Tom Dyal

Managing Director & Founding Partner at Redpoint Ventures

Reviewed Updated Mar 17, 2026

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Founding Partner & MD at Redpoint Ventures (1999), built growth investing practice (2007+). Growth-stage investor ($100K-$50M) with 44% of portfolio in networking/infrastructure (StratumOne, NextG Networks, Qwilt), 19% cybersecurity (SentinelOne, Caspida). Ex-Bell Labs engineer, ex-Bay Networks product manager. Georgia Tech EE; seeks 'consumer phenomena' with strong execution. SentinelOne Series C $1.1B valuation example.

Location Menlo Park, CA
Check Size $100K-$50M
Last Verified Investment SentinelOne (Series C) — Jan 25, 2017
Social LinkedIn
Stage Focus
growth late-stage
Sector Focus
cybersecurity consumer-internet networking infrastructure enterprise mobile-gaming

Background

Tom Dyal is a Founding Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures, a venture capital firm he co-founded in 1999 12. Prior to co-founding Redpoint, Dyal was a General Partner at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) from 1997 to 1999 23.

Dyal began his career as a systems engineer at AT&T Bell Laboratories 12. He subsequently moved to Bay Networks, where he ran product management for the company’s network management software business 1.

He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University 12. Dyal has served as past president of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists and was a member of Georgia Tech’s President Advisory Board for six years 12.

Beginning in 2007, Dyal was instrumental in starting Redpoint’s growth investing practice and co-managed the group for 15 years 1. He leads Redpoint’s investment activity in growth-stage companies and special situations, focusing on opportunities in the Internet, software, mobile, and infrastructure sectors 14.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Dyal says publicly about his approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Dyal’s public focus is on growth-stage companies and special situations across Internet, software, mobile, and infrastructure sectors 1. He has described his approach as identifying companies that play a role in “creating a consumer phenomenon,” emphasizing team execution as a key factor 5.

On the SentinelOne investment, Dyal stated that he looks for large market opportunities ripe for disruption, describing endpoint security as “a $10 billion global market opportunity that is ripe for disruption as enterprise customers migrate away from legacy antivirus solutions” 6.

Dyal publicly describes his investment scope as spanning both consumer and enterprise opportunities, with consumer and mobile investments including DraftKings, Just Eat, Pocket Gems, Answers.com, and Internet Brands, and enterprise investments including SentinelOne, Qwilt, Caspida, Clearwell, and NextG Networks 4.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 16 verified investments in the portfolio table below:

Stage distribution: Dyal is primarily a growth-stage investor. Of 16 verified investments, at least 10 were growth-stage or later-stage investments, consistent with his role building Redpoint’s growth practice starting in 2007 1. Several early investments (StratumOne, TiMetra, Growth Networks) predate the growth practice and were early-stage.

Sector breakdown (of 16 verified investments): - Networking & telecommunications infrastructure: 7 companies (44%) — StratumOne, TiMetra, Growth Networks, TopSpin, WiChorus, NextG Networks, Qwilt - Cybersecurity & enterprise software: 3 companies (19%) — SentinelOne, Caspida, Clearwell Systems - Consumer internet & gaming: 4 companies (25%) — DraftKings, Just Eat, Pocket Gems, Answers.com - Internet media: 1 company (6%) — Internet Brands - Semiconductors: 1 company (6%) — Cortina Systems

Key patterns:

Deep networking roots: Despite his stated broad focus on “Internet, software, mobile, and infrastructure,” nearly half of Dyal’s verified portfolio (7 of 16) consists of networking and telecommunications infrastructure companies. This reflects his engineering background at Bell Labs and Bay Networks. Many of these were early in his career (pre-2007) and most were acquired by major networking companies (Cisco acquired 3, Tellabs acquired 2, Alcatel acquired 1, Crown Castle acquired 1).

Acquisition-heavy exit pattern: Of the 16 verified investments, at least 10 exited via acquisition — a notably high rate. Major acquirers include Cisco (StratumOne, TopSpin, Growth Networks), Tellabs (TiMetra, WiChorus), Symantec (Clearwell), EMC (Kazeon), Splunk (Caspida), Crown Castle (NextG Networks), and AFCV Holdings (Answers.com). Two companies went public: DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG, 2020) and SentinelOne (NYSE: S, 2021) 78.

