Rahul Sood
Webit Speaker, General Manager & Partner at Microsoft Ventures
Rahul Sood is General Manager of Microsoft Ventures. His team operates startup accelerators and outreach around the world. They also run a strategic fund that makes seed investments in startup companies from their portfolio and others.
Sood joined Microsoft in January of 2011. He created Bing Fund in February 2012. In March, 2013 Microsoft consolidated their global startup activities under Sood’s leadership. In June of 2013 he launched Microsoft Ventures.
A serial entrepreneur, Sood spent 18 years in multiple startups prior to joining Microsoft. He founded luxury and gaming computer manufacturer VoodooPC, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in September of 2006. Voodoo brought the ENVY product line to HP, contributing advanced technologies, such as commercial liquid cooling, and an increased focus on design.
Sood is a co-founder of BrightSquid Medical, a unique collaboration platform for medical professionals, which was subsequently acquired by NetworksMD. He co-founded BrightSquid Dental, which was spun out of the medical business in 2010. Sood also created BullsOnWallstreet, a trading and education platform for retail investors and traders, and he is an active angel investor in a number of small Canadian-based energy companies. Sood sits on the board of advisors for Razer, a company that is widely known for taking over where Voodoo left off.
He is active in the entrepreneurial community, helping and mentoring a variety of startups. Sood often speaks of creating balanced teams by bringing design + technology + business together to create beautiful products.
In his spare time Sood enjoys wake surfing & wake boarding, paddleboarding, cycling, racing cars, and spending time with his family. He is a native of Calgary, Alberta. You can find him on Twitter @rahulsood.