# Lars Dalgaard

> Lars Dalgaard is a Danish-born tech entrepreneur who built SuccessFactors from scratch to a $3.4 billion SAP acquisition. Known for his philosophy of empathetic leadership and brutal authenticity, he served as General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz before founding Luv Ventures to invest in early-stage enterprise software and computational biology companies. A polyglot who speaks seven languages and teaches at Stanford Business School, Dalgaard has become Silicon Valley's most vocal advocate for bringing more humanity into the boardroom.

- **Role:** Founder & Managing Partner at Luv Ventures, Board Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
- **Organizations:** Luv Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, SuccessFactors, SAP, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **From:** Denmark
- **Nationality:** Danish
- **Education:** BA in Economics and History, Copenhagen Business School, MS, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Built SuccessFactors from founding to $3.4B acquisition in 11 years, Led SuccessFactors to IPO on NASDAQ in 2007, Served on SAP's executive board and led cloud business strategy after acquisition

## Career timeline

- **Early Career** — Worked at Unilever and Novartis in Switzerland
- **2001** — Founded SuccessFactors
- **2007** — Took SuccessFactors public on NASDAQ
- **2012** — SAP acquired SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion; joined SAP's executive board
- **2013** — Left SAP to join Andreessen Horowitz as General Partner
- **2018** — Left a16z general partnership to found Luv Ventures, remained as Board Partner
- **2010s-Present** — Teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business for over a decade

## Achievements

- Built SuccessFactors from founding to $3.4B acquisition in 11 years
- Led SuccessFactors to IPO on NASDAQ in 2007
- Served on SAP's executive board and led cloud business strategy after acquisition
- Helped author SAP's M&A strategy resulting in 20+ acquisitions valued at over $30 billion
- Made 10 investments as General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
- Founded Luv Ventures focusing on enterprise software and computational biology
- Board member of multiple companies including AltSchool, Doxel.ai, Gigster, Imgur, Optimizely, Reflektive, SkySafe, Teespring, Tenfold, With.in, and Zenefits
- Teaching at Stanford Business School for over a decade

## Latest updates

- **2018-02** — Left General Partner role at Andreessen Horowitz to found Luv Ventures, remained as Board Partner
- **2018-02** — Announced Luv Ventures will invest in global technology companies with focus on enterprise software and computational biology
- **Ongoing** — Continues teaching at Stanford Graduate School of Business, invited back for over a decade
- **Ongoing** — Active as Board Partner at a16z supporting 10 portfolio investments

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldalgaard/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/larsluv
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lars.dalgaard/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/lars-dalgaard
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-04