Zach Michel

Zach Michel is a prominent figure in the tech startup landscape, currently serving as the Co-Founder of Middleware, a company that focuses on cloud observability solutions. Middleware is part of the Y Combinator Winter 2023 batch and aims to simplify cloud-native complexities for businesses by providing a unified observability platform that integrates logs, traces, and metrics.

Background and Experience

Before founding Middleware, Zach was a key member of Looker, where he played a significant role in establishing the Customer Success and Support teams. Under his leadership, these teams grew from inception to over 140 employees globally, managing a substantial customer base and contributing to Looker's impressive annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $125 million. Looker was acquired by Google Cloud in 2019 for $2.6 billion, highlighting the impact of Zach's contributions during his tenure there.1

After the acquisition, Zach continued at Google Cloud, where he led Customer Success Technical Strategy for two years before returning to the startup environment with Middleware in 2022.12 His extensive experience also includes roles at Firebolt and Google, where he focused on customer success engineering and solutions strategy.23

Education

Zach holds degrees in Economics and Global Economics from Lund University and Technology and Information Management from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Personal Interests

Outside of his professional endeavors, Zach enjoys spending time with family and pets, traveling, and engaging in sports such as lacrosse and video games. He is passionate about customer experience and believes in investing in both customers and team members to foster success.4

Zach's commitment to enhancing customer experiences is evident in his leadership style, which emphasizes support and empowerment for both customers and his team members.