Mike Droesch is a partner in the Cambridge office primarily focusing on AI applications, cybersecurity, supply chain software, and B2B marketplaces. He currently serves on the board of directors for Tackle, Curri, Raft, Cypress, Netography, Optimal Dynamics, and VendorPM.
Previously, Mike worked with a few venture-backed startups in Boston, including two Bessemer portfolio companies, Fuze and InsightSquared, where he supported sales operations and analytics efforts. He started his career as a systems engineer and then spent nearly three years in management consulting at Navigant, where he helped companies build new businesses around emerging energy and infrastructure technologies in the U.S. and Middle East.
He holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Master’s Degree in naval architecture and engineering from the University of Michigan, and a degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University.
Two of Mike’s earliest passions were building things and competitive sports, which led him to split his time across tinkering in his parents garage and pursuing many sports from an early age, including running, swimming, and lacrosse. He fell in love with engineering early on and followed this passion through his mechanical engineering degree at Tufts, where he also served as captain on the lacrosse team, helping guide them to clinch Tufts University’s first national championship. This experience not only shaped Mike’s college years but also instilled in him the value of teamwork, perseverance, and chasing ambitious goals which are now the same qualities he seeks out and nurtures in the entrepreneurs he partners with today.
After college and grad school, Mike landed his first job as a systems engineer at a naval architecture design firm. He continues to gravitate toward companies with a clear product edge, a strong engineering culture, and a bias for rapid experimentation.
When Mike first encountered Tackle.io in 2019, cloud marketplaces were relatively unknown and considered a very small niche market. But Mike saw potential in Tackle’s strong team, the growing tailwind of public cloud marketplaces going mainstream, and glowing customer feedback on the product —- all of which culminated in his decision to lead Tackle’s seed and Series A rounds. Fast forward to today, Tackle has powered over $10 billion in B2B commerce and become the leading cloud go-to-market platform for growing software businesses.
“Multimodal models are opening up massive new opportunities for Vertical AI applications by powering apps with the human-like senses required to take on most vertical-specific workflows and deliver a mind-blowing customer experience.”
Mike first met Curri’s co-founders Matt and Brian in a brewery that they were using as a makeshift conference room next door to their small office in Ventura, California. This unconventional meeting sparked Mike’s appreciation for founders who challenge startup stereotypes. Matt, Curri’s CEO, exemplifies this with his diverse achievements from being a self-taught musician to spending seven years in Laos running a non-profit before founding Curri. Mike saw these accomplishments and Matt’s commitment to lifelong learning as clear signs of Matt’s ability to lead a successful startup, and led Curri’s Series B in 2021. In partnership with Curri, Mike has been a trusted sounding board to Matt and Brian, and they cite that he has been a seasoned and level-headed thought partner, who has helped them find solutions to all of their tough problems.
Today, Mike focuses predominantly on vertical AI, seeking out opportunities where AI can revolutionize industries that have been largely untouched by technology. He’s particularly excited about AI’s potential to boost productivity, streamline workflows, and supercharge revenue generation in these sectors. For early-stage founders in this space, Mike emphasizes the importance of velocity – shipping products quickly and iterating rapidly to find radical product-market fit.
Running is more than just exercise for Mike — it provides him a much-needed opportunity to disconnect and immerse himself in nature. When he can carve out an hour or two for a long run, you can find Mike hitting the trails by his home, or more likely, pushing a jogging stoller around town with his kids.
ACV Auctions provides a mobile app and web platform that allows car dealers to quickly buy and sell wholesale vehicles through live auctions.
ACV went public in March 2021 (NASDAQ: ACVA).
Cypress.io enables front-end testing for anything that runs in the browser.
Devo unlocks the full value of machine data for the world’s most instrumented enterprises by putting more data to work now.
Okera enables the management of data access and governance at scale for today’s modern heterogeneous data environments.
Okera was acquired by Databricks in May 2023.
Logistics of Logistics Podcast: The Supply Chain Road Map with Mike Droesch
Smart Venture Podcast: Michael Droesch, Bessemer: Fueling AI and B2B Innovation
