Mitch Lasky

Mitch Lasky
Lasky in 2013
Born
Mitchell Harold Lasky[1]

(1962-01-18) January 18, 1962 (age 62)
Los Angeles, California
Alma materHarvard College, University of Virginia School of Law
OccupationVenture Capitalist
EmployerGeneral Partner at Benchmark
Spouse
Cecilia Barajas
​
(m. 1987)​
[2]
Children2, including Quadeca

Mitchell Harold "Mitch" Lasky (born January 18, 1962) is a general partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Benchmark and a former entrepreneur and video game executive.

Education and early career

Lasky received a B.A. degree in History and Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.[3]

Early in his career, Lasky practiced law at the Los Angeles firm Irell & Manella, where he worked on various technology-related intellectual property cases.[4] In 1993, he joined The Walt Disney Company.[5] He left Disney in 1994 to launch a massively multiplayer online game company, Serum Entertainment Software.[3]

Lasky subsequently spent five years at video game publisher Activision, including a stint as executive vice president of Worldwide Studios,[6] helping to launch Quake 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Spider-Man.

In 2000,[7] he joined mobile games company JAMDAT as CEO,[8] and took the company public in 2004.[9] Electronic Arts acquired JAMDAT for $680 million in 2006.[5] Lasky served as executive vice president of mobile and online games at Electronic Arts from 2006 to 2007, after the JAMDAT acquisition.[10]

Benchmark

Lasky joined Benchmark in 2007 as a general partner.[11] He focuses on identifying investment opportunities in mobile, games, digital privacy and identity, and online education.[11] He has led the firm’s investments in and serves on the boards of Snapchat, Ubiquity6,[12] CyanogenMod, Engine Yard, Gaia, Riot Games, PlayFab,[13] Vivox, Grockit, Gaikai, RedRobot, Meteor Entertainment, thatgamecompany, and NaturalMotion.[5][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

In June 2012, VentureBeat asked Lasky about the current state of the gaming industry. Lasky replied:

We have seen disruptions come on a regular basis, like when we have a console transition. But I have never seen four major disruptions come all at the same time. We have disruptions in platforms, business models, content, and distribution. It’s the most exciting time I’ve ever seen.

Personal life

Mitch Lasky is the father of musician and YouTuber Benjamin "Quadeca" Lasky.

References

  1. ^ "Mitchell H Lasky in 'California Birth Index, 1905-1995'". familysearch.org. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  2. ^ "Mitchell Harold Lasky and Cecilia Maria Barajas in 'Virginia, Marriage Certificates, 1936-1988'". familysearch.org. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Board of Directors". Company. Gaikai. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  4. ^ "Mitchell Lasky J.D." Executive Profile. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c Takahashi, Dean (July 17, 2012). "Benchmark's Mitch Lasky: Game publishers will evolve or die (interview)". Venture Beat. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  6. ^ "Printable Biography of Mitch Lasky". Biographies. All American Speakers. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  7. ^ "Mitch Lasky". Speaker Bio. Dice Summit. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  8. ^ Elliott, Phil (July 10, 2008). "Mitch Lasky speaks out against "state regulation" of videogames". Games Industry International. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  9. ^ "Good Reception for Cellphone Game Maker IPO". Los Angeles Times. Reuters. September 29, 2004. p. 28. Retrieved June 12, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Remo, Chris (January 13, 2010). "Former EA Exec Lasky: 'EA Is In The Wrong Business'". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Lasky steps down at EA, joins VC firm". RCR Wireless. March 20, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  12. ^ "AR startup Ubiquity6 lands $27M Series B to build a more user-friendly augmented reality". TechCrunch. August 14, 2018.
  13. ^ Eric, Johnson (February 27, 2015). "Benchmark Leads $7.4 Million Round in Live Games Platform PlayFab". www.recode.com. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  14. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (January 11, 2008). "Benchmark Bets on Ruby on Rails With $3.5 Million Investment in Engine Yard". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  15. ^ Williams, Mike (July 18, 2012). "Benchmark's Mitch Lasky: The value of publishers "isn't clear"". Games Industry International. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  16. ^ "Mitch Lasky". VentureBeat Profiles. VentureBeat. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  17. ^ Takahashi, Dean (September 14, 2011). "Red Robot Labs raises $8.5M for location-based mobile gaming". VentureBeat. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  18. ^ Gallagher, Billy (February 8, 2013). "Snapchat Raises $13.5M Series A Led By Benchmark, Now Sees 60M Snaps Sent Per Day". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  19. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (September 18, 2013). "Cyanogen Mod Raises $7M To Find A Direct-To-Consumer Route For Android Firmware". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  20. ^ "Team". Web site. Cyanogen. Retrieved September 27, 2013.