Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States
I am passionate about working with entrepreneurs building the next generation of software-driven products and services. My career began at Microsoft in 1989 as a software design engineer in development tools. Working in product management, I became a senior executive on Microsoft Office overseeing six major releases of the full range of Office apps and servers. Most recently I was President of the Windows division through 2012 working on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Surface as well as Windows Services such as Outlook.com and SkyDrive. With Harvard Business School professor Marco Iansiti, I've co-authored a book, "One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making" based on internal blog posts written throughout the time I spent with the Windows team and business. I have spent significant time outside the US focusing on the use and role of technology in developing markets. I've lived in China and am currently focused on learning in Africa. In addition to writing as a LinkedIn Influencer, you can see more writing on my blog "Learning by Shipping" (https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/) or follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/stevesi.
Authored and published "Hardcore Software: Inside the Rise and Fall of the PC Revolution". Through this first-person account of my time at Microsoft, I aim to convey to you an insider’s story of growing influence and corporate obstacles, the evolution of technology that changed the world, and most of all the people that made it happen. Hardcore Software shares the ups and downs of building massive software projects used by billions of people around the world. The scale of the software increases as the narrator and participant grows, starting as an individual contributor on pioneering tools for building Windows applications then rising to leading Microsoft Office and then Microsoft Windows. Sinofsky shares his experiences creating and managing successful software as well as the lessons that come from failure. We learn the inside story of how Microsoft tackled the challenges of the rise of the internet, the creation of Windows 95 and Office 95, and the wildly successful pivot to building enterprise products as Sinofsky works for Chairman/CEO Bill Gates as technical assistant and then as a member and eventual leader of the Office team. Following this is a period of challenging management and morale through the development of Office 2007 and Windows Vista. Sinofsky then moves to managing the Windows team and sees the team through the creation of the successful and stabilizing Windows 7 product followed by the controversial and ultimately unsuccessful product aimed at competing with Apple, Windows 8. Through all of this, candor and insider are the words that best describe the colorful and detailed analysis of what went well and what could have gone better. Released weekly on Substack with hundreds of archive materials, photos, articles, and memos all from my experience at Microsoft 1989-2012. Later compiled and released as an eBook availablea on most major eBook platforms. Audio narration by the author is also available. hardcoresoftware.substack.com
Board member representing Andreessen Horowitz in the firm's investment. http://a16z.com/2016/01/14/everlaw/
Advisor representing Andreessen Horowitz investment in company. http://a16z.com/2014/06/22/tanium-magic/
http://blog.box.com/2013/08/welcoming-steven-sinofsky-as-a-box-advisor/
As a non-employee, serve on boards for select portfolio companies representing the firm as determined by investing partners. Assist and advise portfolio companies as they scale with management and strategy, mentoring, advising. https://venturebeat.com/2013/08/22/former-windows-guru-steven-sinofsky-joins-andreessen-horowitz-as-board-partner/