Photo of Byron Deeter, Partner

Byron Deeter

Partner
Redwood City, San Francisco

Biography

Byron Deeter is a leading investor in Cloud and AI at Bessemer Venture Partners. He co-authored Bessemer’s iconic 10 Laws of Cloud Computing, the annual State of the Cloud Report, the Bessemer Forbes Cloud 100, and BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index. Byron works closely alongside many of the best founders in the cloud world, with 26 of Byron’s investments currently valued above $1 billion, including a dozen IPOs and counting.

Byron first raised a Series A with Bessemer back in 2000, as CEO and founder of Trigo Technologies. His company grew to be one of the first global SaaS companies, reaching profitability and was successfully sold to IBM. Byron foresaw that cloud computing would not only change the way people built new technologies but also how The Cloud would systematically run the world. In 2005, Byron returned to Bessemer, this time to help lead the firm’s global cloud practice.

Byron graduated with honors from The University of California, Berkeley, where he met his then college sweetheart and now wife. Byron is a perennial Midas List investor, the Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, and an active board member/advisor to numerous causes including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, Pledge 1% and Cal Rugby. Although he’s a four-time Rugby Collegiate National Champion and serial Ironman finisher, most of his exercise these days comes from trying to keep up with his wife and three children.

Portfolio Highlights

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Getting to know Byron

 

five Cal Berkeley rugby players
Byron with his Cal Rugby teammates

The notebook of dreams

As a kid, Byron disassembled gadgets and toys, eager to understand their inner workings. This inquisitiveness blossomed into a passion for invention and led him to maintain a notebook of product ideas from first grade through his college years. While juggling jobs bagging grocery and hauling lumber, Byron was still able to find the time and energy to start neighborhood businesses in lawn care and house cleaning.

The rugby playbook

Team sports were instrumental in shaping Byron’s character and values. A football player in high school, he pivoted to playing rugby at UC Berkeley. As a freshman, he was on the C team where he lined the fields for the varsity games. Undeterred, he worked his way up to the starting lineup his senior year and ended up winning four national titles over the course of his college career. His experience instilled in him a deep appreciation for teamwork, a relentless work ethic, and Cal Rugby’s ethos for life: “Grateful for everything. Entitled to nothing.”

man and son finishing ironman
Byron and his son after finishing an Ironman.

Powering Peak Performance

Drawing from his experience as a lifelong athlete and former entrepreneur, Byron knows firsthand the vital connection between personal wellness and peak performance. This insight inspired STRIVE, Bessemer’s holistic wellness program that helps entrepreneurs optimize their health, decision-making, and leadership capabilities.

man presenting on stage in front of graph

Betting on the cloud

Byron discovered his passion for venture capital and startups while at McKinsey. Recognizing the Internet’s burgeoning potential, he decided to turn down business school and instead co-found Trigo Technologies in 1999. The company pioneered the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model when it was still a foreign concept to most. Despite widespread skepticism from venture capitalists, Bessemer saw Trigo’s promise and backed its Series A. Under Byron’s leadership as CEO, Trigo was one of the first global cloud companies, achieving profitability before its acquisition by IBM. Byron’s vision for cloud computing came full circle in 2005 when he joined Bessemer to help spearhead their global cloud practice.

Two ceos shaking hands
Sameer Dholakia and Jeff Lawson

Two IPOs, one vision

In 2010, back when many viewed Twilio as merely a tactical solution with a small market, Byron led their early financing. Despite Twilio’s initially shrinking revenue and the widespread industry skepticism, the company was able to scale beyond expectations under the visionary leadership of founder Jeff Lawson. Twilio’s successful IPO in 2016 was a significant milestone in its path to becoming the multi-billion dollar enterprise it is today.

Byron’s interest in developer platforms extended beyond Twilio., In 201, he backed SendGrid. The email platform company, led by then-CEO Sameer Dholakia, mirrored Twilio’s success, going public in 2017 and achieving billion-dollar status. In 2018, Twilio acquired SendGrid, uniting two transformative, multi-billion dollar public companies with two exceptional leaders.

two men sitting in a house talking
Byron with ServiceTitan Co-founder and CEO Ara Mahdessian

Empowering the trades

What captivated Byron about ServiceTitan was the profound personal connection its founders had to the company’s mission. As Armenian Americans whose fathers worked in home services, Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan intimately understood the challenges faced by tradespeople — from predawn starts to late nights dealing with paperwork. Recognizing the potential in a vertical SaaS model for home services, Byron led ServiceTitan’s Series A in 2015, sealing the deal with a handshake and a memorable trip to Glendale for a due diligence session over Armenian BBQ. Nine years later, ServiceTitan supports nearly 12,000 trade customers and has a valuation in the billions.

Portfolio Companies

Indicates Enduring

Adaptive Insights

ACQUIRED BY: WORKDAY
Cloud Enterprise
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Adaptive Insights

Adaptive Insights is the leader in cloud-based corporate performance management. Adaptive Insights was acquired by Workday in August 2018.

ACQUIRED BY: WORKDAY

Investors

Bob Goodman

Founded

2010

Partnered

2013

Roadmaps

Cloud Enterprise

Box

NYSE: BOX
Cloud Enterprise
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Box

Box is a cloud-based enterprise content collaboration platform for people and businesses to share their documents from anywhere and from any device. Box went public in January 2015 (NYSE: BOX).

NYSE: BOX

Investors

Byron Deeter

Founded

2005

Partnered

2011

Roadmaps

Cloud Enterprise

Criteo

NASDAQ: CRTO
Cloud Enterprise
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Criteo

The world leader in personalized retargeting technology for more than 1200 major online retailers worldwide, driving billions of dollars in post-click sales. Criteo went public in October 2013 (NASDAQ: CRTO).

NASDAQ: CRTO

Investors

Byron Deeter

Founded

2005

Partnered

2010

Roadmaps

Cloud Enterprise

Eloqua

ACQUIRED BY: ORACLE
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Eloqua

Eloqua automates the science of marketing. Eloqua went public in August 2012 (NASDAQ: ELOQ) and was then acquired by Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) in December 2012.

ACQUIRED BY: ORACLE

Investors

Byron Deeter

Founded

1999

Partnered

2007

Roadmaps

Gainsight

ACQUIRED BY: VISTA EQUITY PARTNERS
Cloud Enterprise
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Gainsight

Gainsight, the Customer Success company, helps businesses grow faster by reducing churn, increasing upsell, and driving customer advocacy. In November 2020, Gainsight was acquired by Vista Equity Partners.

ACQUIRED BY: VISTA EQUITY PARTNERS

Investors

Byron Deeter

Founded

2009

Partnered

2014

Roadmaps

Cloud Enterprise

HashiCorp

NASDAQ: HCP
Developer Cloud Enterprise
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LaunchDarkly

LaunchDarkly is a feature management platform that enables software teams to build better software faster with less risk by decoupling the deployment of code from the release of features to users.

Investors

Mary D’Onofrio

Founded

2014

Partnered

2019

Roadmaps

Cloud Developer Enterprise

SendGrid

NYSE: SEND / ACQUIRED BY: TWILIO
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SendGrid

SendGrid is a proven, cloud-based customer communication platform that drives engagement and business growth. In 2017, SendGrid went public (NYSE: SEND) and was then acquired by Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) in 2018.

NYSE: SEND / ACQUIRED BY: TWILIO

Investors

Byron Deeter

Founded

2009

Partnered

2012

Roadmaps

Investment Memo

Read the SendGrid memo

Twilio

NYSE: TWLO
Developer Enterprise

Insights & News