Michael Saylor became Northern Virginia’s go-to tech entrepreneur thanks to his good looks and confident demeanor as a young adult. He became well known in national press coverage, dined with U.S. senators, and established a nonprofit tuition-free college.
But Saylor has since seen his fortune tied to Bitcoin, drawing criticism even from former colleagues at his former company.
Born in 1965 in Lincoln, Nebraska
Michael Saylor is the Co-Founder and CEO of MicroStrategy, an analytics software company. In addition, he is an active philanthropist who advocates strongly for Bitcoin as a financial instrument, leading him to become an outspoken figure within the crypto community.
Michael Saylor grew up as part of a military family and spent his early years moving among various Air Force bases around the world. By age 15, they settled near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio where he excelled as both newspaper carrier and Scholastic Aptitude Test top scorer before heading off to study aeronautics and astronautics and science, technology, and society at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating top of class with degrees in both areas while becoming a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity fraternity.
After graduating from MIT, Saylor worked as a consultant for various technology companies. In 1987 he joined The Federal Group Inc. where he developed computer models to forecast change in key markets; later at DuPont using similar techniques; however his entrepreneurial spirit couldn’t be contained so in 1989 he and Sanju Bansal founded MicroStrategy together.
Since founding his company, Saylor has been at the heart of its success. He has won multiple awards and accolades for his leadership; often acting as keynote speaker at industry events; as well as writing several books including 2012’s “The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Transform Everything”.
MicroStrategy boasts over 3,000 employees at their McLean, Virginia headquarters and is recognized as an industry leader for business intelligence, mobile software, and cloud-based services. Their customer list includes DuPont, Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York among others. Furthermore, this global company maintains offices in London Tokyo and Sydney.
Saylor enjoys playing golf and participating in numerous sports in his spare time, reading avidly and being an ardent philanthropist who has given away over $1 Million to various organizations and causes.
Education
Michael Saylor spent much of his youth traveling between Air Force bases around the world before finally settling with his family in Dayton, Ohio. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology he obtained two degrees – Aerospace Engineering and History of Science. Following graduation he worked at DuPont before founding MicroStrategy: an information analysis software company with clients including McDonald’s, Victoria’s Secret and Kmart; now employing over 2,000 people worldwide.
Michael Saylor’s company has enjoyed rapid expansion since its establishment in 1989. While originally focused on data mining and business intelligence, its services now also include mobile software and cloud-based offerings. Michael is renowned for his dedication to technology and innovation; Forbes often features him among their contributors.
He was an early advocate of Bitcoin and has made several investments in crypto assets. Additionally, he has written numerous articles regarding its future.
His thoughts on cryptocurrency have had an enormous effect, helping shape its market. He has even spoken at numerous conferences on this topic and become so well-known for them that some have even compared him with Elon Musk in terms of influence.
Saylor has made significant contributions to both tech industry and society as a whole, including several books written on mobile intelligence such as 2012’s New York Times bestseller list title The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything and numerous articles/papers regarding their impact.
Saylor remains humble despite his impressive accomplishments, enjoying spending time with family and hobbies such as sports. As an environmentalist and supporter of various charitable causes, Saylor also finds time for local projects in politics as well. Additionally, Saylor remains passionate about education – believing it essential that our schools continue to improve.
Career
Michael Saylor, an entrepreneur and co-founder of MicroStrategy, an analytics software provider offering enterprise analytics, mobility, and cloud services, served as CEO until 2022 when he moved into his present role of chairman. Michael boasts extensive experience in technology industry leadership – he won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1997 as well as being featured in numerous magazines.
Saylor co-founded MicroStrategy with Sanju Bansal in 1989, developing software for business intelligence, mobile analytics, and data mining. MicroStrategy became widely adopted among industry peers after pioneering relational online analytical processing (ROLAP), one of its early approaches to business intelligence that became widely adopted within five years. After going public under its MSTR ticker symbol in 1998, revenue has steadily grown since Saylor took control.
Saylor became a multibillionaire during the tech boom of late 1990s thanks to his stake in MicroStrategy, but after questionable accounting led to restatement of financial results and dot-com bust crashed its stock, his status as a billionaire diminished significantly. However, through wise investments in bitcoin he regained it again; purchasing over 150,000 BTC personally while using MicroStrategy cash reserves to purchase another 70,784 for corporate reserves.
Saylor’s commitment to his company and investments has propelled him to the forefront of the cryptocurrency community. He is often quoted in interviews about the future of digital economies and blockchain technologies, offering his views publicly.
Saylor enjoys working in the tech industry as well as taking part in extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding and rock climbing. Additionally, he is an avid reader with extensive knowledge in history and literature.
Saylor has used his professional and recreational abilities to establish a successful career; however, his adaptability enables him to make a living in any number of fields. GPT-4 suggests he could provide compelling commentary for extreme sports events with his ability to pinpoint intricate details while projecting excitement through voice to add to their thrill factor.
Personal Life
Michael Saylor, as the head of business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, is a multimillionaire who can afford a luxurious life. However, much of his fortune rests with both stocks of MicroStrategy and Bitcoin; both have experienced considerable losses during recent market selloffs – more than 60% for MicroStrategy shares this month and nearly 30% in just two days for Bitcoin prices alone.
Michael Saylor has donated millions to various charitable and environmental causes through his foundations like Saylor Academy. An active philanthropist himself, Michael has supported causes related to refugee relief, education, environmental conservation, and many more. Furthermore, Michael has written numerous books featured on New York Times Best Seller lists.
He has an established history of making controversial statements and opinions. For instance, he was one of the early advocates for Bitcoin’s demise around ten years ago before changing his mind later and advocating its growth instead.
Saylor was born into a middle-class family and raised on multiple Air Force bases, attending college with high honors before joining the Air Force for flight officer training and starting his own software company named MicroStrategy in 1989.
MicroStrategy Solutions LLC specializes in data warehouse and business intelligence solutions for government agencies, financial institutions, and large businesses. Their technology helps make decisions quickly while improving efficiency; some of their products include MicroStrategy Platform, Intuitive Workplace, and MicroStrategy Mobile.
Saylor is the founding leader of his company and serves as its hands-on manager. Often seen on its social media accounts and at industry events, Saylor is known as an engaging speaker and has even earned several awards for his groundbreaking ideas.
Saylor has always considered himself an influential figure and looked up to figures such as Caesar, Churchill and Gandhi as inspirations. To commemorate these historical figures he decorated his basement with press clippings framed for display and kept Rodin’s “The Thinker” sculpture in his office.
