What would Soma do? Enduring legacy of Tech icon, S. Somasegar, Managing Director, Madrona Ventures

In this special tribute episode of From Startup to Exit, hosts Shirish Nadkarni and Gowri Shankar reflect on the life, legacy, and enduring impact of their dear friend, S. Somasegar—known to so many simply as “Soma.” A pioneering Microsoft executive, respected venture capitalist at Madrona, mentor, investor, and community builder, Soma touched countless lives across the technology and startup ecosystems.

Joining the conversation are two people who knew him exceptionally well: Tim Porter, Managing Director at Madrona, and Vetri Vellore, serial entrepreneur and founder whose career was shaped by Soma’s guidance over decades. Through personal stories and heartfelt reflections, they paint a portrait of a leader whose greatest gift was not his accomplishments, but his humanity. 

Listeners will hear how Soma’s quiet wisdom, humility, and generosity influenced entrepreneurs, colleagues, founders, and investors alike. Whether mentoring a young engineer, advising a startup founder, or helping shape one of the Pacific Northwest’s most successful venture firms, he approached every interaction with empathy, curiosity, and an unwavering desire to help others succeed. 

Tim Porter shares insights into Soma’s transition from Microsoft to Madrona, his remarkable ability to listen, lead, and bring people together, and the profound role he played in building companies and supporting founders. Vetri Vellore recounts a mentorship that began with a Microsoft interview and evolved into a decades-long friendship that influenced some of the most important decisions of his entrepreneurial journey.   

Above all, this episode is a celebration of a life lived in service to others. Soma’s legacy extends far beyond the companies he helped build or the investments he made. It lives on in the people he encouraged, the founders he believed in, the communities he strengthened, and the example he set through kindness, humility, and generosity. 

Though his passing leaves an immeasurable void, the stories shared in this episode remind us of a simple question that many who knew him now ask themselves: “What would Soma do?” It is a fitting tribute to a man whose influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.

Brought to you by TiE Seattle
Hosts: Shirish Nadkarni and Gowri Shankar
Producers: Minee Verma and Eesha Jain
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@fromstartuptoexitpodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of From Startup to Exit. This one is one that hits Sharish and I very close to our hearts. We lost our close friend Soma Sager last week. We are recording this in the end of May and uh we lost him in the second week of May 2026. Soma uh was an anchor for not only the Thai community but for the entire startup ecosystem of Seattle. But the most important part of my recollection of Soma is uh that he was giving and generous both with his time and his uh mentorship, not only to many of us, but to everybody who sought out and asked him. He had a very long and storied career with Microsoft and then started a second one with Madrona Ventures, making some phenomenal investments. The thing that I mostly remember and I would take to heart to live my life as to what I learned from Soma was always share what you know so that others learn from it. You don't have to teach them anything. They know what to do. And uh you every time you leave somebody, make sure that they are happier when than when they came in. It was uh very uh tragic to hear the news. I'm still processing it. But uh it's very, very difficult for all of us. But uh hopefully we can uh live the way Soma lived and would want us to live our own lives. We are recording uh with two very special guests, Tim Porter, managing director of uh Madrona Ventures. We are also recording another one with Vetri Velor. Vetri is an entrepreneur and Soma invested in his companies, and also Soma and Vetri work together in uh Microsoft. We are looking forward to sharing some of the tributes of those two gentlemen with all of you. But it is a tremendous loss for us, but I'm sure we he is uh in spirit with us every single day and every single minute going forward. Shirish, uh, you've known him for a long time. You were both friends and neighbors of Soma. Please share your thoughts on on this.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

