Why the former Tableau CEO just joined the board of a Zurich-based AI data analytics startup
Seattle-based technology investor and business leader Mark Nelson, the former Tableau CEO, has joined the board of Veezoo, a company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, that specializes in self-serve, AI-powered data analytics.
Veezoo’s conversational AI interface lets users ask questions about their business data to easily generate and edit charts and other visualizations. The idea is to make data-driven insights accessible to non-technical business users.
This contrasts with the deep expertise needed to take full advantage of tools such as Salesforce-owned Tableau and Microsoft’s PowerBI, which can require engaging with data analysts and other specialists inside companies.
“We’ve all been searching for this way to get those users directly involved with data, and able to answer their own questions with data,” Nelson said in an interview, explaining what motivated him to join the Veezoo board.
Nelson stepped down as Tableau CEO in December 2022 and invested in Veezoo in late 2023. The investment and board seat are separate from his role as a venture partner with Seattle-based venture capital firm Madrona.
He was announced as Veezoo’s new board member Monday, joining its three co-founders on the four-person board: brothers Marcos Monteiro (CEO) and JP Monteiro (CTO), and Till Haug (COO).
Nelson is selective about the startups he engages with this deeply. He is on one other board, CircleCI, although he said an announcement is coming soon about a third board seat with a company he couldn’t yet disclose.
His introduction to the Veezoo founders was serendipitous. A former Lithuanian exchange student hosted by Nelson’s family decades ago, Egle B. Thomas, is now a startup advisor in Switzerland, managing director of Stratergix GmbH. Given Nelson’s experience, Thomas suggested that he meet with the Veezoo founders.
Nelson said he quicky saw the value in what they were doing.
Other data visualization and business intelligence companies are increasingly offering their own AI chat interfaces, as well, but Veezoo took a conversational approach from the start. The company was founded in 2016, using natural language processing before adopting generative AI in recent years.
Nelson said the difference is apparent in the seamless and accurate nature of Veezoo’s technology. Large language models often fall short when it comes to working with data, but they excel at human interaction. Veezoo’s approach combines a specialized data processing engine with an AI-driven natural language interface.
“We have already proven that it’s possible to have LLMs working in an area where the answers are very critical, and the AI cannot hallucinate,” said Marcos Monteiro, the Veezoo CEO.
Veezoo has raised about $1 million in funding from angel investors. The company doesn’t disclose its specific financial results, but it’s profitable, with revenue in the seven figures annually, Marcos Monteiro said. Veezoo has thousands of customers as enterprise clients including large insurance companies and retailers.
The company has about 12 employees, including software developers from ETH Zurich, one of Europe’s top computer science schools.
In addition to naming Nelson to its board, Veezoo said it’s expanding into the U.S. market. With that, it’s also planning to hire in the U.S., focusing on sales and marketing. That could include new hires in the Seattle region.
“I’m highly encouraging it,” Nelson said.