Aydin Senkut

Last updated
Aydin Senkut
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBSBA, Questrom School of Business
MBA, Wharton School of Business
MA, University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences
OccupationManaging partner of Felicis Ventures
Known forExecutive, investor

Aydin Senkut is an American investor, serial entrepreneur and executive, who is managing partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Felicis Ventures. Earlier in his career, he was Google's first product manager.

Education and early life

As an undergraduate, Senkut attended Boston University's Questrom School of Business, graduating in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. [1]

Career

After graduating from Questrom, Senkut spent some brief time in Swiss healthcare company Hoffmann-La Roche's finance department, before attending graduate school where he earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, and an MA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts & Sciences. [2] [3] [1] After graduation, he joined high-performance computer manufacturer Silicon Graphics (now SGI) as a business development manager, before going to Google.

Google

In 1999, Senkut joined Google, when the company reportedly only had 62 employees. [4] He served as Google's first product manager, managing the launch of its first 10 international sites, its first online search licensing products and its first SafeSearch. Later as Google's first international sales manager, he was responsible for world-wide licensing deals. [5] He left Google in 2005, after making tens of millions of dollars exercising his stock options after the company's 2004 initial public offering. [4] [6]

Felicis Ventures

After taking some time off to travel, Senkut began getting calls from companies about investing in and advising them, and decided to become a venture capitalist. [7] In 2006, he founded Felicis Ventures. [8] By 2007, with himself as the only employee, he'd already invested in 15 companies, with an average investment of $50,000. [1] [7]

His investment strategy was originally to be a super angel investor, and he changed into a multi-stage investor. [9] [10] Some of his investment successes included exits with fintech firm Credit Karma and real estate marketplace Opendoor, as well as early investments in Shopify and Fitbit. [9]

In 2014, Senkut received media coverage for having Felicis sign a pledge supporting the founders of the companies they invested with, giving up the right to vote against them. [8]

Honors and recognition

From 2016 through 2019, the NY Times named Senkut to its list of the top 20 venture capitalists. [11] [12] [13] [14]

Senkut has been named to Forbes Magazine's Midas List of top investors from 2014 through 2021. [9] [15] [16]

Personal life

Senkut is married to Sonia Arrison and lives in Atherton, California. [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Aydin Senkut". Boston University. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Aydin Senkut". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  3. ↑ "The Top 20 Venture Capitalists". CB Insights. April 1, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "A Post-Google Fraternity of Investors". The NY Times. December 28, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Ex-Google stars Chan, Senkut on teaming up at Felicis, what excites them". Silicon Valley Business Journal. January 21, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Fresh Crop of Investors Grows in Silicon Valley". Wall Street Journal. May 1, 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  7. 1 2 "O Googlers, where art thou? Some employees found instant riches in the Internet search company's initial public offering -- affording them the luxury of pursuing new dreams". SF Gate. January 19, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Venture Capitalists Coddle Entrepreneurs as Royalty". NY Times. August 5, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Aydin Senkut". Forbes. March 31, 2019. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Super Angel' Senkut Raises $40 Million Fund". NY Times. August 16, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  11. ↑ "The Top 20 Venture Capital Investors Worldwide". NY Times. March 13, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Top 20 Venture Capitalists Worldwide". NY Times. March 27, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  13. ↑ "IPO wave is coming, and investors spy a payday". Washington Business Journal. April 16, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ↑ "These Silicon Valley Investors' Bets May Pay Off". NY Times. March 31, 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Forbes Releases 2020 Midas List". Finsmes. April 14, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  16. ↑ "The Midas List". Submit Midas Data. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
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