David Cowan

Partner

Redwood City, San Francisco

Roadmaps

David Cowan is one of the world’s leading investors, having funded Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds that led to over 30 IPOs. David was ranked sixth on the Midas List and tied for fourth in the Midas List of Hall of Fame.

Based in our Silicon Valley office, David launched Bessemer's practices in cloud, cybersecurity, consumer internet, gaming, space, and quantum computing. Known for taking chances on the unorthodox, David’s early stage bets include Twitch (acquired by Amazon), Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), and Skybox Imaging (acquired by Google).

David has co-founded three cybersecurity companies incubated within Bessemer’s offices: VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), serving as initial Chairman and CFO; Good Technology (fka Visto, acquired by Blackberry) serving as CEO; and Defense.net (acquired by F5).

He earned an AB in computer science / mathematics and an MBA, both from Harvard University. Today he serves on several non-profit boards including the Center for Inquiry and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is the co-writer of the Silicon Valley mockumentary series “Bubbleproof,” and producer of the award-winning MTV Documentary film “Afghan Dreamers.”

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Getting to know David

First lessons in entrepreneurship

David’s pursuit of entrepreneurship started early. In high school, he noticed that the staff at his father’s law firm were handwriting labels for the magazines in their library. Seeing an opportunity, he went home and developed software on his PC to automate this process, creating pre-printed labels to streamline magazine circulation. This led David to found Data Route and started selling his software to other law and private libraries like Davis Polk and the Federal Reserve. The earnings from this endeavor allowed him to pay for college. But there were bumps along the way. Because he’d never run a software business before, he provided free upgrades and maintenance, and had to make repeated trips from college back to New York to provide customer service. After graduation, he sold Data Route to his friend Brad Feld, a fellow entrepreneur who went on to co-found Techstars and Foundry.

Securing the Internet

In 1995, a poker game conversation with MIT professor Ron Rivest — a pioneer in public key cryptography — inspired David to start a company that would end up revolutionizing internet security. While also working as an investor at Bessemer, David founded Verisign to stand up the internet’s first certificate authority. Despite the unconventional business model of “selling integers,” David was able to convince Bessemer to invest in his startup. This paid off when Netscape agreed to include Versign’s public key in their browser in exchange for one percent equity. Verisign introduced the iconic lock symbol that universally signals an encrypted browser session and paved the way for secure internet commerce as we know it today.

Betting on moonshots

David’s investment philosophy is to back early stage companies with moonshot ideas that have the potential to change the world. This approach led him to invest in deep tech companies such as Rocket Lab, a New Zealand-based startup aiming to launch payload rockets into space. It’s a goal that many industry experts dismissed as impossible to achieve for a team of young, inexperienced aerospace engineers. But David believed in CEO Peter Beck’s vision all the way back in 2014, and since their first successful launch in 2017, Rocket Lab has become a workhorse for delivering satellites that impact global communications, agriculture, and climate studies today. Beyond Earth’s orbit, Rocket Lab has built and/or delivered NASA payloads to the Moon, Venus and Mars.

men laughing onstage in an interview — David with Michael Fertik

Bubbleproof

David has always been up for a creative challenge, and that’s how he partnered up with entrepreneur and friend Michael Fertik to co-create “Bubbleproof,” a 10-episode mockumentary web series that playfully satirizes the Silicon Valley universe of VCs and entrepreneurs. Featuring real investors playing exaggerated versions of themselves, the series pokes fun at vanities and insecurities in the tech industry.

Man and woman standing in front of step and repeat at woodstock film festival — David with Somaya Faruqi

Empowering through film

After creating “Bubbleproof,” David discovered a passion for filmmaking that led him to make documentaries as a way to bring awareness and understanding to disenfranchised groups. His 2022 film Afghan Dreamers, now an MTV Documentary streaming on Paramount Plus, tells the story of a group of high school girls who secretly formed a robotics team in Afghanistan in defiance of Taliban prohibition of educating girls. These young innovators were willing to defy societal norms to follow their passions, and, as a result, ended up competing internationally and demonstrating that girls can become scientists and engineers.

When the Taliban invaded Afghanistan in August 2021, David personally orchestrated the evacuations of the team members and their families, as well as hundreds of other Afghans. In the face of a worsening crisis in Afghanistan, David continues to support humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.

Portfolio Companies

Indicates Enduring

Auth0

ACQUIRED BY: OKTA

Cloud Cybersecurity Developer

Auth0

Auth0 operates a cloud based identity platform for developers.

Auth0 was acquired by Okta for $6.5 billion in 2021.

ACQUIRED BY: OKTA

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Investors

David Cowan

Founded

2013

Partnered

2015

Roadmaps

Cloud Cybersecurity Developer

Articles

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10 product-led growth principles

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State of the Cloud 2022

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Cybersecurity startup trends of 2022

Investment Memo

Read the Auth0 Series A memo

Auterion

AI & ML Deep tech Enterprise