Aydin Senkut

Senkut was born in Istanbul.⁠[1]

He grew up in Turkey, attended a German school, and lived or worked in Morocco, Germany, Switzerland and Brazil.⁠[2]

In 1996, he completed his graduate studies at the University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania, commonly called Penn, is a private research university and Ivy League member in Philadelphia. It traces its origins to a 1740 charity-school project; Benjamin Franklin proposed his academy in 1749, classes began in 1751, and a 1791 merger established the institution under its present name. Penn has 12 schools, with undergraduate education concentrated in arts and sciences, engineering, nursing and Wharton. Enrollment totaled 29,384 in fall 2025, and the fiscal 2025 endowment was $24.81 billion. As of October 2026, J. Larry Jameson was president, with his term scheduled to end on June 30, 2027.Open the full entry and the Wharton School.⁠[3]

He holds a bachelor’s from Boston University, a Wharton MBA and a University of Pennsylvania MA.⁠[1]

After his undergraduate studies, he briefly worked in finance at Hoffmann-La Roche. Following graduate school, he joined Silicon Graphics in business development and product management.⁠[4]

He was among Google’s first 30 employees.⁠[5]

He joined Google in 1999, became an international sales manager and a senior web search and syndication manager, and left in 2005.⁠[4]

Felicis’s official timeline dates its first fund to 2006. Its second fund, launched in 2010 with $41 million, was its first institutional fund.⁠[6]

A September 2010 report counted 60 companies backed by Senkut over four and a half years. Felicis had recorded 15 liquidity events since early 2006; he said those exits occurred within three and a half years of the initial investments.⁠[7]

In 2015, he joined Lori Rosenkopf’s Culture of Technology course as an alumni guest speaker, discussing his Silicon Valley career with students.⁠[5]

By April 2016, Felicis had raised four funds and invested in 150 companies, with 55 exits including three IPOs. Senkut emphasized persistence in pursuing opportunities and building relationships as important parts of investing.⁠[8]

In 2018, Felicis introduced a pledge to devote 1% of each initial investment to founder development.⁠[6]

During a Wharton alumni panel that January, he encouraged students to back their own abilities when their ambitions diverged from an established career path.⁠[9]

On April 17, 2025, he wrote about Felicis’s investment in Revel. The team met founder Scott Morton in 2024 and became the company’s first investor.⁠[10]

He described Revel’s development of a programming environment for hardware control, combining a language, physical simulation and observability tools for fields such as aerospace and robotics.⁠[10]

In 2025, Felicis’s tenth fund totaled $900 million.⁠[6]

Boston University’s 2025 annual report records his gift to the Senkut Family Scholarship for Questrom undergraduates. The gift qualified for the university’s Century Challenge, which matches scholarship income; the report did not disclose his donation amount.⁠[11]

In 2026, he made his thirteenth consecutive appearance on the Forbes Midas List, ranked 47th. His early investments included Adyen, CanvaCanvaCanva is an online design platform company headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams and launched in 2013, it offers template-based drag-and-drop design tools for non-designers and later expanded into team collaboration, video, email, forms and generative AI features.Open the full entry, Notion and Shopify.⁠[1]

Wharton’s Graduate Executive Board includes Senkut.⁠[3]

The Lauder Institute lists the Aydin Senkut Scholarship among the fellowships supporting its students.⁠[12]

He argues that founders should define success and how to measure it, aiming to build a leading company rather than treating a financing round or exit as the goal.⁠[2]

Boston University: Official website: https://www.bu.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

The Wharton School: Official website: https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]

University of Pennsylvania: Official website: https://www.upenn.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

Hoffmann-La Roche: Official website: https://www.roche.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[15]

Silicon Graphics (HPE acquisition record): Official website: https://investors.hpe.com/financial/acquisitions (opens in a new window)⁠[16]

Google: Official website: https://about.google/company-info/ (opens in a new window)⁠[17]

Felicis: Official website: https://www.felicis.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]

Wharton Graduate Executive Board: Official website: https://boards.wharton.upenn.edu/graduate-executive-board/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]

X public account: Official account: https://x.com/asenkut (opens in a new window)⁠[19]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry public account: Official account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aydins/ (opens in a new window)⁠[20]