Say Hello to Yousuf Khan, Ridge’s New Partner!
CIO extraordinaire. Enterprise aficionado. The man they call “Helper-in-Chief.”
The Ridge-inforcements keep coming. Over the past year we’ve added Partner Brendan Baker, Head of Investor Relations Susan Stella, Principal Kamil Saeid, and Head of Technology Andrew Cove to our team. Now we have the pleasure of welcoming our newest Partner Yousuf Khan, a longtime advisor to us and an active member of our Ridge CXO Network.
The sultan of sweater vests, Yousuf’s knowledge of the B2B landscape is as sound as his V-neck/button-up ensembles. A Bay Area CIO of the Year finalist, his 20 years of CIO experience at companies like Automation Anywhere, Pure Storage, Moveworks, and Qualys — spearheading everything from infrastructure to security to business applications and customer advocacy — will bring unique expertise to our investment team. Specifically, his skill set is a perfect fit for Ridge’s focus on post-product, pre-spreadsheet investment rounds.
The list of verticals Yousuf has worked in is exceptionally horizontal: E-commerce, security, construction, media, the budding edtech sector, and of course enterprise solutions. His grasp of myriad industries will prove useful to our wide-ranging portfolio of early-stage companies changing the world through data and code. He’s been knee-deep in the startup trenches, buying, building, implementing, and reviewing hundreds of enterprise solutions, so he understands how young companies become enterprise-ready and successfully market their products.
Yousuf is also something of a founder whisperer. After moving to the Bay Area in 2014 (he’s lived on four different continents), Yousuf spent his non-CIO time advising entrepreneurs, typically on weekends at Cafe Nur in Los Altos. It was during this time that he launched a monthly dinner series known as “CIO Group Therapy.” Aside from unifying the Bay Area’s CIO community, the popular event allows startups to pitch leading CIOs and receive helpful feedback. Thanks to Yousuf’s advisory efforts, founders from Zoom, Mist Systems, Productiv, Oomnitza, Pulse, Orkus, Polly, and more have gained invaluable insights. This “Helper-in-Chief” mindset exudes the fast, flexible, and founder-focused approach we pride ourselves on.
We invite you to drop Yousuf a line and welcome him to the Ridge Familia. He’ll likely be cooling off with an ice-cold Dr. Pepper (his drink of choice), problem-solving with a Ridge founder while The Eagles (his band of choice) plays in the background. He’s here to help companies “Take it to the Limit,” but he knows when to “Take it Easy,” too.
For more on this big news check out Yousuf’s post on LinkedIn and the official press release.
