David James Richards

David James Richards is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technology executive. He currently serves as the co-founder and CEO of WANdisco. His entrepreneurship is associated with the UK city of his birth Sheffield. In June 2012, he led the company to an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

He was born in Sheffield, England in 1970, where his father worked in the steel industry. Graduating with a degree in computer science from the University of Huddersfield in 1992, he became an early member of the team at Druid Group.

In the mid 1990s, Richards formed an SAP consulting company, which he sold in the late 1998 and moved to Silicon Valley. Raising $25m from venture capital, he then founded business software company Insevo before creating Librados, which was acquired by Netmanage in 2004.

WANdisco was incorporated in 2005 after a chance meeting between Richards and WANdisco chief scientist, Dr. Yeturu Aahlad. Richards recognized the potential of Aahlad's invention, and the two decided to create a company without the use of venture capital or angel investors.