# David Ehrlich

> David J. Ehrlich is a San Francisco technology executive, Aktana co-founder and former CEO, and operator partner at Full Stack CEO. His career includes leadership at ParAccel, NetIQ and Visual Networks, consulting at McKinsey, and board service at Travelzoo. He studied sociology and industrial engineering at Stanford and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

- **Role:** Operator Partner at Full Stack CEO
- **Organizations:** Aktana, Full Stack CEO, Genovia Partners, Real Chemistry, ParAccel, Mohr Davidow Ventures, NetIQ Corporation, Visual Networks, McKinsey & Company, Travelzoo, The Brandeis School of San Francisco
- **Education:** BA in Sociology, with honors and distinction, Stanford University, MS in Industrial Engineering, Stanford University, MBA, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Aktana for more than a decade., Led analytical database company ParAccel as CEO., Named as co-inventor on Aktana workflow patent application EP2767939A1.

## Career timeline

- **1993-1998** — Consultant at McKinsey & Company; leadership in the Asian telecommunications, electronics and media practice.
- **1998-2002** — Vice President, Product Management and Strategic Partnering, Visual Networks.
- **1999** — Joined the Travelzoo board in February.
- **2003-2006** — Senior Vice President, Marketing and Chief Strategy Officer, NetIQ.
- **2007-2010** — CEO of ParAccel from March 2007 to January 2010.
- **Before Aktana** — Executive in residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures.
- **2012** — Publicly identified as Aktana CEO; the company appeared on JMP Securities’ software-company watchlist for the second year running.
- **2013** — Travelzoo proxy statement identifies him as audit committee chair.
- **2014** — Named as a co-inventor on Aktana workflow patent application EP2767939A1, published August 20.
- **2015** — Later recalled an early-2015 acceleration in Aktana demand after years seeking product-market fit.
- **2024** — Real Chemistry announced his appointment as President, Analytics and Insights, in May.
- **2026** — Joined Full Stack CEO as an Operator Partner; featured in its June and August podcast episodes.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Aktana for more than a decade.
- Led analytical database company ParAccel as CEO.
- Named as co-inventor on Aktana workflow patent application EP2767939A1.
- Served on Travelzoo’s board and chaired its audit committee.
- Earned Stanford degrees in sociology and industrial engineering and a Harvard MBA.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Joined Mark Nelson on Full Stack CEO to discuss first sales hires and scaling a sales organization.
- **2026-06** — Featured in the Full Stack CEO episode about company building and product-market fit; introduced as a newly joined Operator Partner.
- **2024-05** — Appointed President, Analytics and Insights, at Real Chemistry.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjehrlich/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-ehrlich
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-15