Thank you, Gauri. I've known uh I've known Soma for almost uh 35 years. We joined uh both joined Microsoft, you know, one or two years between us back uh in the late 80s, 1980s, when Microsoft was still a young company. I didn't know Soma uh particularly well uh at that time, but you know, we knew each other socially uh over the years. But I really got to know him uh very well and spent a lot of time with him in around 2010 when I moved with my family to Medina where he was located, and we were literally neighbors and we got to spend a lot of time with each other. We would often go for long walks with his wife and my wife, and we would also, you know, enjoy dinners together. I would pick his brain on uh what was happening at Microsoft when he was still there, and then Madrona, and really enjoyed those conversations because he had deep insights on the uh tech industry and the investing community and so forth. Uh, but the most important thing I remember about him is that he was really an incredible uh human being. He was very humble and very approachable. I know a lot of people in the uh tech community, the Indian community, reached out to him. Uh, oftentimes he would, you know, ask me to help out, you know, with some entrepreneur, you know, advising them and so forth. But he was always a resource. He was he always made time, even though he was clearly very busy at Madrona. And you've seen that in the uh outpouring of condolences on LinkedIn, people sharing how much they, you know, benefit from his expertise, how much time he gave to them. So it's really a tremendous, tremendous loss for the tech community, for the Indian community at large. I still, you know, have not fully processed uh his passing, uh, his memories, his images still come to mind. And it's a really uh a significant loss for our community at large. And all we can do, I guess, at this time is to, you know, follow in his footsteps. Uh, you know, as if you have benefited from Soma or other folks like Soma, then pass on that, you know. Uh once you become somebody who's in a position of expertise, share that expertise with other people. And I think that's the best way to kind of repay the gratitude that all of us have with Soma.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Thank you so much. Thank you very much, and on to our episodes.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Welcome to the Startup to Exit podcast, where we bring you world-class entrepreneurs and VCs to share their hard-earned success stories and secrets. This podcast has been brought to you by Thai Seattle. Thai is a global nonprofit that focuses on fostering entrepreneurship. Thai Seattle offers a range of programs including technology panels, the Thai Entrepreneur Institute, and the Thai Seattle Angel Program. We encourage you to become a Thai member so you can gain access to these programs. To become a member, visit www.seattle.tai.org.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Hello everybody. This is the first of our two interviews for our uh tribute to Soma episode. As uh all of you know, uh he passed away in the middle of May, and uh we are recording this in the end of May 2026. Joining uh Sherish and I today is uh Tim Porter. Uh Tim is managing director of uh at Moderna Ventures. He's a frequent guest of our podcast and uh shares his wisdom and predictions regularly with us. But this one is very personal to all of us, and we thought it was only fitting that Tim share uh with all of you and us uh his relationship with Soma Sega. Tim, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Thanks for having me. I wish it was different circumstances.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

Completely understand. And uh we've lost a great uh great friend, uh a great supporter, and uh most importantly uh an anchor for the Seattle ecosystem. Let's start with your personal relationship with Soma. Where where did you meet him? Was it in Microsoft? Uh kind of take us back a bit in your early part of the Soma relationship for you.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Yeah, it's thanks again. It's uh it's hard to put into words and how big a loss and how big a shock this was, and just how much of a special one-of-a-kind person Soma was to me, to Madrona, to so many people in the community. So we'll we'll talk more about that. I you know, I don't have anything prepared here, so this is a probably raw and and uh you know, I met Soma originally back at Microsoft. I only was there for three years, 2003 to 2006. I worked in Corp Dev, covered server and tools. Soma ran DevDiv as he did for many, many years. We looked at a number of acquisitions that we brought to Soma. So I, you know, it's not like I had a close personal relationship, but he was so obviously respected. And I just immediately really appreciated his style. You know, I think especially you guys know, but especially at Microsoft, you're prone to have, you know, big meetings where you had big personalities talked a lot, um, especially around things like acquisitions because it touched a lot of people. And by time you'd have the meeting, it would be, you know, kind of a sometimes a bit performative. Uh, and Silma was the opposite. You know, the meetings were generally smaller. He listened a lot more than he spoke. And when he spoke, everyone obviously really uh paid attention and took his advice. And even in those early interactions, sort of the the, you know, humility, kindness, uh, and wisdom, you know, came through. And then just even from kind of, you know, I was pretty early in career, it was obvious that people went to him for for feedback and advice. Uh people above him, but on the side of him and below him and and well below him, which also was, I think, fairly stuck out to me as being fairly unique. So in those first few, and you know, limited. And by the way, the things that I went to him for, they were all no's. And so, you know, sometimes when you get no's, it's like, oh, that's not the best experience. Uh but you know, you we ended up at no's, and that was a really good experience just because the way he sort of was listened and thought about things and and came to the right conclusion.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

