# Dave Hitz

> Dave Hitz is a funding round investor at NetApp (San Francisco) backing Infrastructure. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [NetApp](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/netapp)
- Location: San Francisco, United States
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Jul 2000
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davehitz
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/davehitz

Dave Hitz is a funding round investor at NetApp in San Francisco focused on Infrastructure. As Executive Vice President, David Hitz is responsible for the future strategy and direction of NetApp.Dave Hitz and James Lau founded NetApp in 1992 with a desire to simplify storage the way Cisco simplified networking. Dave and James believed that general-purpose computing systems were too complex, so they built dedicated devices calledappliances. These appliances were designed to handle one thing well: storage.Prior to 1992, Dave worked as a senior engineer at Auspex Corporation, an enterprise storage solutions provider, where he was responsible for file systems and microkernel design. He also held engineering positions at MIPS Computer, focusing on file system and I/O subsystem design for the System V kernel development effort.Before his career in the computer industry, Dave worked as a cowboy, getting valuable management experience by herding, branding and castrating cattle. Dave documented these and other formative business experiences in his autobiography, “How To Castrate A Bull, Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Success in Business.“Dave holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and electrical engineering from Princeton University.

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Caw Networks | Caw Networks is a new Internet infrastructure company. | $9M |  | Jul 19, 2000 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## About NetApp

VC Fund · Sunnyvale, United States

NetApp creates storage and data management solutions that are designed to help customers accelerate business breakthroughs and achieve outstanding cost efficiency.Their mission has always been to help their customers achieve what matters most to them.In 1993, they shipped their first data storage system to Patrick Mulrooney, who at thattime was a system administrator at Tandem Computers. The network appliance was designed to clean up his infrastructure sprawl. He loved its simplicity.“Patrick’s favorite attribute was that their system rebooted in 30 seconds instead of hours like their competitors,” says NetApp co-founder, Dave Hitz. “While solving his downtime problem, they also gave Patrick a competitive edge.”More than 20 years later, their story is still about delivering innovation that gives their customers an edge over their competitors. From the edge of the universe with CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, to the edge of human endurance in Formula One auto racing, they help you do things you couldn’t before—at speeds you never thought possible.Throughout the world, leading organizations count on NetApp for software, systems, and services to manage and store their data. They help enterprises and service providers envision, deploy, and evolve their IT environments. Customers also benefit from their open collaboration with other technology leaders to create the specific solutions they need. their team is passionate about customer success. Their company culture and work environment support that dedication. Together with their global network of partners, they are united in one goal: to help their customers achieve the outcomes that matter most to them.They view their culture as a competitive advantage and a foundation for continued success. They proudly hire the world’s most talented and committed employees, who work hard to help their customers, partners, shareholders, and communities thrive.Their commitment to their values results in an award-winning culture of collaboration and trust. The Great Place to Work Institute recently named NetApp #4 on its "World's Best Multinational Workplaces 2015" - the world's first annual study of multinational workplace excellence. They have repeatedly earned a spot on FORTUNE magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in the United States, as well as top spots on "Great Place to Work" lists in locations around the world.Their operational philosophy and culture are defined by their commitment to delivering the best possible results for the communities they serve. At NetApp, they take pride in living a set of shared core values: trust and integrity, leadership, simplicity, adaptability, teamwork and synergy, go beyond, get things done.Since their beginning in 1992, they have been delivering technology and product firsts with one goal in mind: the success of their customers. They continually push the boundaries of what’s possible to provide efficient and flexible IT, so their customers’ budgets can go further and business can go faster. They have repeatedly set the industry standard with game-changing innovations that have the power to transform business.

5 contacts available at NetApp.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dave Hitz | Founder Emeritus | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dave-hitz |
| George Shaheen | Member of the Board of Directors | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/george-shaheen |
| James Lau | System Engineer | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-lau-38f6 |
| David Kristoff | Vice President, Total Rewards | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/david-kristoff |
| Morgan Boyer | Sales Operations Manager | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/morgan-boyer |

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## Featured in investor lists
- [Infrastructure Angel Investors](https://shizune.co/investors/infrastructure-angel-investors)

## FAQ

### What does Dave Hitz invest in?

Dave Hitz invests primarily in Infrastructure startups, most often at Funding Round stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Dave Hitz last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Dave Hitz closed in Jul 2000. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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