Looking for the next big thing

“I was so impatient when I got out of business school,” says Pete Sonsini ’96 MBA. “You want to just change the world immediately, but sometimes you have to take your time.”

Sonsini has always seen life through an accelerated lens. Just five years after earning his MBA, he became senior director of strategic alliances at VMware, later forging a major deal with IBM. 

  “What makes Pete successful is that he’s got a unique plan,” says Raghu Raghuram, managing partner of Andreessen Horowitz. “He’s able to truly understand the technology, how to create business value and how to work with people.”

In 2005, Sonsini became head of software investing at New Enterprise Associates, where his job was manufacturing change. He focused on early-stage technology companies: Conviva, Anyscale, Instabase, Databricks. An early investor in artificial intelligence, Sonsini led Perplexity’s Series A funding round in 2023. His efforts aren’t surface-level: He dives in deep, learning and trying to support the possibility inherent in each project. 

Pete kind of stuck out his neck and invested in us when no one else wanted to. He inspired us, and we modeled ourselves after him.

In 2014, he became a board member of cloud-based data engineering company Databricks, whose technology would later be sought after by companies including Salesforce, Amazon and Microsoft. Sonsini came in early, though, when everything was still fresh and untested. “I invested in Databricks before they had any software revenue,” he recalls. “They went out to raise money, and it was a challenging fundraise.”

That might undersell it: Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks, says that in 2015 the company “almost crashed and burned.”

“ Pete kind of stuck out his neck and invested in us when no one else wanted to,” says Ghodsi. That effort saved Databricks, and Sonsini’s continued personal effort helped create new potential for the company. Ghodsi says this energy is what makes Sonsini a valuable individual in the world of venture capital. “He inspired us, and we modeled ourselves after him.”

“He’s the sort of investor who always has your back,” says Andy Konwinski, who in 2024 co-founded Laude Ventures — an early-stage firm investing in deeply technical entrepreneurs — with Sonsini.

“We talked about building a very focused firm investing in deeply technical research-driven entrepreneurs,” says Sonsini. “That’s where I can add the most value.”

Looking back, Ghodsi says that’s what makes Sonsini stand out: It’s never been just about the capital. “He really supported, mentored and stood by his founders,” Ghodsi says. “He does that in a way that almost no other investor does.”

Sonsini’s daughter, Louisa Sonsini ’26, agrees. “Throughout his life, he’s always really valued the people that he works with,” she says.

Earlier this year, Sonsini received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award, which honors Kellogg alumni who have made significant investments in shaping the school’s strategy, culture and brand. Beyond their work in support of Kellogg, recipients have demonstrated how to effectively lead organizations.

Looking back, Sonsini reflects that he has always positioned himself for the next big thing. “I was hopeful that I’d be able to have a hand in some really awesome things and play a small part in being able to build them,” he says. “I didn’t fully appreciate that I would get so much fulfillment out of teaming up with entrepreneurs and encouraging them to take risks to do great things.”