So that that's uh you know, in the outpouring from the community we've had, even on LinkedIn and other places, right? It's been significant. One of the things that that seems to come out is this uh he was a listener and uh a lot of the time he was empathetic to your position, but was very clear in h in how to move forward. And uh you're you saying that the no's were the no's, but you didn't feel like it was a it was a no. That that's one of the things that struck to me was uh we we would have these meetings. Sri and I met him a few times when when uh Madrona co-hosted Go Vertical with the uh with the at your at your location. And it was always about, you know, making sure that we were getting everything we want out of the doing the doing the effort. And it never felt that uh we were, you know, bother he was we was very busy and we still felt never felt we were bothering him or a any such thing. He was always available for all of us. Now, after his historic uh time with the m with Microsoft, he then joined uh uh you, Matt, and the rest of the team in Madrona. It struck to me in the early days of his tenure there, the first two, three years, he went into a total learning mode, even though he was a extremely accomplished executive at that time when he came to Madrona, he felt like this is a whole new chapter. At least from just from the outside, it felt like a like a learning mode. What were the early days of uh him with you guys at Madrona like? I know you collaborated on a lot on many, many deals. More more nodes in there too. So what was those like?

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah. Oh gosh, those are great comments, Gowrie, that I want to make sure I touch on. Uh the part about always being available is is of is so true that he worked so hard. And you know, you and he made it look easy in terms of when you'd interact, uh, it would be calm, he would have good advice, he would listen, he would make you feel like what you're talking to him about is really important. And he did that with everybody, regardless if you were, you know, the CEO of a public company or if you were, you know, uh an intern. That's was and so that that is really special. And you gotta work really hard to do that, and also have a kind and generous heart to be able to do that. And uh so the Madrona journey, you know, when uh the actually we got reconnected as kind of an interesting connection point via Forrest Key. And Forrest was the founder and CEO, co-founder and CEO of a company called Boutique, which was in the travel tech space. And Forrest had worked in DevDiv. And uh I think Soma was maybe his skip manager, and he had known Soma well. And somewhat separately from that, Akila, Soma's wonderful wife, worked at boutique. And I was on the board of boutique, was one of the first investments that they let me lead uh at at Madrona ultimately was a was a good success. It got bought by Priceline. Um, and after it was bought, by the way, it's the first time I really worked with Steve Singh too, Concurrent invested in boutique and joined the board. So there was like all these different uh, you know, kind of things that turned out to be really impactful even beyond the company. So Forrest and Soma was he was close with their family, and this was after boutique was sold. He Forrest said to me, you know, you should really go talk to Soma. You remember him, of course. I'm like, of course. And I told him a similar story to what I just told you guys about my experience with him, is that he's thinking about, you know, doing something investing. He's interested in VC and uh and he's also you know made a lot of different, you know, angel investments. And so um, you should really talk to him. He's just trying to learn, you know, understand more. And so I met Soma at uh at Queen Bee back then, it was Tully's, you know, there and uh as as was often the habit. And you know, someone's like, look, uh, I've had a blessed career. I've got the best operating job in the world. I would never go do any other operating job or company than Microsoft. But if I ever did anything else, it would be investing. And I've got this passion for that. And it made all kinds of interesting, you know, early stage investments, you know, that he never, he's so humble, he never talked about, but was, you know, really early investor and in a in a bunch of companies that ever Discord, you know, things that people have heard about for sure. And so, like, hey, we should, we should talk. And he's also passionate about Seattle and helping founders and growing businesses. And so uh that was one initial touch point. And then he had others with Madrona, like so Ted Cummer was at you know, Madrona then and is now, and he and Ted were colleagues, they're in NT together, you know. That NT team, by the way, is insane. Talk about Family Tree, all the things that the that NT team wanted to do at Microsoft and beyond is pretty amazing. Uh, another person at Madrona, Saytu Raman, was on that team too. And those three were together in '88, '89 on NT. One of them was building the software, one of them was building the hardware, and the other was testing the software on the hardware. And that was the, you know, those three together. So there were these different connections in Madrona. But of course, then that led to, yeah, he joined and he didn't join as a managing director because we had realized that it's it's smart to, especially somebody coming out of operating role, it's like, see if you like this, like if you really want to be an investor. And um, Soma very quickly realized he liked it, but we really quickly