Mike Krenn was CEO of the San Diego Venture Group from 2015 to 2019. He helped orchestrate the merger with Connect, serving as CEO until early 2025. Mike has been a regional leader in San Diego for decades, leading a mission to thoughtfully grow the innovation economy – for the benefit of future generations. With both SDVG and Connect, those organizations were leaders, regularly mentoring companies, helping companies secure funding, and helping existing companies to scale.
Mike has been instrumental in influencing VCs to proactively seek out Southern California companies for investment. He has led year efforts attracting more than 200 VCs annually to San Diego. His efforts have been central to transforming San Diego’s venture economy from a $1B annual market, to one that now attracts $5-6B annually.
During his career, Mike has been fortunate to work with thousands of startups, helping more than 100 companies raise angel and venture capital, in excess of $800M. He’s likely read more pitch decks, advised more entrepreneurs, and helped more companies raise money than most anyone in San Diego history. Yada yada. He also has experience (and empathy) with start-ups, having worked as COO at a venture-backed tech start-up.
Mike was a founder of both the Tech Coast Angels (www.nufund.com) and CommNexus (Now Evonexus). Also opened a regional startup office in SF, ran billboards on the 101, launched the first MLB takeover of a ballpark to support innovation, and founded XEO, Connect’s leadership program for diverse talent. He did some big things at a law firm or two before that, ran global BD, etc.
He’s sadly lost a step on the hoops court in recent years, but can still score on his kid, which is really what matters.
