Steve Harrick

Background

Steve Harrick is a General Partner at IVP (Institutional Venture Partners), where he has invested since joining in October 2001 ¹². He has over 25 years of venture capital experience across multiple market cycles ¹.

Harrick earned a B.A. in History from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School ¹². Before entering venture capital in 1997, he worked in New Business Development for Netscape Communications in Mountain View, California, and in Mergers and Acquisitions for Morgan Stanley in New York ¹².

Harrick’s venture career began at Highland Capital Partners in Boston (1997-1999), where he focused on Internet technologies and software, leading to investments in Gamesville, Raindance, RoweCom, and Webline Communications ². He then served as Vice President of Acquisitions at Internet Capital Group (2000-2001) before joining IVP ².

Harrick was recognized by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 100 venture capitalists in the world through inclusion on the Midas List three times (2009, 2012, and 2013), ranking 81st in 2013 ³⁴. GrowthCap named him on the Top 25 Software Investors of 2021 list ⁵.

He also serves on the board of the Positive Coaching Alliance ⁶.

Stated Thesis

Harrick publicly describes his focus as investing in later-stage technology companies with exceptional growth potential, concentrating on enterprise infrastructure, applications, and security ¹².

On the scalability of software, Harrick has stated that well-architected software is “written once, then patched, supported and sold globally,” making the winners “the most valuable companies in the world” ⁷.

On market discipline, Harrick has emphasized a “return to fundamental business building” where companies “don’t just buy growth at all costs” but instead “invest intelligently, keep customers happy, grow revenue, amortize costs over a bigger base and become profitable” ⁷.

On evaluating founders’ fundraising readiness, Harrick has said he prioritizes understanding the use of capital: “What will this additional capital do for you? How will you use it? What will this company look like before it raises its next round?” ⁷

Harrick has described his backing of serial entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal (AppDynamics, Harness, Traceable) as reflecting high conviction in exceptional founders: “At that stage, you’re betting on the people more than anything. And he is that good” ⁸.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 22 verified investments in the portfolio table below, the following patterns emerge. Note: this sample represents a subset of Harrick’s total investments over 24 years at IVP; the actual portfolio is likely larger.

Sector breakdown (22 verified investments): - Enterprise software/infrastructure: 6 of 22 (27%) — AppDynamics, Harness, Productiv, Sumo Logic, Aster Data, Yellowbrick Data - Cybersecurity: 6 of 22 (27%) — CrowdStrike, Anomali, AlienVault, Cyence, Teros, Tripwire - Consumer internet/fintech: 5 of 22 (23%) — LegalZoom, eHealth, Personal Capital, CafePress, Business.com - Open-source/data infrastructure: 3 of 22 (14%) — MySQL, Eucalyptus Systems, Yellowbrick Data - Networking/hardware: 2 of 22 (9%) — Aerohive Networks, Spiceworks

Stage distribution: Predominantly later-stage growth investments, consistent with IVP’s overall strategy of investing at Series B and beyond. Notable examples include AppDynamics (Series D), CrowdStrike (Series E), Sumo Logic (Series E), and AlienVault (Series E).

Geographic concentration: Investments are overwhelmingly in U.S.-based companies, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Founder backing pattern: Harrick demonstrates strong conviction in repeat founders. He backed Jyoti Bansal across three separate companies — AppDynamics (Series D, 2013), Harness (Series B, 2019), and Traceable AI (Series B, 2022, and strategic round, 2024) ⁸⁹¹⁰. IVP is the only investor to have backed all three Bansal companies ⁸.

Exit outcomes: Multiple portfolio companies achieved significant exits — AppDynamics acquired by Cisco for $3.7B (2017) ¹¹, MySQL acquired by Sun/Oracle (2008/2010) ¹², AlienVault acquired by AT&T (2018) ¹³, Cyence acquired by Guidewire for $275M (2017) ¹⁴, Personal Capital acquired by Empower for ~$1B (2020) ¹⁵, MarkMonitor acquired by Thomson Reuters ¹, CrowdStrike IPO (2019) ¹⁶, Aerohive Networks IPO (2014) ¹⁷, LegalZoom IPO (2021) ¹.

