPal Puts Dough in Your Palm". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  19. ^ a b c "Craft Ventures". www.craftventures.com. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  20. ^ "PayPal: A Merger of Enemies That Reshaped Silicon Valley". Sequoia Capital. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  21. ^ D'Onfro, Jillian (March 15, 2014). "Here's Why A Former PayPal Exec Absolutely Hates Meetings". Business Insider. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  22. ^ Kane, Margaret (May 19, 2002). "PayPal shares make strong debut". CNET. Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  23. ^ "eBay buys PayPal for $1.5B". CNN Money. July 8, 2002.
  24. ^ Forrest, Conner (June 30, 2014). "How the 'PayPal Mafia' redefined success in Silicon Valley". TechRepublic. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  25. ^ Banks, Marcus (May 16, 2008). "Nonfiction review: 'Once You're Lucky'". SFGate.
  26. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 22, 2022). "Ezra Miller-Ben Kingsley Dark Comedy 'DaliLand' Picked Up By Magnolia Pictures". Deadline. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  27. ^ Taylor, Colleen (June 25, 2012). "Memory Lane: Watch The Moment In 2008 When Yammer Launched As A Standalone Business". TechCrunch.
  28. ^ Lynley, Matthew (November 28, 2012). "MyHeritage Raises $25 Million, Aquires [sic] Geni". The Wall Street Journal.
  29. ^ Van Grove, Jennifer (October 21, 2010). "How Yammer Won Over 80% of the Fortune 500". Mashable. Archived from the original on March 4, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  30. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (September 10, 2012). "Yammer Takes Top Prize At TechCrunch50". TechCrunch.
  31. ^ Hamid, Mamoon (February 4, 2015). "Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Secrets to Raising Venture Capital". SlideShare. Social Capital. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  32. ^ Hesseldahl, Arik (February 29, 2012). "Yammer Lands $85 Million Funding Round From Draper Fisher Jurvetson". AllThingsD. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  33. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (July 19, 2012). "Microsoft Completes Its $1.2B Yammer Acquisition". TechCrunch.
  34. ^ O'Brien, Chris (December 10, 2014). "Yammer founder David Sacks joins Zenefits as COO, makes 'major investment' in company". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  35. ^ Solomon, Brian (February 8, 2016). "Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad Resigns Amid Scandal". Forbes. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  36. ^ Bort, Julie (July 25, 2024). "Here's why David Sacks, Paul Graham and other big Silicon Valley names had a brawl on X over VC behavior". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  37. ^ Somerville, Heather (July 25, 2016). "Zenefits fined $62,500 by Tennessee regulators in first settlement on licensing". Reuters. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  38. ^ Frank, Blair Hanley (October 18, 2016). "Here's how Zenefits is trying to reinvent itself". PCWorld. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  39. ^ Lynley, Matthew; Mannes, John (October 18, 2016). "Zenefits opens up to third-party developers and launches a suite of new HR tools". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  40. ^ Chang, Emily (October 18, 2016). "Zenefits CEO on Closing the Chapter on Compliance Issues". Bloomberg Technology. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  41. ^ Martinez, Juan (February 10, 2017). "BambooHR vs. Zenefits Z2: An HR Software Showdown". PC Magazine. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  42. ^ Alden, William (December 2, 2016). "Zenefits Lost $200 Million Last Year". BuzzFeed News.
  43. ^ Yeung, Ken (February 6, 2017). "Zenefits names former Ooyala CEO Jay Fulcher to succeed David Sacks". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  44. ^ "David Sacks Angel List". wellfound, formerly AngelList Talent. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  45. ^ a b Primack, Dan (January 4, 2018). "David Sacks teams with Bill Lee to raise $350 million VC fund". Axios. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  46. ^ Fluhr, Jeff (August 4, 2021). "Announcing Craft III: $1.1 Billion for SaaS and Marketplaces". Medium. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  47. ^ Yakowicz, Will (December 10, 2018). "14 Months, 120 Cities, $2 Billion: There's Never Been a Company Like Bird. Is the World Ready?". Inc. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  48. ^ Riley, Duncan (December 15, 2020). "Productivity platform startup ClickUp raises $100M on $1B unicorn valuation". siliconAngle. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  49. ^ "ClickUp: Audatia is the Best Consulting to serve you in Brazil". ClickUp Audatia Brasil (in Portuguese). February 25, 2023.
  50. ^ Porter, Ashley (May 19, 2021). "Pipe is South Florida's newest 'unicorn' after $250M fundraising round". South Florida Business Journal. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  51. ^ Needleman, Sarah E. (February 9, 2021). "Reddit's Valuation Doubles to $6 Billion After Funding Round". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  52. ^ Venkatesh, Sai (July 14, 2021). "Sourcegraph raises $125M in Series D at $2.625B valuation from Andreessen Horowitz". SaaS Industry. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  53. ^ Sheetz, Michael (February 16, 2021). "Elon Musk's SpaceX raised $850 million, jumping valuation to about $74 billion". CNBC. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  54. ^ McBride, Sarah (May 14, 2024). "AI Startup Co-Founded by David Sacks Officially Launches". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024.
  55. ^ Garfinkle, Allie (May 15, 2024). "David Sacks' Slack challenger Glue has opened up to the public". Fortune. Archived from the original on May 15, 2024.
  56. ^ Silverman, Jacob (October 18, 2022). "The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley's Prophet of Urban Doom". The New Republic. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  57. ^ a b Sacks, David O.; Thiel, Peter A. (January 1, 1998). "The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Intolerance on Campus". The Independent Institute. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
  58. ^ Sacks, David; Thiel, Peter (September 1, 1996). "The Case Against Affirmative Action". Stanford Magazine.
  59. ^ Swisher, Kara (October 24, 2016). "Zenefits CEO David Sacks apologizes for parts of a 1996 book he co-wrote with Peter Thiel that called date rape 'belated regret'". Vox. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  60. ^ "Recall Measure Regarding Gabriela López". San Francisco Voter Guide. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  61. ^ Sumida, Nami (January 17, 2022). "Who is supporting the S.F. Board of Education recall? Here's what the data shows". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  62. ^ Schleifer, Teddy (August 23, 2022). "Take Back The Senate Invitation". Twitter. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  63. ^ "Donor Lookup". OpenSecrets. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  64. ^ Victor, Daniel (May 24, 2023). "Who Is David Sacks? A Fitting Bridge Between DeSantis and Musk". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  65. ^ Bergengruen, Vera (June 14, 2023). "Inside the Very Online Campaign of RFK Jr". Time.
  66. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (June 6, 2024). "'It's Not 2016 Anymore': Trump Finds Friends in Silicon Valley". The New York Times.
  67. ^ Ulmer, Alexander (June 7, 2024). "Trump rakes in $12 million at tech fundraiser in liberal San Francisco". Reuters.
  68. ^ "VC David Sacks delivers a fire-and-brimstone speech at the Republican National Convention". July 16, 2024.
  69. ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/16/david-sacks-trashes-san-francisco-rnc-00168589 [bare URL]
  70. ^ @DavidSacks. "Tweet from November 1, 2024". Twitter.
  71. ^ "The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley's Prophet of Urban Doom". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
  72. ^ Luce, Edward (July 19, 2024). "Why techies are going for Trump". Financial Times. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  73. ^ Heer, Jeet (March 13, 2023). "Silicon Valley Learns to Love Socialism for the Rich". The Nation. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  74. ^ Thomas, Owen (June 14, 2012). "Yammer's CEO Is About To Sell For $1 Billion To Microsoft, And Then Throw Himself An Over-The-Top Ridiculous Party". Business Insider. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
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Interviews

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