realized we loved him and that he was really good at it. And he did, uh, he's a learner. He's always curious. He's always asks, uh, not just like he cares about you as a person, like how a lot of people in Madrona, we had a really emotional and cathartic session on Monday where everyone shared fun and and fond memories. And uh, one thing that came out a lot in his one-on-ones, he would always ask you, everybody on the team he'd meet with, are you having fun? And he like cared, like that's at the end of the day, you know, are you having fun? And then are you learning? And so he dove in and asked lots of questions. And, you know, I always joke like some has forgotten more about like how to build software and how to serve developers than I'll ever know. But I'd been in VC, you know, for a while. And uh, so we could talk to him about the VC mechanics, you know, aspect of it and deals and different things. So we talked a lot about different things. We worked on some early deals together, and uh, it was really special. The other thing, uh, besides being a learner, is that Soma's we talked about sort of the human mentorship, amazing at that. He's just a great leader broadly. And uh, there are not many people in VC who are great leaders. VC is a little bit of a it's both it's it's a team sport, but it's more of an individual sport in the sense that you know you're working with this company and with that company, and everything is kind of virtual teams as opposed to having a team. We actually take pride in Somo's a big part of this as some as Madrona works together as a team as best we can, and we try to make it a team sport, but there's still an aspect of you know, doing these things and then coming back together. But Somo is he's just good at getting things done and getting other people to, you know, do their best work and to, you know, drive results and to drive uh getting stuff done in ways where that's very collaborative. And so he was a leader in so many ways, you know, at Madrona. He was a leader because he made great investments and they made a lot of money. You know, he and he and Matt, but especially, you know, Soma led our investment in Snowflake, which turned out to be one of the greatest, you know, investments we've made at Madrona and many others. He was uh amazing leader because he had vision, you know, about where you know trends are going, invest where our investment's going. And those those trends in that vision was about the firm and it was about specific companies. He was a leader because of what I mentioned about he could just organize people to get you know things done in ways that a lot of people in our industry aren't as nearly as good at. And and then most importantly, back to where we started, Gary and and Sheerish, he was, you know, he's who everyone went to for advice. Um, just like I think was kind of a version of that at Microsoft. That was my perception at Microsoft. Madrona, I know in that uh so he was really uh, you know, one of the glue, you know, leaders at the firm. And uh everyone respected him. Not that there's lack of respect for others, but he was just, it was special, you know, in that uh everybody in the firm, you know, valued the the time and the wisdom and the kindness that he imparted. And uh there are no there are no silver linings from this, but an inspiration from this is sorry, is uh is what would Selma do and uh try to live your life and your business the way he would. And the outpouring from the community that we're all reading and hearing is uh is a real inspiration of what's important in life and and how to how to live your life.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Yeah. Totally, totally share that with you, Tim. In uh in uh in a gathering we it was held recently for the Thai community, uh, I shared that the meetings I came out after you met him, and then you came out, I felt like I learnt a lot, but he never taught me anything. I mean I was you know that uh i i i it takes a unique person, unique kind of a person to make you think you learned, but you never that means they gave you more than you could take, but you take so much that you forgot to give them back anything. He never said what it was never transactional about those conversations or relationships. They were always long arcs and he felt everybody was in the long arc that he was. That you know, I I I o I completely agree with you. If the inspiration for me is by enabling others you can nourish their soul and therefore you get better as a person. You don't need to take it from them. And that was that was uh that was that was uh Soma. The interesting part is that he had out investments that were not tech. He owned sports teams. I don't know if you know, right? He produced Indian movies. He produced people that yeah, yeah, he produced Indian movies. In fact, the one otherwise. I surprised, but I didn't know that. He he produced uh so uh he produced an Indian movie that was entirely shot in Seattle. Entirely. I mean, it's like there was not a frame that the whole movie was set in Seattle, the story was set in Seattle, and the movie was shot in Seattle. There was nothing. He he was the driving force behind making he was such a big movie buff. It was it's it's crazy. And yeah, we all knew that he was interested in movies when he said I'm producing. I'm like, what? No. I mean, I can see owning a sports team. Producing a movie, that's a whole nother stretch, right? That's so and yeah, it was very fun. I mean, you know, Sherish and I were talking. Sharish, you went on long walks with him because you were his neighbor in Medina, right?

