Michael Slater

Michael J. Slater is a San Diego–based entrepreneur, operator, and angel investor with more than 25 years building and advising high-growth technology companies. He earned a B.A. in International Business from California State University, Fullerton, and an International MBA from the University of San Diego. He began his career as an International Trade Specialist with the U.S. Commerce Department, where he advised a client base of more than 200 technology companies on overseas market-entry and growth strategy.

Slater is best known as the co-founder and long-time CEO of Nik Software, which he joined as CEO in 1999 when it was a two-person graphic-design and photo-software startup. Under his leadership the company grew into a global imaging-software business, securing a roughly $10M strategic investment and alliance with Nikon Corporation of Japan in 2005 (reported at a 14x revenue valuation) and building partnerships with Apple, Intel, Nvidia, and Adobe. Nik's mobile app Snapseed became the #1 iOS app in its category and won Apple's iPad App of the Year; the company reached a valuation of more than $200 million before being acquired by Google in 2012, after which Snapseed scaled to roughly 140 million users worldwide. Slater is a two-time winner of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 award and has been an active YPO member since 2007.

Today he serves as Founder & Chairman of Entry Ventures Group, which he describes as a "group of companies dedicated to unlocking the full potential of startups." Entry Ventures positions itself less as a traditional check-writer and more as a set of "potential capitalists" and "force multipliers" who embed with founders as fractional co-founders. Slater codified the firm's approach around four pillars — Innovation, Strategy ("Dreaming Backwards"), Investment, and Scalability — delivered through a proprietary "collaborative-science" model.

Beyond investing, Slater is co-founder and CFO of Serving Good, Inc., a nonprofit that operates free food markets for active military, veterans, and their families. In October 2025 he joined CEO Coaching International as a Partner and Coach, formalizing his shift toward advising CEOs through growth and high-value exits. He has been married for more than 30 years and has two adult sons.

• Invests as an operator-angel / fractional co-founder rather than a passive check — Entry Ventures provides "direct initial key capital" alongside deep hands-on involvement in product, strategy, finance, and scaling.
• Frames the firm's identity as "potential capital": "potential capitalists" and "force multipliers" who serve as "entrepreneurs serving entrepreneurs."
• Uses a "Dreaming Backwards" methodology — having founders envision the business at full scale, then reverse-engineering the components and milestones needed to get there.
• Organizes engagements around four Potential Quadrants: Innovation (product/dev support), Strategy (reverse-engineered roadmaps), Investment (capital plus buy-in from investors, employees, partners, and customers), and Scalability (accounting, finance, and admin support so founders can focus on product and team).
• Says "yes" to founders coachable enough to treat him as an expanded team member; his own bias is toward companies where operating leverage, strategic alliances, and a clear path to a high-value exit are achievable — mirroring the Nik Software / Nikon / Google playbook.