Mitch Lasky
American businessman (born 1962)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mitchell Harold "Mitch" Lasky (born January 18, 1962) is a general partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Benchmark[3] and a former entrepreneur and video game executive.
January 18, 1962
Mitch Lasky | |
|---|---|
Lasky in 2013 | |
| Born | Mitchell Harold Lasky[1] January 18, 1962 |
| Alma mater | Harvard College, University of Virginia School of Law |
| Occupation | Venture Capitalist |
| Employer | General Partner at Benchmark |
| Spouse |
Cecilia Barajas (m. 1987) |
| Children | 2, including Benjamin |
Education and early career
Lasky received a B.A. degree in History and Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.[4]
Early in his career, Lasky practiced law at the Los Angeles firm Irell & Manella, where he worked on various technology-related intellectual property cases.[5] In 1993, he joined The Walt Disney Company.[6] He left Disney in 1994 to launch a multiplayer online game company, Serum Entertainment Software.[4]
Lasky subsequently spent five years at video game publisher Activision, including a stint as executive vice president of Worldwide Studios,[7] helping to launch Quake 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Spider-Man.
In 2000,[8] he joined mobile games company JAMDAT as CEO,[9] and took the company public in 2004.[10] Electronic Arts acquired JAMDAT for $680 million in 2006.[6] Lasky served as executive vice president of mobile and online games at Electronic Arts from 2006 to 2007, after the JAMDAT acquisition.[11]
Benchmark
Lasky joined Benchmark in 2007 as a general partner.[12] He focuses on identifying investment opportunities in mobile, games, digital privacy and identity, and online education.[12] He has led the firm’s investments in and serves on the boards of Snapchat, Ubiquity6,[13] CyanogenMod, Engine Yard, Gaia, Riot Games, PlayFab,[14] Vivox, Grockit, Gaikai, RedRobot, Meteor Entertainment, thatgamecompany, and NaturalMotion.[6][15][16][17][18][19][20]