SPEAKER_05 19:03

I don't know if you know that 10. We were right off opposite each other in Medina.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Yeah. So Sherish and him went on long walks, especially the COVID days, right? You could go nowhere. And uh the the thing that struck me even recently, I was trying to connect with him. He says, I'm going to Europe. And I said, Soma, you travel like you're you're like the the first guy, sales guy of a of SaaS startup. Like, you know, are you a million miler? He says, I am. I didn't know VCs travel as much as Soma did. I just did, you know, it's like VCs, you know, they they like to stream.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

He worked so hard. I mean, he was kind of famously not an early morning person, you would expect, but yet, and we heard all these, he would always be up. You know, he's like, Soma, you say you don't like the morning, but yet you're responding, you're available, you know, and and then he he was you know, often the last one off email, you know, the you know, at night, and it was back on in the morning and just uh just was was nonstop, but yet to never seem frazzled, right? It was sort of always had this this cal this calm demeanor. Um yeah, it's crazy. I mean, I literally probably you know emailed or talked to him every day for 10 years.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

And uh that's that's just it's wild. Yeah, it's it's uh you know, uh obviously his wife Akeelah and his two daughters, right? The it's it's hard to even process what they're going through, but that's something that uh Shiries and I were talking about. The whole family kind of was just I mean, they're even in uh personal settings when when I meet him, that's nothing to do with investments or tech or anything like that. I it wasn't like you know, there were two so much. It was still the same loving, kind, giving uh person.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

I mean, to me our hearts I should say, I mean, our hearts with their family most of all. And Akeela's just a beautiful person, so loving. They hosted different sets of us in in their home for for meals and events and even off sites. And I know the their daughter, Archina, a bit. She's a founder. She's working on a really cool company in a customer success space. Their daughter Sahana is an amazing, accomplished physician. I d I don't know her as well. His I got met his mother for the first time. It's just a beautiful, extended family, which should keep in our hearts and minds first and foremost.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

I agree. It's uh it's uh that that's uh yeah, that's that that's been the most difficult among all of that. The the the the thing that I uh since you worked with him very closely, Tim, for 10 years, like you just mentioned, right? And you collaborated, I'm sure, on many, many things, both investments you made and the investments you didn't make. I'm sure that there were good reasons for all of those. But uh you touched on his collaboration style, right? And uh as an entrepreneur and uh now as an investor and you having played that role, that's the hardest part for an entrepreneur, right? To to collaborate with the with a VC investor who fights for you as much as you fight for your own company. I mean that that's the it's a repeat that I hear from entrepreneurs. I've not directly yet talked to Vijay Raji at Statsig, who, you know, the one of the latest uh you know success stories to come out of Madrona, which uh I think so my relationship with Vijay prior to uh or in Microsoft, etc. And that's gotta be the that's gotta be the most important testimonial for if if there was a if there was a big billboard for VCs for all the stuff that we don't get Soma would be the the star of that billboard saying no we look out for you. People don't believe that but you know that that's a part of it that that makes me think it's uh unbelievable. But see the the biggest I feel is which you could touch on is Madrona has been the longest and the most the biggest anchor and now and Soma having come from Microsoft the other big anchor to you guys i i it felt like it was the all-star team when he joined and not because Madrona wasn't great by then I'm just saying it added something more to that to that thing. If you could just kind of w you know kind of talk a little bit about the good times of when you did not invest in something. That you felt good. Okay I it's okay to not invest even though the company might have done well later on.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

