Mike Miller
Mike Miller (College of Natural Science, '99) is a PhD Physicist and a leader in cloud computing, helping to bring cloud technologies to Fortune 500 enterprises. In 2008, he co-founded Cloudant, a cloud database used for web, mobile, and serverless applications, IBM acquired in 2014.
Mike's path to venture capital was atypical. He grew up overlooking a cornfield in Williamston, Michigan. After his second semester at Michigan State, he struggled to maintain a 2.2 GPA.
He regained his focus by volunteering at a physics laboratory that happened to be run by one of his favorite professors. Little did he know, the volunteer position would turn into a lucrative job opportunity.
"I loved it here. Even though I didn't thrive at the start, Michigan State was incredibly good to me. The connections I made here got me on the path to attend grad school," said Mike.
He eventually improved his GPA and pursued a PhD in Particle Physics from Yale and then a fellowship at MIT.
"You're always failing until you don't, once," said Miller.
Later he wanted to start a business, but he didn't know precisely how. After some brief online research, he found Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that invests in early-stage companies.
"We Googled 'how to launch a startup' and found an essay by Paul Grant, the founder of Y Combinator. A month later, we received our acceptance — from there, things got interesting."
Mike became a co-founder of Cloudant. The company was too new in the market to succeed, leading to the team's first set of challenges.
"With Cloudant, we saw what we thought would be a huge growth market," reflected Mike, "but we were way too early and made so many classic mistakes."
Eventually, IBM acquired Cloudant, and Mike moved back to Seattle, where he spent a couple of years away from the startup world to begin his family.
However, once bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, one finds it difficult to step away entirely. After taking time to start a family, Mike sat down for lunch with a friend who recommended that he start a business with Joe Montana, the NFL Hall-of-Famer. He met Montana at a dinner meeting. They eventually went into business together, along with Michael Ma, co-founding Silicon Valley's most active seed-stage venture capital firm, Liquid 2 Ventures.
Since 2015, the partners have invested in over 250 companies with a combined valuation of nearly $10 billion, putting them at the epicenter of the Bay Area's tech scene.
"You have to be willing to take the risk," he said.
"90% of startups fail because of founder fights. It happens to the founders that are the closest. You need to stick together for ten years, which is longer than the median US marriage. We are talking about a level of trust, commitment, and intimacy on par with a marriage."
Mike credits Michigan State for preparing him for the challenging work and mental toughness it would take to succeed in his field.
"State schools and land grant schools drill it home: It's what you make of it. If you want to succeed at this school, it's up to you."
Mike also credits MSU with having a certain "magic" over Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale.
"At a school like Michigan State, nobody will hold your hand and get you the internship. It's not a place like Harvard or Yale, where 99% of people will be successful, but Michigan State generates more successful people. Why? Because, here, you have to find your drive. You have to be resourceful. You have to be part of the community. What you'll discover at Michigan State is the magic within yourself."
Today, Mike Miller's expertise (and magic) is found here on campus. Mike, a former Innovate State speaker at MSU, is helping connect students with his West Coast and tech industry network. He has served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, coaching current Spartan entrepreneurs within the Burgess Institute's venture creation programming.