Matt Malden

San Mateo, California, United States
Member since July 08, 2009

Great products plus great execution equals great success. I am a big fan of the lean startup and the minimum viable product. I am also an avid fan and practitioner of user interaction design and usability. Appreciate my technical background that has allowed me to collaborate well with some of the best engineering talent that exists in Silicon Valley. Quote_down

About

Education

1990 University of Michigan , BS , Computer Science/Economics

1995 University of Pennsylvania , MBA , Finance/Entrepreneurial Management

I am a(n):

First-time entrepreneur

Companies I've founded or co-founded:

Yield Software, Inc.

Companies I work or worked for:

Yield Software, Inc.

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to invent something cool.

My favorite startups:

Google (back in the day), Facebook, Zuora

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Testing business models and product functionality is a continuous game of trial and error. Be ready for lots of bumps along the road to finding the right ingredients for success.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Not validating an idea and business model by getting charter customers to pay for the product before it is even built.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. Its all about the minimum viable product
2. Hire the best people you can find and they almost always come through your network
3. The best product doesn't always win, but it sure helps

Full bio

Matt Malden is the CEO and Founder of Yield Software, a leading provider of internet marketing products delivered by software-as-a-service. Yield Software enables companies to increase revenue by automating, simplifying and optimizing the process of marketing on the internet.

Prior to Yield Software, Matt spent nine years as an executive at Siebel Systems. As Vice President and General Manager, he grew the Call Center product division from inception to more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Next, he led a joint development initiative with Microsoft and IBM in building a next-generation, service-oriented enterprise software platform. He also served as the Vice President and General Manager of Siebel’s Public Sector and Homeland Security products.

Matt previously held positions in software development at Oracle Corporation as well as financial and strategic planning at Pacific Telesis Group.

He holds numerous patents in user interface design, computer telephony integration, call scripting and advanced queuing and routing algorithms.

Matt has an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was recognized as a Palmer Scholar. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Economics from the University of Michigan.