Co-investor patterns: Harrick frequently co-invests with other growth-stage firms. In Harness, he co-invested with GV, ServiceNow Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Unusual Ventures ⁹. In Traceable, co-investors included Tiger Global, Unusual Ventures, Citi Ventures, and Geodesic Capital ¹⁰¹⁸.

Notable pattern — cybersecurity concentration: Cybersecurity represents 27% of verified investments, making it a particularly strong focus area relative to IVP’s overall portfolio mix. This spans network security (Teros, Tripwire), threat intelligence (AlienVault, Anomali), endpoint security (CrowdStrike), cyber risk analytics (Cyence), and API security (Traceable).

Portfolio

This table represents Harrick’s directly led investments at IVP. He was also actively involved in IVP’s investments in ArcSight, Buddy Media, Danger, and LivingSocial ¹. His total portfolio is likely larger than what is publicly documented.

In Their Own Words

“We firmly believe right now that we’re in a down cycle in venture capital, and it doesn’t bother us one bit. But yet there’s a frenzy going on in AI, we have to figure out how to pick the best companies and build them towards future liquidity.” — Steve Harrick, Fortune interview, March 2024 ²⁵

“In 2020 and 2021, interest rates were at record lows, and it was an environment where people were being very aggressive.” — Steve Harrick, IVP Q&A, 2023 ⁷

“Lower costs, grow more efficiently, converge on profitability, and don’t go back to market right now.” — Steve Harrick, advising portfolio companies during a market downturn, IVP Q&A, 2023 ⁷

“There’s a frenzy in AI and ML right now, but people really aren’t sure who the leaders will be.” — Steve Harrick, IVP Q&A, 2023 ⁷

“It is high conviction. I do have to confess it’s the first time I’ve ever backed anybody to run two companies…I think we’ve only done that once before in the 22 years I’ve been here, and only with entrepreneurs we know.” — Steve Harrick, on backing Jyoti Bansal to run Harness and Traceable simultaneously, Fortune, May 2024 ⁸

“At that stage, you’re betting on the people more than anything. And he is that good.” — Steve Harrick, on Jyoti Bansal, Fortune, May 2024 ⁸

“The explosive growth of APIs presents both huge opportunities and critical security challenges. Traceable’s leadership in this space is undeniable, delivering an innovative and differentiated solution that organizations need to thrive in this API-driven world.” — Steve Harrick, Traceable AI $30M strategic round announcement, May 2024 ¹⁸

“Personal Capital has the opportunity to create a new service that shifts the balance of power from Wall Street to the individual consumer.” — Steve Harrick, IVP press release on Personal Capital investment ²⁶

What Founders Say

Bill Harris, Founding CEO of Personal Capital, praised Harrick’s guidance during the company’s growth phase: “I’m sincerely grateful to Steve for guiding Personal Capital through its growth challenges and successes. With level-headed guidance, he quite literally saved us from a load of hurt on multiple occasions” ¹.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found from third-party sources at this time. Harrick’s track record of multiple successful exits (AppDynamics $3.7B acquisition, Personal Capital ~$1B acquisition, CrowdStrike IPO, LegalZoom IPO) and repeat founder backing (Jyoti Bansal across three companies) suggests strong founder relationships.

Connections

• Board member, Anomali — joined the board following IVP’s Series C investment in 2016 ²²
• Board member, Harness — sits on the board alongside co-founder Jyoti Bansal ⁸
• Board member, Traceable AI — sits on the board alongside CEO Jyoti Bansal ⁸
• Former employer, Netscape Communications — worked in New Business Development prior to venture career ¹
• Former employer, Morgan Stanley — worked in Mergers and Acquisitions, New York ¹
• Former employer, Highland Capital Partners — Principal (1997-1999), Boston ²
• Board member, Positive Coaching Alliance — nonprofit board service ⁶
• IVP co-investors — frequently works alongside IVP partners Jules Maltz, Somesh Dash, Tom Loverro, and Ajay Vashee ²

Sources