On the uh you touched earlier on his style where you what you know it wouldn't be transactional and he would give you the right advice but he would do it in a way that wasn't prescriptive and you know he'd sort of like ask you questions, could do it without kind of lead you to the right answer. Like that's a skip it's it's really hard to like know what to do and what advice to give someone and then it's even harder to like get them to realize it without actually telling it to them which he had a real art for and not to say he wasn't direct, you know he could also be direct on you know here's what I think and in a respectful like let's talk about it kind of way. You know, one of the things I was on on your question on what did we say no to Soma always was very uh good at orienting around like could this be really big? And you know sometimes if if a company said it's at a brand new market, you know, is the existing market X, but then we think you're gonna go to Y and Z, you know, adjacent markets and like obviously nobody is here you know wants to invest in something they think is small, you know, but there's different sort of paths. And he was good at orienting around, you know, is this could this be big enough and are we aiming big enough? And it does, you know, just so you could say no, it's not going to be because it's a bad business that a founder's not going to do great, but is that fit what our investment purview is and you know how do we try to return you know 10 X on you know a $775 million fund. You got to look for big outcomes, take big swings. And so he was good at orienting you know us around that. So I would say when we said no or when he led us to say no, it was probably one of two things. One, this, you know, just not we don't have conviction this could be a big enough opportunity or hey this is fine, but we could there are even bigger opportunities that we could be spending our time on. And then you know are we backing the right teams and it's usually and it's not like hey this team's quote not good enough or something like that. Because again he made saw sort of the best in like all people but is this the right team for this opportunity? Is this the right founder market fit that they can really take this and in and realize that big opportunity that's ahead of them good at keeping us oriented on those because sometimes it's easy and I you know I'm a numbers guy for you for instance you can get down into the weeds on something and you know lead you to some like you know this conclusion he's good at sort of like backing back up and like asking those two questions along with others and uh and helping us get to the to the right answer.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yeah. Sharish you have anything more to add share?

SPEAKER_05 25:58

Yeah as I mentioned uh Tim you know um so and I uh joined Microsoft around the same time in the late 80s. I knew him uh you know somewhat socially uh but really got to know him well uh in starting 2010 when we moved to Medina and it just happened to be neighbors and we would often uh you know get together Soma Akira and my wife Mona go for long walks or have dinner and I you know it was great to I I would pick his brain all the time you know like learning about investing what's going on in Madrona as well as the tech industry and he had you know very uh you know um sound kind of uh analysis of what is going on and so forth so I really appreciate the time that he uh spent with us. I also know that a lot of people came to him for advice and sometimes he would turn to me and say hey you know this entrepreneur needs help or whatever. So uh he's al he was always you know available to talk to someone and despite being a very busy uh person. So yeah it's uh it was a real real shock you know to hear the news and uh still can't get over it honestly very hard to uh get over that but thanks so much for sharing your uh you know your you know your your remembrances and memories of him and uh it's gratifying to know that he made a big impact uh both on Madrona as well as the tech community at large. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah it's I appreciate it. It's humbling to try to put it into words and I'm I'm sure I left out important things and didn't do it and him justice but it's it's wonderful to to be just one of the many, many people that he had a really big positive impact on and and to be able to share some of those thoughts and stories with you both. So thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 27:41

Yeah hello everyone in this segment we'll be interviewing uh Betri Belor Betri uh is a uh very successful serial entrepreneur he has started three different companies two of which uh have had very successful exits he was a close friend of Soma and we invited him today to share his memories and remembrance of Soma so welcome Betri thanks Harish thanks Claudi thank you so uh Betri uh you known uh you know Soma for a very long time uh I understand that uh he was in fact somebody who interviewed you for your job at Microsoft perhaps you can go back to that time and talk about your interaction with Soma especially when you were at Microsoft when he was you I I guess you worked for him for some period of time.

SPEAKER_04 28:30

So share with us your memories of Soma when you were at Microsoft I mean the association in some ways started even before Sarish we went to the same school back in India but uh by the time I went to the school he had already graduated I think he just had graduated when I entered the school I didn't know that and at Microsoft uh one of the interviews was a lunch interview at least back then and so he took me for that lunch did the lunch interview and I that's when I learned we had gone to the same school which was a pleasant surprise and I was really surprised I mean right away I almost everyone who has met Swamal tell you this you were you're struck by his warmth right about how much empathy he has in a situation particularly in interview situation it was amazing. I really enjoyed the conversation opening us about the good and the bad of actually working at Microsoft at that time and uh then we went back to his office after lunch and I thought he asked me a really really tough problem which I enjoyed solving. I said this is very intellectually stimulating too right and uh I just left that conversation feeling very very good about him and the company got it okay and then you said you joined the developer division right that's right I joined I didn't quite join his team at that time I had an offer from another team at Microsoft. I don't know how it worked so until another team made an offer I joined that team which was adjacent to his team and I managed to stay in touch with him there have been many many times throughout my tenure at Microsoft where I've actually just reached out to him for advice and it's been I was just amazed by how he was so busy and was always still willing to make time. There I vividly remember a time where I dropped him a note like at late in the evening one of those days and I said this is a situation I'm in I can use some help on which way to go here and it was a time sensitive thing and he made the time I had just come back from India and we met with him next day morning at 7 30 a.m in his office I was just amazed by how far and over time those all those moments cumulatively changed my career and the impact he has had on my life too. I used to even pick his brain on which school my kids should go to and so on. But uh and then much later on maybe 10 years later he was I worked in his team as well I was in Visual Studio and he became the corporate vice president of Visual Studio and uh I could see how he was driving the organization. I could see him from a different perspective and uh that made me admire him even more.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

So he's been like a mentor for you for a long period of time right? Yes you talk to him when you uh started your first company did you seek his advice then?

