Michael Lazerow General Information

Description

Mr. Michael Lazerow is the Founder and Investor at Lazerow Ventures. He also is a Co-Founder and serves as a Managing Director & Partner at Velvet Sea Ventures. He is the Founder of L3 investment fund. He serves as Board Member at Elementus, The Odyssey, Pixel Vault, KarmaCheck, and Mercato. He is a Co-Founder & serves as Board Member at SuperF3st. He is an Angel Investor. He was a Board Member of MapAnything. He is a serial entrepreneur, investor, writer, and painter best known as the founder of Buddy Media, a social marketing software company that was purchased by Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) in 2012 for $800 million. He most recently served as Salesforce's chief strategy officer. During his three years at the company, Salesforce grew its annual revenue run rate to $6 billion from $2 billion and was named the most innovative company in the world by Forbes Magazine for three consecutive years. Prior to Salesforce and Buddy Media, he founded GOLF.com, purchased by Time Warner's Time division in January 2006. And as an undergraduate at Northwestern University, he started UWIRE, an Associated Press-like network of more than 850 student-run newspapers, purchased by CBS. With 65 early-stage investments, including Buzzfeed, Domo, Mashable, and Dash Radio, he is one of the most prolific tech investors in New York City, where he spends much of his time cheerleading, providing therapy to and coaching entrepreneurs. He and his wife Kass are avid philanthropists through the Kass and Michael Lazerow Family Foundation. Their support and leadership of Cycle for Survival have helped raise more than $76.5 million for cancer research to fund 100+ clinical trials and research studies. Other interests include clean water (charity: water) and education (Donors Choose). He was the recipient of Ernest & Young's coveted Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2011 and Kass and he were given the Leader of the Future Award by the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute alongside legendary CEOs Alan Mulally (Ford, Boeing) and AG Lafley (Procter & Gamble). Additional honors include Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40, Crain's New York 40 Under 40, Number 1 on the Silicon Alley 100, and the Ad Age Digital A-List. He earned a bachelor's and master's degree in journalism from Northwestern. His writing about technology, advertising, startups, investing, and life has appeared in Ad Age, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, and more than a dozen newspapers, including Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and the Miami Herald. He also serves as an Executive Chairman at Olympia Media Group.