# Bret Taylor

> Bret Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of Sierra, an enterprise AI agent platform valued at $15.8 billion following its $950M Series E in May 2026. A Stanford computer science graduate, he co-created Google Maps, helped invent Facebook's Like button, served as Facebook CTO, co-founded Quip (acquired by Salesforce), and rose to co-CEO of Salesforce before founding Sierra in 2023. He also chairs the OpenAI board, having stabilized the company after Sam Altman's brief ouster in November 2023. Forbes recognized him as a billionaire in 2025, and Silicon Valley has nicknamed him the 'Forrest Gump of Silicon Valley' for his uncanny presence at every landmark moment in the internet age.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Sierra; Chairman at OpenAI
- **Organizations:** Sierra, OpenAI, Shopify, San Francisco 49ers
- **From:** Oakland, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School Diploma, Acalanes High School, B.S. Computer Science, Stanford University, M.S. Computer Science, Stanford University
- **Known for:** Co-created Google Maps, one of the most-used applications in human history, Helped invent the Facebook 'Like' button (originally launched at FriendFeed in 2007), Served as CTO of Facebook during its hyper-growth phase

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Joined Google as Associate Product Manager; worked on Search by Location and Google Local
- **2004** — Led development of Google Maps; co-created the product that changed how the world navigates
- **2007** — Left Google; co-founded FriendFeed (social aggregation network) with ex-Googlers
- **2009** — Facebook acquired FriendFeed for ~$50 million; Taylor joined Facebook
- **2010** — Appointed CTO of Facebook; helped scale the platform to hundreds of millions of users
- **2012** — Left Facebook; co-founded Quip, a collaborative document editor
- **2016** — Salesforce acquired Quip; Taylor joined Salesforce board
- **2017** — Became Chief Product Officer at Salesforce
- **2019** — Promoted to President and COO at Salesforce
- **2021** — Named Vice Chair and Co-CEO of Salesforce alongside Marc Benioff
- **2022** — Served as Twitter board chairman during Elon Musk's $44B acquisition; sued Musk when he tried to exit
- **2023** — Left Salesforce; co-founded Sierra with Clay Bavor in February 2023
- **2023** — Appointed Chairman of OpenAI board in November 2023, stabilizing the company after Sam Altman's brief removal
- **2024** — Sierra launched commercially; crossed $100M ARR within 7 quarters
- **2025** — Sierra raised $350M Series D at $10B valuation; Forbes recognized Taylor as a billionaire
- **2025** — Sierra crossed $150M ARR; acquired minority stake in San Francisco 49ers
- **2026** — Sierra raised $950M Series E at $15.8B valuation led by Tiger Global and Google GV

## Achievements

- Co-created Google Maps, one of the most-used applications in human history
- Helped invent the Facebook 'Like' button (originally launched at FriendFeed in 2007)
- Served as CTO of Facebook during its hyper-growth phase
- Founded three successful companies: FriendFeed, Quip, and Sierra
- As Twitter board chairman, successfully negotiated and enforced Elon Musk's $44B acquisition
- Stabilized OpenAI as board chairman after Sam Altman's dramatic ouster and reinstatement in November 2023
- Built Sierra to $150M ARR in under 8 quarters - among the fastest enterprise software ramps in history
- Recognized as a billionaire by Forbes in November 2025
- Raised $950M Series E for Sierra at $15.8B valuation in May 2026
- Sierra serves 40%+ of Fortune 50 companies as customers

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Sierra raised $950M Series E at $15.8B valuation, led by Tiger Global and Google GV, with Sierra serving 40%+ of Fortune 50 companies
- **2025-11** — Sierra crossed $150M ARR within 8 quarters of commercial launch
- **2025-12** — Taylor acquired approximately 1% ownership stake in the San Francisco 49ers
- **2025-11** — Forbes officially recognized Bret Taylor as a billionaire, based on ~25% stake in Sierra
- **2025-09** — Sierra raised $350M Series D at $10B valuation
- **2023-11** — Appointed Chairman of OpenAI board following Sam Altman's brief firing and reinstatement

## Links

- Website: https://sierra.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/btaylor

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/bret-taylor
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-27