About
Sam Pullara is a Managing Director and CTO at Sutter Hill Ventures, where he focuses on investments in AI applications and infrastructure, enterprise infrastructure technologies including databases and storage, and cloud enablement software. His background spans venture capital, systems architecture, and software development, with particular expertise in scaling, performance optimization, and open source technologies.
Experience
- Sutter Hill VenturesManaging Directorcurrent2012 — presentPalo Alto, CA
- Morado Venture PartnersLimited Partnercurrent2010 — presentPalo Alto, CA
- Benchmark CapitalLimited Partnercurrent2008 — present
- Benchmark CapitalEIR2010 — 2011
- AitiaAngel Investorcurrent2001 — present
- Observe, Inc.Investor2017 — 2026San Mateo, California
- Bench Computing, Inc.Co-Founder / Investor / Interim CTO2024 — 2025Palo Alto, California, United States
- TranspositInvestor2016 — 2024San Francisco Bay Area
- LaceworkInvestor2015 — 2024Mountain View, CA
- Terrain Data (acquired by Confluent)Investor, Board of Directors2015 — 2018
- Nexenta SystemsAdvisor2008 — 2018
- CurbsideBoard of Directors, Investor2015 — 2018Palo Alto, CA
- Wavefront Inc.Founder, Board of Directors, Investor2013 — 2017Palo Alto, CA
- Boxer, Inc.Investor, Board of Directors2013 — 2015
- Pure StorageAngel Investor2010 — 2015
- FoundationDBInvestor, Board of Directors2013 — 2015
- TwitterAdvisor2012 — 2014San Francisco Bay Area
- TwitterSoftware Engineer2011 — 2012San Francisco Bay Area
- OtherInboxAngel Investor2010 — 2012
- Bagcheck, Inc.CTO/CEO & Co-founder2010 — 2011
Education
- Northwestern UniversityMS, Physics1993 — 1995
- Worcester Polytechnic InstituteBS, Physics1990 — 1993
Skills & more
Java52Scala13Scalability99Twitter18Hadoop14hbase3Angel Investing10Venture Capital26HBase7Amazon EC28Web Services15Weblogic7
+12 more
FundingBig DataServer ArchitectureAgile MethodologiesPerformance TuningNoSQLSaaSEnterprise SoftwareOpen SourceRuby on RailsRubySOAP- Introducing Semantic Kernel: Building AI-Based Apps — LinkedIn
From Sam's professional profile.
Colleagues at Sutter Hill Ventures
Network1
Investors connected to Sam in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does Sam Pullara work?
- Sam Pullara is Managing Director at Sutter Hill Ventures.
Same school
Also attended Northwestern University337
Hannah KrootMarketing Lead at Intel CapitalMikowai AshwillInvestor at Spark CapitalNaomi Pilosof IonitaBoard Partner at Menlo VenturesEric OngInvestor at LightbankBill PescatelloInvestor at LightbankScott JacobsonManaging Director at Madrona Venture Group
+ 331 more
Also attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute31
Steve VassalloInvestor at Foundation CapitalAbe MurrayGeneral Partner at AlleyCorpJiong MaInvestor at Phoenix Venture PartnersJill GoldsteinPrincipal at Vida VenturesStephen MarcusCo-Founder and General Partner at Riot VenturesKun PengGP at Blockchain Builders
+ 25 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Benchmark Capital41
Bill GurleyGeneral Partner Emeritus at Benchmark; author of Above the Crowd; BG2 co-hostPeter FentonGeneral Partner at BenchmarkSarah TavelVenture Partner at BenchmarkBarr YaronPartner at Amplify PartnersMatt MocharyInvestor at Fortius VenturesElie WurtmanCo-Founder & Managing Partner at PICO Venture Partners
+ 35 more
