VC Bios

Paul Madera

Managing Director/Co-Founder, Meritech Capital Partners

Bio

Paul co-founded Meritech in 1999 and helps lead the firm’s consumer, enterprise and fintech practices.
Prior to co-founding Meritech, Paul was a Managing Director and the Head of the Private Equity Group at Montgomery Securities, where he advised private tech companies on equity financings. He began his career in finance as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley in New York, and prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he served in the US Air Force as an F-4 and F-16 pilot based in South Korea, Spain and Utah.

Paul has been named to the Forbes 'Midas List' multiple times, a recognition given to the world's top tech investors.

Paul holds a B.S. from the United States Air Force Academy and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He currently serves as a trustee of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and on the Board of the U.S. Air Force Academy Foundation. Paul spends his time away from the office cycling across the Bay Area to prepare for ‘century rides.'

Key Quotes

“Cyber superiority is indisputably a key requirement for the Air Force and all the U.S. military services… We are underinvested as a nation and as an Air Force. We grads have an obligation to help prepare our cadets for this battlefield of the future, in whatever manner we can – financial contributions, programmatic suggestions and commercial collaboration if possible – to improve our capabilities.”

“He always knew before the rest of us what Facebook could be… Mark’s vision on the purity of the product really did benefit from his control and ownership. It wasn’t subject to committee decisions. It was all Mark.”