SPEAKER_04 31:12

I did talk to him when I was deciding on leaving Microsoft to do the the first startup yeah I did talk to him I at that time there are not too many people leaving Microsoft to do startups you are one of the few people at that time Sarish I talked to you as well and it was uh yeah I did ask for his guidance which was very very helpful right I I would say though at that time he had himself been at Microsoft sport career so he was a bigger proponent of me staying at Microsoft.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

Right, right got it got it and then so that was Tronos your first company which you successfully exited from and then you started your next company which was Ally which was in the uh OKR space and eventually Soma and Madrona decided to invest uh in the company which would have been uh so what was he on your board at that time or he was a board observer towards the end of the ally journey actually when I decided to raise money for Ally I reached out to Soma and Madrona first.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

They would have and uh for various reasons including other investments they had at that time and stuff they did not invest in the C tround and of course we went on to raise money from others but in Series C I believe that you were they were able to come back the situation has changed enough that they invested in our series C which is amazing. Madonna typically doesn't do that right they don't come in very late and they were willing to uh join and Soma was a board observer and uh in fact I remember telling everyone I don't know who's our board member and who's observer because he was so well prepared when you come to board meetings he'll contribute so much he was so involved in helping us that's great yeah and then you had an offer from Microsoft to buy the company at a very attractive price and and uh Madrona just invested in the company uh so you decided that you wanted to be acquired go ahead with the acquisition from Microsoft was a great opportunity for you but it would have meant a small profit for Madrona because they had just invested in the company.

SPEAKER_05 33:17

How did he support you in that process?

SPEAKER_04 33:21

Great question. I I I mean to be honest when Microsoft first reached out to Rhythm Ally I myself was not terribly keen on going through the acquisition I we th I thought we could be great partners for them. And eventually through the process of conversations when we understood what Microsoft leaders saw in Ally it was it became clear to me the opportunity to grow through Microsoft network was much bigger. So Ally could have a much bigger impact. He was involved in all those conversations as I was going through my thinking the initial no's and then eventually to maybe an NS it was not like he was surprised by me going through the journey we managed to stay close and he was very helpful throughout that my U-turns and and all the other degrees that was amazing. And when we eventually sold or I made the decision that I would like the company to be part of Microsoft two things um I would say one is Soma was he understood the situation very well and I was also able to explain to him from IRR perspective within a few months it's a substantial IRR perspective it has a very very good very attractive exit. But we did have some good conversations I think uh Madrona obviously since they came they went to CDC and this happened soon after CDC was not 100% keen uh from their perspective the company is getting acquired so soon but uh and so man we had very very good conversations about it right and it was never about what is just right for Microsoft it was always about also what's right for ally right how these are intertwined for something. But eventually I think he was he understood where I was coming from and was not just about a financial acquisition or outcome. It is about the opportunity to take ally to the next level of impact and uh I think we started seeing things in that way and he was very supportive.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

That's great. I mean it's uh it's it you know obviously uh you know they have their own objectives and MPs to uh to address and and uh you know their requirements may be different from your requirements as an entrepreneur. So it's it's great that he you know was supportive of you of you throughout that discussion.

SPEAKER_04 35:36

Exactly I don't know how many board members you can actually as a CEO talk to when you are going through your trials and tribulations, right? You are trying to actually think through this and every day you're changing your mind about how we should how we should approach it, right? And uh so it was uh great to have someone like him by your side as you're going through that whole process. And I think the eventual decision also reflects in my personal opinion on Soma as an amazing person but also Madrona. Right I think they have this ethos where they are generally supportive of invest uh their the companies they invest in at the CEOs. I think that was also something that I think he just imbibed that culture. Of course he being him this was the right way for him to support someone those two came together.

