Michael Magnuson, Founder & CEO
Mike Magnuson is GoodBed's founder and CEO. He started the company in 2008 after a fatefully frustrating mattress shopping experience, through which he saw the need for an independent and personalized guide to help people find and buy the right mattress for them. Since then, he has become a passionate consumer advocate and leading champion for transparency in the mattress industry.
While becoming a mattress expert was never part of his "life plan," he takes great joy in his ability to help consumers in this area, and reluctantly acknowledges that his 10+ years of experience have made him a leading authority on the subject. Highlights include:
- performing in-depth reviews of over 300 mattresses
- designing the mattress industry's definitive product testing framework
- collecting product reviews from over half a million real mattress owners
- developing software to simplify the mattress shopping experience across brands and retailer (whether brick & mortar or online)
- creating the first and only online platform to deliver a personalized mattress shopping experience at scale
➜ Read more about Mike's mattress expertise.
In 2021, together with colleague Jeff Cassidy, Mike launched a podcast for mattress retailers, manufacturers, and other industry participants called Mike It Up. This show delves into the most strategic issues facing mattress companies today, featuring in-depth interviews with industry leaders as well as data and insights mined from the GoodBed platform. You can find episodes of Mike It Up on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcasts. More info at mikeitup.com.
Prior to GoodBed, Mike was a Principal of Waller Sutton Capital, a New York-based private equity firm focused on the media and communication sectors. As an investor, Mike had a particular interest in vertically-oriented digital media companies, similar to what he later built with GoodBed. While at Waller Sutton, he initiated and led the firm’s marketing services practice, and was responsible for numerous portfolio investments, including Discover Magazine, a leading consumer science publication, purchased from Disney and later sold to Kalmbach Publishing, [x+1], a provider of leading-edge online marketing optimization services, later acquired by Rocket Fuel (NASDAQ: FUEL), and AAT Communications, then the largest private operator of wireless communications towers, later acquired by SBA Communications (NASDAQ: SBAC). Previously, Michael worked at Time Warner Ventures (a digital media investment fund) and Dean & Company (a boutique strategy consulting firm).
Mike received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, as well as a BAS in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a BSE in Finance from The Wharton School.
When he's not working, Mike enjoys being outdoors (especially on a golf course), playing piano, making music videos, exploring new places, and most of all spending time with his family. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.
