Sunny Gupta has been a diehard Seattle Seahawks fan for almost 20 years, hosting tailgates and sitting in the exact same club-level seats with his family and friends since 2007. Now, the longtime Seattle tech entrepreneur is taking his place in the franchise’s new ownership group as a self-described “fan No. 1.”
With the sale of the team to the family of Silicon Valley billionaire investor Vinod Khosla finalized on Thursday, Gupta’s name appeared on a newly revealed list of co-owners. Nader Naini, managing partner at Seattle-based healthcare private equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners, is also among the group.
For Gupta, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up — and a dream come true.
“I would have never considered investing or being in ownership in sports other than the Seahawks,” Gupta told GeekWire in an interview following Thursday’s announcement. “This is a dream come true of something I love so much. The city I love so much, fan base, the team.
“I’m the 12th man,” he added. “I want to represent that as a part of the ownership group.”
Gupta is best known in Pacific Northwest tech circles as the co-founder and former CEO of Bellevue-based enterprise software maker Apptio, which he guided through an IPO, a private equity buyout, and an eventual $4.6 billion sale to IBM in 2023. He recently served as executive chair at Smartsheet during its $8.4 billion acquisition, and earlier this summer launched his fourth venture-backed startup, an enterprise AI company called Thira, with $21 million in seed funding.
But fall Sundays are strictly about football for Gupta, who describes himself and his family as “complete supporters, rabid fans” since 2007. He estimates he’s missed two games in that time.
Together with his wife, son, and daughter, the family holds five season tickets. They’ve sat in the same seats alongside a tight-knit crew of friends for nearly two decades — and don’t plan to change things with the perks of ownership.
“When we were going through this, this was like the biggest debate in our family,” Gupta said. “We’ve never been suite owners. We like being in our club section behind the Seahawks sideline, and that’s where we love watching the game. All our friends are there … that’s our community.”
While Gupta hasn’t directly partnered on a startup with Vinod Khosla, their paths have frequently crossed in venture capital circles. Over a career raising funds for four separate startups, Gupta noted Khosla Ventures was always on the “short list” of firms entrepreneurs hope to align with. Joining forces on the Seahawks deal presented an ideal way to combine those two worlds.
“Seattle is mostly a tech story and it’s a Seahawks story,” Gupta said. “The ability to have these two worlds combine is like a dream.”
Beyond his personal fandom, Gupta expressed strong confidence in the team’s current leadership. He noted that he caught up this week on the final episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks in anticipation of Thursday’s sale completion, coming away energized by the culture built by general manager John Schneider and second-year head coach Mike Macdonald.
“I was fired up last night on just what a great organization it is and the amazing job Mike and John do,” Gupta said. “The ability to continue the winning culture and just continue to win and support our fan base and community — that’s what it’s all about.”