SPEAKER_05 36:19

Right and then after that you were at Microsoft for some period of time and then eventually decided to do your third company Rhythms and that's where they were now a seed investor. They had already seen you in action they were very impressed with what you had achieved.

SPEAKER_04 36:34

So tell us more about that discussion with Soma again just like with Ally when I was thinking thinking about doing rhythms I reached out to Soma and I was just asking for its guidance because it'll be the second time I leaving I'd be leaving Microsoft to do a startup and as I think about this thug I was feeling in my heart I was talking to him about should I what should I do? I felt like Ally was well settled inside Microsoft. The team was integrated the product was integrated of course I can do more or should I actually listen to this thug and go do this next thing and so I actually he knew that I was thinking about it even before I was I I jumped I took the plunge and then when we this I just took the plunge he knew enough about this idea in some ways what I'm trying to do with the rhythms Shrish you know this Gauri you know this as well it's a continuation of the vision I had with Ally right Ally as a product of course was a different product but the vision I always had was hey how can we actually enable organization to operate effectively and scale without limits scale without overhead and uh so he intuitively understood what I was trying to do. I mean I didn't when I my first few conversations with Madrona and him I didn't have a pitch tech at all but since they knew the background and where I was coming from these conversations are very simple and easy. One of the things and he was hugely supportive right uh again it was but one we did run into one obstacle that I didn't think Madrona will be able to overcome I was trying to raise a larger C Drome than typically done at least in Pacific Northwest and and and uh which is not typical of Madrona that size of CROM uh but I was just amazed when Madrona stepped in uh Soma convinced the rest of the partners I believe to actually take this between and I that actually was my delight and surprise I wasn't sure until it happened that it could happen mainly because C Drone was larger than what Madrona typically does.

SPEAKER_05 38:30

Right. Great uh and then uh Soma in this case he joined as a full board member uh so I was uh maybe you can share some of the stories around uh what is that like and what kind of interaction you had with them.

SPEAKER_04 38:43

Yeah it it again the the person doesn't change right I mean he might have been a mentor or a friend or a board observer or a board member. I felt like nothing honestly changed. Right. Of course in an early stage company there's only so much governance as well right and we are an early stage company and so I actually continued to see him in the same light right I for me nothing had changed personally. He was as helpful as he has ever been what surprised me was that that he had already seen so many patterns been on the VC side and he was genuinely helpful. At the same time he was willing to he understood that the founders need to be given enough room to operate and he was able to strike the balance very very very well that amazed me. I I don't know why it surprised me but I still think that's not very common with most VCs and he I thought did a masterful job at that so as you've seen um you know there's been an outpouring of of uh you know posts and condolences on on LinkedIn he's clearly touched a lot of people uh were you surprised by that or something that you think no I haven't given his personality I I think there are two things in my opinion right I I mean I I'm we are all at the age where we have grieved right I mean we I lost my parents both of my parents we had gone through this process and I was very sad and that caught myself I got myself I was surprised by that myself and my kids were surprised right and what I realized was there is two things one is the shock was a key factor for me right and wow I just met with them like two days before or something right talking about all kinds of topics and that afternoon I was going to meet with them again at 6 p.m so the shock of it was like I just couldn't believe it when I first heard it right and the next day it hit me really hard right and I there were only few I and I was generally moved. I was crying right and I just couldn't and the second part I think is because of truly a great person right I mean there are very few people who have the bomb and the business acumen right to to and bring that together to be effective and still retain the bomb and I thought wow there's just so many lives we have touched and is no more right and uh that made me really sad.

SPEAKER_03 41:05

Yeah all right thank you so much for sharing your uh remembrances uh you know I've I had very similar interactions uh with Soma and Nissan dearly Gauri you had any final thoughts questions no Vetri thank you for sharing uh your journey with Soma with us and our audience I think it's the community the ecosystem the look Seattle and the world has truly lost a great human being and it comes out in the way he he touched your life and so many other lives so thank you for sharing that with with all of us. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

Thank you Gori thank you for listening to our podcast from Startup Exit brought to you by Tai Seattle. Assisting in production today are Isha Jain and Mini Varma. Please subscribe to our podcast and rate our podcast wherever you listen to them. Hope you enjoyed it