Shift from infrastructure to consumer/security: Post-2007, when Dyal launched Redpoint’s growth practice, his investments shifted from pure networking infrastructure toward consumer internet (DraftKings, Just Eat, Pocket Gems) and cybersecurity (SentinelOne, Caspida). This evolution is not explicitly stated in his public thesis but is visible in the portfolio timeline.

Co-investor patterns: Accel Partners appears as a co-investor in at least 3 deals (TopSpin, WiChorus, TiMetra), suggesting a strong co-investment relationship, particularly in networking infrastructure.

Geographic concentration: Portfolio is heavily concentrated in Silicon Valley/Bay Area companies, with notable exceptions in Just Eat (London/Denmark) and DraftKings (Boston).

Board-level engagement: Dyal has served on the boards of most of his portfolio companies, including DraftKings, SentinelOne, Pocket Gems, Just Eat, Qwilt, Caspida, NextG Networks, Answers.com, Clearwell Systems, Kazeon, WiChorus, and TopSpin 3.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Sector Outcome Source
StratumOne Communications ~1999 Early Networking Acquired by Cisco, 1999 9
Growth Networks ~1999 Early Networking Acquired by Cisco, 2000 1
TiMetra ~2001 Early Networking Acquired by Alcatel, 2003 10
TopSpin Communications ~2003 Series C Networking Acquired by Cisco for $250M, 2005 11
Kazeon Systems 2003 Series A Enterprise software (e-discovery) Acquired by EMC, 2009 12
Cortina Systems ~2003 Early Semiconductors Acquired by Inphi 1
WiChorus 2005 Series A Telecom infrastructure Acquired by Tellabs for $165M, 2009 13
Clearwell Systems ~2006 Early Enterprise software (e-discovery) Acquired by Symantec for $390M, 2011 14
Answers.com ~2008 Growth Internet media Acquired by AFCV Holdings, 2011 13
Internet Brands ~2007 Growth Internet media Acquired 1
NextG Networks 2009 Growth Telecom infrastructure Acquired by Crown Castle for $1B, 2012 15
Qwilt 2010 Series A Video delivery/CDN Active 316
Just Eat 2011 Growth Consumer internet (food delivery) IPO on London Stock Exchange, 2014 (valued at $2.44B) 17
Pocket Gems ~2012 Growth Mobile gaming Active 13
DraftKings 2013 Series B (led) Consumer internet (fantasy sports) SPAC merger on NASDAQ (DKNG), 2020 518
SentinelOne 2017 Series C (led) Cybersecurity (endpoint) IPO on NYSE (S), 2021 (valued at $10B+) 68
Caspida ~2014 Early Cybersecurity (analytics) Acquired by Splunk for $190M, 2015 19

Note: This table represents publicly confirmed investments attributed to Tom Dyal. Dyal has been at Redpoint since 1999 and the firm has made 453 total investments 20; this table captures only those specifically attributed to Dyal in public sources.

In Their Own Words

On investing in companies that create consumer phenomena (DraftKings Series B, November 2013):

“One of the most exciting aspects of venture investing is when we see a company that plays a role in creating a consumer phenomenon. DraftKings is just that sort of company. DraftKings’ innovative approach to coupling a clear monetization model with a huge, engaged fantasy sports audience captured our attention. The DraftKings’ team’s execution and focus made investing in them even more attractive to us.” 5

On the cybersecurity market opportunity (SentinelOne Series C, January 2017):

“Redpoint is proud to lead this growth investment in SentinelOne, an emerging leader in next generation endpoint security. This is a $10 billion global market opportunity that is ripe for disruption as enterprise customers migrate away from legacy antivirus solutions.” 6

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Despite dedicated searching across Twitter/X, podcast transcripts, and press coverage, no direct quotes from portfolio founders specifically about working with Tom Dyal were located. Dyal maintains a low public profile relative to many venture investors, which limits the availability of founder testimonials.

