Retirement is not on the horizon for Chris Lynch.
The fifty-five-year-old tech executive turned venture capitalist is back to his entrepreneurial roots as the chief executive of Californian big data startup AtScale. Lynch will be starting his tenure in San Mateo, Calif. effective immediately, the company said on Tuesday, managing a team of around 100 employees.
Lynch, who was a co-founder and general partner at Accomplice, left the Cambridge-based VC firm in January 2017 to support different initiatives: his two groups Hack/Reduce and Hack/Secure, which boost the data science and cybersecurity communities, and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which fights pediatric cancer. Last year, he was involved in two big local acquisitions, Rapid7 acquiring Hack/Secure-backed Komand for up to $50 million and Amazon acquiring Sqrrl.
In his career, the former CEO of Billerica, Mass.-based database software firm Vertica Systems became a venture capitalist right after his company was acquired by Hewlett Packard in 2011. The following year, he joined Cambridge's Atlas Venture as an investor; he became a general partner of Accomplice when the firm spun out of Atlas.
BostInno spoke with Lynch ahead of the announcement to understand why he decided to cross the bridge between entrepreneurship and venture capitalism (there and back again), and his plans for AtScale.
How did you learn about AtScale?
I met Dave [Mariani, co-founder of AtScale] several years ago, when I was a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture and he was raising money. But at that time, I was really interested in investing in Boston-based big data and cybersecurity companies. About four months ago, I was out on other businesses on the West Coast and I had dinner with Dave. I've been watching the progress the company has made; it was more just like 'hey, congratulations, you've done well.' Around late night, he said, 'Why don't you come and partner with me and help me drive the commercial aspect of this company.'
Why this role as AtScale CEO is so exciting to you?
The thing that drives the whole thing is how massive the opportunity At Scale is. When I look at the marketplace, there's nobody that enables people to evolve their data center into the cloud in a seamless fashion. I've seen many deals in Boston and elsewhere, but they weren't game changers. AtScale is a game changer. As I get into the advanced area of my career, I'm more sensitive to time and how many opportunities I'm really going to have. I feel like this one could be my last and my best one.
Will you be leaving Boston to take on the new position?
Between due diligence and seeing how big the opportunity is, I said, 'The opportunity is incredible, but my family needs to be supportive of this for me to be successful, because I'll have to be here [in California] and to be there [in Boston]. To my surprise, my entire family was super supportive; they were like 'Hey, building great companies is what you do best, so go do it. My family will continue to live in Boston; I'll take my residence here [in California], and I'll maintain my residence in Boston, so I'll go back and forth.
What did you learned as a VC that will be applied to this new role?
Nothing. [VCs] don't know how to run companies. They should leave it to the professionals.
What is the first thing you’re going to do as CEO?
I'm going to meet all the employees in person. I'm going to meet as many as the customers and partners. That's probably what I'm going to do in the first thirty days: go meet the people that make and support the company.
Let’s fast forward one year. What will make you think that your tenure as AtScale CEO is a success?
The company has to be highly successful in his mission to bring big data to the cloud. Ultimately, I need to deliver for the employees, the customers and the investors a significant liquidity event. My expectation is, I wouldn't do anything that isn't significantly more than what I've done before.
Correction: Story has been updated; Chris Lynch is no longer an advisor with Accomplice.
The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
