Michael Baum

In the world of technology startups and venture capital, Michael Baum has accumulated an impressive list of achievements. As founding CEO of Splunk, Michael conceived and developed a new approach to IT data management that streamlined the collection, search and analytics capabilities for infrastructure information. The new approach set the industry standard, resulted in lower operating costs, lower security risks and a new higher degree of operational intelligence. Under his leadership, Splunk became one of the fastest-growing private companies in Silicon Valley, experiencing 100 percent-plus growth for six straight years reaching $50M in sales. Michael recruited a talented global team of 175 employees, and more than 2,000 government agency, service provider, and enterprise customers around the world. In addition, industry partners such as Cisco Systems, Inc., F5 Networks, Inc., and Salesforce.com, Inc. have integrated the Splunk technology into their own services and products. At Advent International Michael managed investments for NTT, Toshiba America, Inc., Thomson Reuters, and other corporate venture capital funds. As founder and CEO of 280, he created an application server for collaborative Web services. Serving as a Vice President of e-Commerce at Infoseek in Sunnyvale, California, he created and marketed GO.com's e-Commerce business, and grew it to more than $20M in sales. At Prism Venture Partners, Michael originated and managed startup projects related to infrastructure and Internet technologies, including Softricity, acquired by Microsoft Corporation; and Collation, acquired by IBM. Michael Baum shares his expertise with a number of startups and technology-driven ventures as a Board Member and Advisor. Such companies include Loggly, a log management cloud provider; TrackSimple, Inc., SaaS analytics for digital marketers; and Delfigo Security, an authentication platform that reduces online fraud through multi-factor authentication. He also serves in an advisory capacity at Mu Dynamics, which tests NGN and cloud-based services; and Veloxum, a continuous optimization solution for VMware, Citrix and other virtualized IT environments. Following his graduation from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he earned a B.S. in Computer Science, Michael Baum completed his M.B.A. at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Active in his community, he serves on the Board of Directors of the Ross School Foundation and holds membership on the Town of Ross Citizen Oversight Committee. A sports enthusiast, Michael Baum enjoys biking and snowboarding and international travel.

 

Ross School Foundation

Board Member

 

2010 — Present

Responsible for annual fundraising campaign financing 33% of K-8 school budget.

 

 

2003 — 2009

Position: Splunk Inc.

CEO, Chief Business Development Officer & Founder

 

We started Splunk with an ambition to assist humans in the battle against increasing IT complexity and the onslaught of machine generated data. With the centralized management of IT data, infrastructure and application management costs can be reduced by up to 80% and security and compliance mandates can be achieved quickly and cost effectively. As founding CEO, I built a diverse and insanely passionate team that quickly scaled Splunk from a geeky idea to one of the fastest growing private companies in Silicon Valley. Over seven years we raised M in funding, recruited a global team of more than 200 employees and developed and executed a game changing approach to IT management and enterprise marketing and sales -- achieving six straight years of 100%+ growth. Splunk is the industry standard for IT data management with more than 500,000 users and more than 2,000 enterprise, service provider and government agency customers around the world. Leading industry partners like BT, Cisco, F5, Salesforce.com and Verizon Business have integrated Splunk into their own products and services. In 2008 the company won the award for Deloitte's fastest growing rising stars in Silicon Valley and was recognized as one of the top places to work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Times. The company is backed by August Capital, Seven Rosen Funds, JK&B Capital and Ignition Partners.

 

1980 — 1985

Education: Drexel University

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

 

 

 

1987 — 1989

Education: University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

Marketing & Finance

MBA

 

 

Community Service:

Town of Ross Citizen Oversight Committee

 

Charities:

Ross School Foundation Board Member

 

Hobbies / Activities:

Biking, Snowboarding, Traveling

 

Groups / Organizations:

Internet Interop

Splunk : Michael Baum Interview for Best of Interop
Tech TV interviews Michael Baum, CEO of Splunk for Best of Interop Award

Splunk's Michael Baum Speaks Exclusively to Jeremy Geelan
Chief Executive Splunker Baum is also a co-founder of Collation, acquired by IBM's Tivoli Group and Arthas, acquired by Yahoo!

Michael Baum on Quora

Michael Baum on LinkedIn