Steven Aldrich
"I have spent 25 years in technology at companies in just about every stage — from de novo startup to growth stage venture to a private-equity buy-out to publicly traded. I’ve been a founder once, a CEO three times, and a senior leader in general management, product, innovation, business and corporate development, sales, and strategy. There’s nothing quite as energizing — and fun — as helping impactful companies grow."
There is no magic growth bullet and company-altering decisions are made with incomplete information, so the goal is to make the best decision we can in the shortest amount of time possible to start testing the outcome in the real world. Admittedly, it's messy — and you need a beginner's mindset to accept that trying new stuff requires making mistakes and learning from those mistakes along the way.
Steven Aldrich brings broad operational experience to entrepreneurs as a Board Partner at First Round, helping them tackle thorny challenges and run fast after opportunities.
Prior to First Round, Steven spent over a dozen years helping Intuit grow both its consumer and small business divisions. He joined in 1996 when they acquired InsureMarket, an online insurance marketplace he co-founded. After integrating it into Quicken.com, he led consumer ad sales, financial institution, and business development teams. In 2001, he shifted to small business, driving acquisitions and leading teams that delivered industry-specific versions of QuickBooks.
In 2011, Steven joined First Round-backed Outright as CEO. After focusing on a clear customer segment and driving significant growth, GoDaddy acquired the company a year later as its first California office. Starting as a product division leader and later becoming Chief Product Officer, Steven helped grow GoDaddy from 10 million to 18 million subscribers, from $1B to over $3B in revenue, and from a private to public company.
Today, Steven serves as Chair and seed investor of the Oakland Roots SC and Oakland Soul SC, community-focused, purpose-driven professional soccer teams. He also serves on the boards of public companies SEMRush (SEMR) and Xero (XRO.AX) and has been Chair of the Bay Area Glass Institute for over 20 years.
Steven earned an M.B.A. from Stanford as an Arjay Miller Scholar and a B.A. in physics from the University of North Carolina as a Morehead-Cain Scholar, where he was also co-captain of the fencing team.