Adam Dell was born in 1970 in Houston, Texas to a Jewish family whose surname reflects the translation into English of the original German/Yiddish Thal upon the family's immigration to the United States. The son of Lorraine Charlotte (née Langfan), a stockbroker, and Alexander Dell, an orthodontist.
He attended Memorial High School, Tulane University and the University of Texas School of Law.
He began his career working as a corporate attorney for Winstead Sechrest & Minick, in Austin, Texas, before joining the venture capital firm of Enterprise Partners in La Jolla, California, in 1997.
Adam Dell joined Austin Ventures as Venture Partner in May 2010. Adam has been a successful entrepreneur, academician, and has more than 12 years of experience in the venture capital industry. He focuses purely on early-stage venture investments in the information technology and business services areas.
Most recently, Adam was Founder and Managing General Partner of Impact Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on information technology investments. Prior to founding Impact, Adam was a partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners in Northern California, and a Senior Associate with Enterprise Partners in Southern California.
His prior investments include OpenTable (OPEN), Buzzsaw (ADSK), Ingenio (T), and Hotjobs (YHOO). Dell founded and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of MessageOne, which was acquired by Dell, Inc. in 2008. Dell teaches a course at the Business School at Columbia University on business, technology and teaches a class on the role of law in innovation at the University of Texas School of Law.
Adam is single. Dell has a daughter, Krishna Thea Lakshmi-Dell, with Padma Lakshmi.
He is the founder and CEO of Dell Inc., one of the world’s leading sellers of personal computers (PCs). He was ranked the 41st richest person in the world on 2012 Forbes list of billionaires, with a net worth of US$22.4 billion as of December 2014.
In 2011, his 243.35 million shares of Dell stock were worth $3.5 billion, giving him 12% ownership of the company.His remaining wealth of roughly $10 billion is invested in other companies and is managed by a firm whose name, MSD Capital, incorporates Dell's initials. On January 5, 2013 it was announced that Michael Dell had bid to take Dell Inc. private for $24.4 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout since the Great Recession.
On October 1, 2009, after years of struggling with endometriosis, a condition that causes pelvic pain and has been associated with infertility, Lakshmi confirmed that she was pregnant. Lakshmi also co-founded The Endometriosis Foundation of America, which is a nonprofit organization focused on increasing awareness, education, research, and legislative advocacy against the disease. On February 20, 2010, Lakshmi gave birth to a baby girl named Krishna Thea Lakshmi. Although the father's identity was not initially given, it was later revealed to be venture capitalist Adam Dell. In January 2011, Dell sued Lakshmi for sole custody of their daughter. They reached an agreement in March 2012, settling out of court, with Dell being granted increased custody and visitation rights and their daughter's full name changed to Krishna Thea Lakshmi-Dell.Padma is now a speaker and fundraiser at the MIT center for Gynepathology research
