Jager McConnell
Jager McConnell is an American technology executive who spent 11 years at Salesforce and has been CEO of Crunchbase since its 2015 spinout from AOLAOLAOL is an American internet brand offering a news portal, email, and membership services. Its history dates to an online-services company founded in 1985.Open the full entry/VerizonVerizonVerizon (Verizon Communications Inc.) is one of the largest telecommunications carriers in the United States, formed in 2000 through the merger of Bell Atlantic, one of the “Baby Bells,” and GTE. Headquartered in New York City, it operates a nationwide wireless network, Fios fiber broadband and communications services for businesses and government, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.Open the full entry, leading its shift to subscriptions and an AI predictions platform.
Contents15 sections
Key facts
1990sEarly Life and Education
McConnell has said he loved video games and film as a child and wanted to write films, and chose Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It grew out of the Carnegie Technical Schools, founded with funding from Andrew Carnegie in 1900, which were renamed the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1912 and took the present name after merging with the Mellon Institute in 1967. The university is known for computer science, robotics, engineering, and the arts, and has campuses in Qatar, Silicon Valley, and Rwanda. As of September 2025, it enrolled 16,582 students. Its current president is Farnam Jahanian. On September 30, 2026, the university announced a $3 billion gift from Ken Griffin and plans to build a new campus in Miami.Open the full entry for its strength in both arts and engineering.[1]
He studied computer science and, while in college, started an agency that helped Bayer Corporation build its first website around 1997–98.[2]
His Crunchbase profile lists Deerfield Academy as his secondary school.[3]
2000–2004At Betasphere
From June 2000 to May 2004 he was head of product at Betasphere.[3]
2004–2015Eleven Years at Salesforce
In 2004 he joined Salesforce as a sales engineer, when its annual revenue was about $80 million.[1]
He spent 11 years at Salesforce, most recently as vice president of product for Sales Cloud.[4]
He recalled working closely with Marc Benioff and said the company’s revenue was about $5 billion when he left.[2]
His Crunchbase profile also lists him as founder and CEO of Scary Cow Productions from September 2006 to September 2015.[3]
September 22, 2015Becomes CEO of Crunchbase
After Salesforce he was building a partnership-matching platform when he learned CrunchBaseCrunchbaseCrunchbase is a private-company data and intelligence platform headquartered in San Francisco. Created by Michael Arrington under TechCrunch in 2007 and spun out of AOL/Verizon in 2015, it now focuses on using AI to forecast private companies’ funding, growth and exits.Open the full entry might spin out; he recalled the company then had about a year of runway.[2]
Lead investor Emergence Capital recruited him as CEO of the spun-out CrunchBase, working with Matt Kaufman and the existing team.[5]
2016Paid Plans and Pro
Launching paid data plans in February 2016, he said the three tiers offered something for everyone.[6]
When Pro launched that September, he described the goal as becoming “the 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 for companies.”[7]
2017Announces Series B
Announcing the $18 million Series B, he wrote that the team had doubled in a year and introduced Crunchbase Business.[8]
February 2018The “Master Database” Goal
Launching the data marketplace in February 2018, he called it the next step in building “the master database for companies online.”[9]
2019–2020Series C and Diversity Spotlight
He announced the $30 million Series C led by OMERS Ventures under his own byline and said the company would continue with Pledge 1%.[10]
He called it “a good round but not something insane.”[11]
In 2020 he introduced Diversity Spotlight under his byline, setting out goals of discovery, analysis and accountability.[12]
July 20, 2022Closes Series D
Announcing the Series D, he said, “It's more important than ever for businesses to tap into account-based intelligence for their prospecting.”[13]
January 2023Sets an Internal AI Vision
He recalled presenting an internal AI vision to the company in January 2023; in June 2025 he said he had led the company for nine years.[14]
December 2025J.P. Morgan Collaboration
In December 2025 he said, “In today's noisy and opaque private markets, foresight is everything.”[15]
April 2026Speaks at HumanX
In April 2026 he joined the session “Signal Before the Surge: How to Spot AI Winners Early” at HumanX in San Francisco.[16]
June–September 2026: Product Launches
In June 2026 he said, “Enterprises need trusted private market data and predictive intelligence.”[17]
On September 10, 2026, he still spoke as CEO on Crunchbase data coming to ChatGPT.[18]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
X: Public account: https://x.com/jagermcconnell (opens in a new window)[3]
LinkedIn: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jager (opens in a new window)[3]
Crunchbase: Official website: https://www.crunchbase.com/ (opens in a new window)[19]
Salesforce: Official website: https://www.salesforce.com/ (opens in a new window)[20]
Sources
- Jager McConnell - CEO of Crunchbase | Innovation and Adaptability at Crunchbase (opens in a new window)
- Focus on leaders: Crunchbase's Jager McConnell (opens in a new window)
- Jager McConnell - CEO @ Crunchbase - Crunchbase Person Profile (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase leaves AOL with funding by Emergence Capital (opens in a new window)
- Our Investment in CrunchBase (opens in a new window)
- CrunchBase Raises $2M Series A2, Launches Paid Plans For Data Access (opens in a new window)
- CrunchBase Pro brings new search and analysis features for power users (opens in a new window)
- Growing our team with an $18M Series B (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase opens a marketplace for 3rd-party data in bid to be the 'master database for companies' (opens in a new window)
- $30M Series C: Looking Forward to the Future at Crunchbase (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase raises $30M more to double down on its ambition to be a 'LinkedIn for company data' (opens in a new window)
- It's Time for Action: Introducing Diversity Spotlight (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase secures $50M to help customers build pipeline and grow revenue with its account-based prospecting platform (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase CEO Jager McConnell in Exclusive Interview: "AI is now necessary for all companies. It's not even a choice." (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase Predictive Intelligence Now Available in Fusion by J.P. Morgan (opens in a new window)
- Meet Jager McConnell, speaker at HumanX (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase Introduces Market Insights as Enterprise Demand for Private Market Predictive Intelligence Drives 900% ACV Growth (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase Private Market Data Is Available in ChatGPT for Financial Services (opens in a new window)
- Crunchbase - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding (opens in a new window)
- Salesforce: The #1 AI CRM (opens in a new window)