# Matt Pfeil

> Matt Pfeil is the co-founder and first CEO of DataStax, the business established with Jonathan Ellis in 2010 around Apache Cassandra. A Virginia Tech computer science graduate, he previously worked at Webmail.us and Rackspace, later co-founded TravelBoss, and is identified in Virginia Tech’s September 2025 biography as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Top Tier Capital Partners. His career includes an early CEO handover and subsequent customer leadership at DataStax.

- **Role:** Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Top Tier Capital Partners
- **Organizations:** DataStax, Top Tier Capital Partners, TravelBoss, Rackspace, Webmail.us / Mailtrust
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Virginia Tech
- **Known for:** Co-founded DataStax and served as its first CEO., Helped recruit Billy Bosworth as CEO while continuing in a customer-facing role., Helped build an early Cassandra support business into an enterprise software company.

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Graduated from Virginia Tech and joined email hosting startup Webmail.us.
- **Before 2010** — Joined Rackspace following its acquisition of the email business; worked on shared infrastructure and Cassandra deployment.
- **2010** — Co-founded Riptano, later DataStax, with Jonathan Ellis in April; served as its first CEO.
- **2011** — Billy Bosworth became CEO in May; Pfeil became vice president of solutions.
- **2016** — Discussed DataStax Enterprise 5.0 as co-founder and chief customer officer.
- **After DataStax** — Co-founded TravelBoss, a corporate travel software company.
- **2023** — Virginia Tech listed him as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Top Tier Capital Partners for its April startup seminar.
- **2025** — Virginia Tech again identified him as an entrepreneur-in-residence for a September fireside chat.

## Achievements

- Co-founded DataStax and served as its first CEO.
- Helped recruit Billy Bosworth as CEO while continuing in a customer-facing role.
- Helped build an early Cassandra support business into an enterprise software company.
- Co-founded corporate travel software startup TravelBoss.

## Latest updates

- **2025-09** — Virginia Tech scheduled a September 25 fireside chat with Pfeil about building software startups; its biography listed his Top Tier Capital entrepreneur-in-residence role and Austin base.
- **2025-02** — IBM announced its agreement to acquire DataStax, the company Pfeil co-founded; Scale Venture Partners subsequently recorded the company as acquired in 2025.

## Links

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

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