Brett May
PARTNER / CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Brett May has 35 years of experience as an executive and investor in industrial and high-tech businesses at both Fortune-100 companies and at startups. As a Fortune 100 Global Executive, Brett led M&A, venture investing, and strategic alliances for GE Digital. Brett was also the Managing Director of business development for Cisco’s Emerging Technologies group, as well as the leader of VC and M&A for Cisco’s $5 billion services division.
As a startup executive, Brett was CFO/COO at Progenco, a successful biotech startup in Davis, CA, where he successfully raised VC at 9x pre-money step-up. Brett was also COO at MoodLogic, a cutting-edge data/analytics software company that was acquired by AMG (now Rovi).
Brett was a consultant at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Palo Alto. While at McKinsey, he was COO of the firm’s global Internet of Things practice, as well as a co-leader of the firm’s Corporate Venture Capital practice. Brett was also a senior manager at Accenture in their advanced technology group.
Brett’s investment and M&A outcomes include ten technology acquisitions completed at GE and Cisco as well as nine corporate VC investment exits at average 4.2x MOIC and $400 million+ pretax capital gain. Brett’s teams have also structured and announced alliances or joint ventures between GE or Cisco and the likes of Intel, AT&T, EMC, VMware, Accenture, China Telecom, Softbank (JPN), Posco (ROK), Catalonia national government (ESP).
In addition, Brett has served on the boards of six different venture-backed software startups and a cybersecurity venture capital fund (Forgepoint). Brett has an MBA from Northwestern University and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University. Brett is a life-long semi-professional musician in jazz, R&B, rock, and country and western music.
Expertise:
Venture capital and corporate venture capital, M&A, corporate strategy, finance, operations, tech startups, board of directors and corporate governance
Sectors:
Technology (software and hardware), industrial products and technology, biotechnology, agricultural technology
Roles:
COO, CFO, Corporate Development, Board of Directors
Traits:
Operational, strategic, investing, advisory
Location:
Palo Alto, CA
