# Jay Hallberg

> Jay Hallberg is the Austin-based co-founder and CEO of VelocityEngine and a co-founder of Spiceworks, established in 2006. Spiceworks began with free, advertising-supported IT management software and developed a professional community and marketplace. Hallberg served as founding VP of Marketing, COO and later president and CEO; Ziff Davis acquired Spiceworks in 2019. His subsequent work included leading Shasta Ventures’ Elevate program before starting VelocityEngine in 2023.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at VelocityEngine
- **Organizations:** VelocityEngine, Spiceworks, Shasta Ventures, Motive, 3M
- **Education:** MBA, Harvard Business School, Engineering degree; mechanical engineering identified by Crunchbase, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- **Known for:** Co-founded Spiceworks in 2006 and helped establish its advertising-supported IT software and community business., Advanced from founding VP of Marketing to COO and president and CEO at Spiceworks., Led Shasta Ventures’ Elevate go-to-market advisory program.

## Career timeline

- **Mid-1990s** — Moved to Austin through his work at 3M, as described in his 2008 interview.
- **1998** — Entered Harvard Business School; meeting Mike Maples Jr. led to an internship and later employment at Motive.
- **2006** — Co-founded Spiceworks with Scott Abel, Greg Kattawar and Francis Sullivan; served as VP of Marketing.
- **2014** — Identified as Spiceworks co-founder and COO in the FIR B2B podcast.
- **2015** — Became president and CEO of Spiceworks, succeeding Scott Abel.
- **2016** — Confirmed a workforce reduction of 12% at Spiceworks.
- **2019** — Ziff Davis acquired Spiceworks.
- **2020** — Departure from his full-time Spiceworks role was discussed in Community Signal.
- **2022** — Led the Elevate program as general manager at Shasta Ventures and published advice on go-to-market sprints.
- **2023** — Started VelocityEngine.
- **2025** — VelocityEngine announced its AI go-to-market operating system in May.
- **2026** — Featured in Spiceworks’ 20th-anniversary podcast series on April 24.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Spiceworks in 2006 and helped establish its advertising-supported IT software and community business.
- Advanced from founding VP of Marketing to COO and president and CEO at Spiceworks.
- Led Shasta Ventures’ Elevate go-to-market advisory program.
- Co-founded VelocityEngine, which announced its platform publicly in May 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Appeared in the April 24 episode of Spiceworks’ 20th-anniversary podcast series discussing the brand and community.
- **2025-05** — Announced VelocityEngine’s AI operating system for go-to-market execution at Winning by Design’s Impact Summit.

## Links

- Website: https://www.velocityengine.co/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayhallberg

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jay-hallberg
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23