Sources

  1. Redpoint Ventures, “Tom Dyal,” team profile page, accessed March 2026. https://www.redpoint.com/our-people/tom-dyal/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Crunchbase, “Tom Dyal — Partner & Co-founder @ Redpoint,” person profile, accessed March 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/tom-dyal↩↩↩↩↩

  3. MarketScreener, “Tom Dyal: Positions, Relations and Network,” accessed March 2026. https://www.marketscreener.com/insider/TOM-DYAL-A07L51/↩↩↩↩↩

  4. Success.ai, “Tom Dyal — Redpoint Ventures Managing Director,” profile page, accessed March 2026. https://www.success.ai/profile/tom-dyal-874844475597↩↩

  5. DraftKings Inc., “DraftKings, Inc. Closes $24M Series B Round to Drive Continued Momentum and Redefine the Fantasy Sports Market,” Business Wire, November 26, 2013. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131126005768/en/DraftKings-Closes-24M-Series-Drive-Continued-Momentum↩↩↩

  6. SentinelOne, “SentinelOne Secures $70 Million to Meet Growing Demand to Replace Traditional Antivirus,” press release, January 25, 2017. https://www.sentinelone.com/press/sentinelone-secures-70-million-meet-growing-demand-replace-traditional-antivirus/↩↩↩

  7. NASDAQ, “DraftKings lists on the Nasdaq following SPAC merger,” April 2020. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/draftkings-lists-on-the-nasdaq-following-spac-merger-up-more-than-5-in-early-trading-202↩

  8. CNBC, “Cybersecurity company SentinelOne files S-1 for IPO,” June 3, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/03/cybersecurity-company-sentinelone-files-s-1-for-ipo.html↩↩

  9. Cisco Systems, “Cisco Systems to Acquire StratumOne Communications,” press release, June 1999. https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y1999/m06/cisco-systems-to-acquire-stratumone-communications.html↩

  10. Mergr, “TiMetra, Acquired by Alcatel-Lucent S.A. on July 18th, 2003,” accessed March 2026. https://mergr.com/timetra-acquired-by-alcatel-lucent-s.a↩

  11. Cisco Systems, “Cisco Systems to Acquire Topspin Communications,” press release, April 2005. https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2005/m04/cisco-systems-to-acquire-topspin-communications.html↩

  12. Dell (EMC), “EMC to Acquire Kazeon Systems Inc,” press release, September 1, 2009. https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/corporate/newsroom/announcements/2009/09/20090901-03.htm↩

  13. VentureBeat, “More Revenge of the South Bay: WiChorus acquired for $165M,” October 22, 2009. https://venturebeat.com/2009/10/22/more-revenge-of-the-south-bay-wichorus-acquired-for-165m/↩

  14. TechCrunch, “Symantec Continues Move Into eDiscovery, Acquires Clearwell Systems For $390 Million,” May 23, 2011. https://techcrunch.com/2011/05/23/symantec-continues-move-into-ediscovery-acquires-clearwell-systems-for-390-million/↩

  15. Crown Castle, “Crown Castle Announces Agreement to Acquire NextG Networks,” press release, December 16, 2011. https://investor.crowncastle.com/news-releases/news-release-details/crown-castle-announces-agreement-acquire-nextg-networks↩

  16. Qwilt, “Qwilt Raises $24 Million from Accel, Redpoint, Crescent Point for Pioneering Video Delivery System,” press release, accessed March 2026. https://www.qwilt.com/qwilt-raises-24-million-from-accel-redpoint-cresce/↩

  17. TechCrunch, “Just Eat IPO Values It At $2.44BN, Company First To Test LSE’s New Tech-Friendly Market,” April 3, 2014. https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/just-eat-ipo-values-it-at-2-44bn-company-first-to-test-lses-new-tech-friendly-market/↩

  18. TechCrunch, “Fantasy Sports Startup DraftKings Raises $24 Million From Redpoint And Others,” November 26, 2013. https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/26/draftkings-24m/↩

  19. TechCrunch, “Splunk Buys Security Startup Caspida For $190M,” July 9, 2015. https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/09/splunk-buys-security-startup-caspida-for-190m/↩

  20. Signal by NFX, “Tom Dyal’s Investing Profile — Redpoint Ventures Managing Director,” accessed March 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/tom-dyal↩

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