Rob Ward
Co-Founder & General Partner·Meritech Capital Partners
Bio
Professional summary
Rob Ward co-founded Meritech in 1999 and focuses on infrastructure, application software, and data and analytics. His official profile lists current investments including Astronomer, Atlan, Aviatrix, DataRobot, Pendo, Pigment, Verkada, and YugabyteDB. His historical portfolio includes companies such as Anaplan, Cloudera, Duo Security, Fortinet, Looker, NetSuite, Snowflake, Tableau, and Proofpoint. Before Meritech, he worked at Montgomery Securities and Smith Barney, and he has been named to the Forbes Midas List multiple times.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
Sector
Thesis
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Lead with a technically differentiated enterprise infrastructure, analytics, or application software thesis, supported by evidence of durable platform potential and strong adoption among sophisticated customers.
Partneralization hooks
- 1Reference his stated focus on infrastructure, application software, and data and analytics.
- 2Frame the company in relation to durable data and infrastructure outcomes like Snowflake, Tableau, Looker, Cloudera, or Segment.
- 3For data-stack founders, connect the pitch to current holdings such as Astronomer, Atlan, DataRobot, Pigment, or YugabyteDB.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
Official profile lists current investments in data, infrastructure, and enterprise platforms such as Astronomer, Atlan, DataRobot, Pigment, Verkada, and YugabyteDB.
His historical portfolio includes multiple large infrastructure and analytics outcomes, including Snowflake, Tableau, Cloudera, Looker, and Segment.
Other partners at Meritech Capital Partners
10 more profiles
Alex Clayton
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Alex Clayton is a general partner at Meritech Capital who helps lead the firm’s enterprise software, infrastructure, and fintech practices.
Alex Kurland
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Alex Kurland is a general partner at Meritech Capital who helps lead enterprise software and infrastructure investing.
Arsham Memarzadeh
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Arsham Memarzadeh is a general partner at Meritech Capital who helps lead enterprise software and infrastructure investments.
Austin Wang
Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Meritech Partner focused on enterprise software, infrastructure, healthcare, and consumer.
Cathy Choi
Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Meritech Partner focused on enterprise and infrastructure software.
Craig Sherman
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Craig Sherman is a general partner at Meritech Capital investing in consumer and healthcare companies.
George Bischof
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
George Bischof is a General Partner at Meritech Capital Partners, where he helps lead the firm’s enterprise software, infrastructure, and cybersecurity practices. He joined Meritech in 2008 after roles at Focus Ventures and Robertson Stephens.
Max Motschwiller
General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Max Motschwiller is a General Partner at Meritech Capital Partners, where he helps lead the firm’s consumer, fintech, and enterprise software practices. He joined Meritech in 2015 after investing roles at Kleiner Perkins and Summit Partners.
Paul Madera
Co-Founder & General Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Paul Madera is Co-Founder and General Partner at Meritech Capital, where he helps lead consumer, enterprise, and fintech practices.
Tanner Bhonslay
Partner
Meritech Capital Partners
Meritech Partner investing in enterprise software, infrastructure, fintech, and consumer.