David O. Sacks


David Oliver Sacks is an entrepreneur and investor in internet technology firms. He is general partner of Craft Ventures, a venture capital fund he co-founded in late 2017. Previously, Sacks was the founding COO and product leader of PayPal
and Founder/CEO of Yammer. In 2016, he led the turnaround of Zenefits as interim CEO. In 2017, Sacks co-founded Craft Ventures, an early-stage venture fund, and blockchain startup Harbor as an incubation of Craft Ventures. His angel investments include Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, Airbnb and Houzz.

Early life and education

Sacks was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and immigrated to Tennessee with his family when he was 5. Though Sacks didn't know he wanted to be an entrepreneur, he did not want to work a profession like his father, who was an endocrinologist. However, he took inspiration from his grandfather, who started a candy factory in the 1920s.
Sacks graduated from Stanford University in 1994 and the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.

Career

PayPal

In 1999, Sacks left his job as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company to join e-commerce service PayPal. As PayPal's COO and product leader, 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.
During his tenure, PayPal grew payment volume from zero to $500 million/month and revenue from zero to $240 million/year. The company introduced business accounts, and expanded into multiple currencies and over 80 countries.
In February 2002, PayPal went public, it was one of the first IPOs after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The stock rose more than 54% that first day and closed at $20.09. In October 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion.
Sacks is a member of the "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 for the re-emergence of consumer-focused Internet companies after the dot com bust of 2001.

Thank You for Smoking

Following PayPal’s acquisition, Sacks produced and financed the hit movie Thank You For Smoking through his independent production company, Room 9 Entertainment.
Based on Christopher Buckley’s acclaimed 1994 novel of the same title and adapted for the screen by director Jason Reitman, Thank You for Smoking is a satirical look at today's culture of spin. The all-star cast includes Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Sam Elliott, Rob Lowe, Maria Bello, Katie Holmes, Adam Brody, and Robert Duvall.
Thank You for Smoking was nominated for 2 Golden Globes in 2007 for Best Picture and Best Actor in the Comedy/Musical category. The movie also won: Best Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards, Audience Awards at both the Munich and Norwegian Film Festivals, Best First Feature at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, Best Adapted Screenplay at the Washington DC Film Critics Association Awards and the San Diego Film Critics Association Awards, and Top Films of the Year at the New York Film Critics Online.

Geni.com

In 2006, Sacks founded Geni.com, a genealogy website that enables family members to collaboratively build an online family tree. At Geni, he wanted more visibility into what was going on across the organization, so the team created a productivity tool to help employees share information. In 2008, Sacks and co-founder Adam Pisoni spun this internal communications tool into a standalone company called Yammer. Geni was acquired by MyHeritage in 2012.

Yammer

In 2008, Yammer launched the first Enterprise Social Network, a secure solution for internal corporate communication and collaboration, winning the grand prize at TechCrunch50 conference. According to Social Capital, Yammer’s viral approach made it among the fastest-growing Software-as-a-Service 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.
In July 2012, Microsoft acquired Yammer for $1.2 billion as a core part of its cloud/social strategy. As of May 2018, employees at over 90,000 businesses worldwide use Yammer, including 85% of the Fortune 500 and a significant amount of the Global 2000.

Zenefits

In December 2014, Sacks became a shareholder in Zenefits, making a “major investment,” according to VentureBeat. In January 2016, Zenefits’ Board asked him to step in as interim CEO amidst a "regulatory crisis" regarding the company's licensing compliance. Over the next year, Sacks negotiated a resolution with insurance regulators across the U.S. – receiving praise for “righting the ship.” Sacks also revamped Zenefits’ product line with an initiative he named “Z2,” introducing a SaaS business model. Shortly after, PC Magazine would note Zenefits had become “the best HR software on the market.” After a CEO search, Sacks handed the reigns to former Ooyala CEO, Jay Fulcher.

Investor

Sacks has been investing in technology companies for twenty years. As an angel investor, his investments include Addepar, Affirm, Airbnb, Clutter, Eventbrite, Facebook, Gusto, Houzz, Intercom, Mixpanel, Opendoor, Palantir Technologies, PayPal, Postmates, ResearchGate, Scribd, Slack, SpaceX, SurveyMonkey, ThirdLove, Uber and Wish.
In late 2017, Sacks co-founded Craft Ventures. It raised an initial fund of $350 million and has invested in companies including Bird, Bitgo, Cloud9, CloudKitchens, Harbor, Lightning Labs, Multicoin Capital, and SpaceX.

''The Diversity Myth''

In college, Sacks was the co-author – with Peter Thiel – of the 1995 book The Diversity Myth: 'Multiculturalism' and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford, published by The Independent Institute. The book is critical of political correctness in higher education and alleges that it has diluted academic rigor. In 2016, Sacks apologized for parts of the book.

Awards and recognition

Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Sacks immigrated with his family to the United States when he was 5 years old.
Sacks attended Memphis University School in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University in 1994 and received a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1998.
On July 7, 2007, Sacks married Jacqueline Tortorice. The couple has two daughters and one son.

Interviews