Michael Wolfe Founder Coaching

My Story

I started my career at Stanford, where I got a BS and MS in Computer Science in 1991, with a focus on artificial intelligence. I was a teaching assistant or lecturer for four years, including running the legendary CS198 program. I worked for startups over the summer.I then worked for Goldman, Sachs in New York and London, building derivative trading systems. I loved the thrill of working elbow-to-elbow with the users of my products.I came back to San Francisco in 1994 and joined I/PRO as the first employee and Director of Engineering. I/PRO was the world's first web analytics company and may have been the world's first SaaS product. I/PRO was acquired by Engage in 1998.1996-2001: I was the first Hire and CTO at Kana, the first Web contact center company. In four years we grew to $150M revenue, acquired four companies, and reached a $15 billion market cap on NASDAQ.
2003-2009: I co-founded Vontu. We pioneered the Data Loss Prevention market, growing to $50M in revenue and a $350 million acquisition by Symantec in 2007. I joined Symantec as the CTO of the Enterprise Product Group, focusing on launching the DLP business globally and merger integration.
2011-2013: I founded Pipewise, a CRM platform for subscription businesses. I shut the company down after we failed to reach product/market fit and took a much-needed two-year sabbatical.
2015-2024: I co-founded Gladly, an AI-powered customer service platform for retailers. Gladly has raised over $200 million and powers customer service for leading brands like Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, Ulta, REI, and Warby Parker. I retired from Gladly at the end of 2024.\