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Pete Soderling

Pete Soderling

Engineer, founder, investor, and community builder

pete-soderling
San Francisco, California
Joined November 2024
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Network

11K connections

Summary

Pete Soderling is a serial entrepreneur with a deep background in software engineering, having founded multiple companies including mechanikal (software development agency, 2003), Stratus Security (data API management, 2009), and Hakka Labs (social network for engineers, 2012). His experience spans the first internet bubble and includes developing cloud-based platforms and fostering technical communities. notion+2
He is a prominent community builder in the data and AI space, most notably as the founder of Data Council since 2015. Data Council started as the world's first global data engineering conference in 2013, evolving into a significant network for data professionals and a platform for identifying and supporting engineer-founders. datacouncil+2
As the General Partner of Zero Prime Ventures, founded in 2020, Pete Soderling is dedicated to investing in and mentoring engineer-founders. Zero Prime provides pre-seed/seed funding to B2B enterprise startups in data infrastructure, AI/ML, devtools, and blockchain, leveraging Pete's extensive network to provide strategic support beyond just capital. zeroprime+3
Pete Soderling is committed to helping 10,000 engineers start companies. This mission is evident through his venture capital work, his role as a mentor at 500 Startups, and his AngelList syndicate, all geared towards nurturing deeply technical individuals into successful entrepreneurs. notion+3
He is a published author on Medium, contributing numerous articles on data tools, the evolution of data ecosystems, and insights into investing in engineer-founders. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences like TEDx, O'Reilly Strata, and QCon, sharing his expertise on engineering, entrepreneurship, and the data space. medium+4

Work

Education

Writing

What are the most popular OSS data projects of 2021?

April 1, 2021

Presents the results of the Data Council 2021 OSS Data Tools Community Survey, detailing popular open-source data projects.

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Investing in the Next 1,000 Engineer-Founders

December 1, 2020

A blog post detailing his mission to help 1,000 engineer-founders launch startups and his journey into founding, supporting, and funding engineer-led startups.

Favicon imagepetesoder.medium.com

21 MORE Hot Data Tools and What They Don’t Do

August 1, 2020

A follow-up article on new developments and challenges in the data tools landscape.

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25 Hot New Data Tools and What They DON’T Do

May 1, 2020

An article discussing the evolving data ecosystem, consolidating trends, and new challenges with data tools.

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Why We Became Data Council

January 1, 2019

Explains the transition of DataEngConf to Data Council in 2019, emphasizing the focus on deeply technical data professionals and community building.

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Notes

DTDominik Tobschallsaid
PSPete Soderling
is one of the most insightful private equity professionals they've worked with.

Nov 27, 2025

IWIan Whitesaid they've seen
PSPete Soderling
bring exceptional insight and value as an LP or GP at their fund.

Oct 14, 2025

RZRaymond Zhaosaid
PSPete Soderling
has made impressive early-stage investments in biotech or deep tech companies.

Oct 5, 2025

RZRaymond Zhaosaid they've seen
PSPete Soderling
make especially impactful investments at the pre-seed or seed stage.

Sep 10, 2025