Peter Ziebelman

Peter Ziebelman
Lecturer
Contact Info
PeterZiebelman

Teaching Statement

Peter Ziebelman teaches S330 “Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Partnership for Growth” with John Glynn in the winter quarter. Peter received his degree from the GSB in 1987 as a Sloan fellow (now the MSx program). That year served as a perfect transition from his experience as an entrepreneur with venture backed start-ups to becoming a venture capitalist in 1988. Peter’s mission at the GSB is to help students understand the insider’s view of venture capital, the real world of venture capital negotiations and how to navigate in the rapidly evolving VC sector. His teaching, guest speakers and active classroom discussion has benefited the GSB student who is planning his or her start-up as well as the GSB student who wishes to enter the venture capital or private equity fields. Peter also advises Fortune 500 companies on entrepreneurship within their organizations as well as individuals who are interested in forming new venture capital partnerships.

Bio

Peter Ziebelman started his career as a venture capitalist 25 years ago.

He co-founded Palo Alto Venture Partners in 1996, after starting the US Information Technology Operations of the UK venture capital firm, Thompson Clive Partners in 1988. Peter has served on the boards of early stage companies that ultimately became public companies, such as AvantGo (AVGO), Persistence (PRSW) and Vicinity (VCNT).

Peter has also served on the boards of dozens of privately held high technology companies across a range of sectors from cloud based computing (DemandForce) to calendaring (When.com) to online car insurance (esurance) to security (PostX). He is also an independent director to a select number of privately held companies.

Peter was named to AlwaysOn’s Venture Capital 100 – the top 100 VC’s for 2012.

Peter started his career in sales and sales management with the Semiconductor Group at Texas Instruments. He later became the business products manager at a venture backed software start-up – Ryan-McFarland (now MicroFocus, Plc).

Peter is on the Stanford Graduate School of Business MSx Advisory Board, on the advisory board of the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford and formerly on the executive board of the Pacific Skyline Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a past president of the Yale Club of Silicon Valley.

Peter received a Bachelor of Science in Combined Sciences (with honors and distinction in the major) from Yale University in 1978, a Master of Science in Management from the Stanford GSB in 1987.

Peter and his wife, Cindy, live in Palo Alto and have three sons.

Teaching

Degree Courses

2019-20

This 3 unit course is designed for students interested in early-stage investing, venture capital, and/or entrepreneurship. The course content and projects are designed to be complementary to the dozens of great GSB courses about entrepreneurship...

2018-19

This 3 unit course is a case study based course designed for those students interested in exploring the current environment for entrepreneurs and/or investors. The partnership (and interaction) between the entrepreneur and the investor is a very...

2017-18

This 3 unit course is a case study based course designed for those students interested in entrepreneurship and/or investing. The partnership (and interaction) between the entrepreneur and the investor is a very important dimension in the growth...

Stanford Case Studies

Floodgate: An Entrepreneurial VC | E644
Peter Ziebelman, Amadeus Orleans2019
Corporate Venture Capital Primer | E636
Peter Ziebelman, Matt Saucedo2017
Cofounder Equity Split Vignettes | E578
Peter Ziebelman, Matthew Saucedo2016
Movile (A): Going Global - Is Silicon Valley the Next Stop? | E539A
Peter Ziebelman, George Foster, Jessica Morgan2015
Movile (B): Building New Venture Opportunities | E539B
George Foster, Peter Ziebelman, Jessica Morgan2015
Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi): The Decision to IPO | E538
Peter Ziebelman, Jessica Morgan2015
Startup Capital Ventures in China | E325
John Glynn Jr., Claire Magat, Peter Ziebelman2009
StartUp Capital Ventures | E247
Bethany Coate, John Glynn Jr., Peter Ziebelman2007
Emerick Woods: Leadership and Venture Capital | E216
John Glynn Jr., Alex Tauber, Peter Ziebelman2006
Handspring and Palm, Inc. A Corporate Drama In Five Acts | E189
John Glynn Jr., Joshua Spitzer, Peter Ziebelman2005

Teaching Materials

  • Floodgate: An Entrepreneurial VC
    Peter Ziebelman, Amadeus Orleans, 2017 | Stanford Graduate School of Business case (forthcoming)

Stanford University Affiliations

Insights by Stanford Business

December 12, 2016
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December 15, 2015
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November 18, 2015
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School News

July 11, 2012
Award-winning economist Susan Athey, noted econometrician Guido Imbens, corporate finance expert Joshua Rauh, and others to join Stanford GSB faculty.