Team

Q&A with Matt Miller

Q: When did you first become interested in technology?

A: I started writing code when I was 12. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) had given our school a DEC PDP 6, and our math teacher let a small number of students play with it. My first program was a Star Trek game on punch tape in either Cobol or PL1.

Q: When did you first become interested in investing?

A: I made my first investment when I was 13. My grandmother asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and for some reason I said "stock." I owned $89 worth of Wang Laboratories stock, which subsequently ran up to $500. I then learned my first investment lesson as I watched the value of my stock run all the way down. I've invested every year since then.

Q: Who has had the greatest impact on your career?

A: Pat House and Tom Siebel - two senior Oracle executives who later founded Siebel Systems. After I graduated from business school, I had offers to join Procter & Gamble and Warner Lambert, but I was interested in technology. House and Siebel made me an offer to come out to California and work at Oracle, and I've been here ever since.

Q: What is your greatest achievement as a venture capitalist?

A: When we invested in Niku, I worked closely with Josh Pickus, the company's CEO. In addition to recruiting Niku's head of sales, I participated in regular company meetings on important marketing and strategy issues. The reason I feel good about my role is not just because we increased Niku's stock price many times over before we sold to Computer Associates; I feel proud about Niku because we were able to work together with management to build the team and the business, and we played a big role in growing the company.