Microsoft vs monday.com: Founders, CEOs and History
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates, Paul Allen and is led by Satya Nadella. monday.com was founded in 2012 by Roy Mann, Eran Zinman and is led by Roy Mann, Eran Zinman.
Company facts
Microsoft
- Founded
- 1975
- Headquarters
- Redmond, Washington, United States
- Current CEO
- Satya Nadella
- Employees
- 223,000
monday.com
- Founded
- 2012
- Headquarters
- Tel Aviv, Israel & New York, NY, United States
- Current CEO
- Roy Mann, Eran Zinman
- Employees
- 3,155
Founders
Microsoft
Bill Gates
Microsoft was founded in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, childhood friends from Seattle who had spent their teenage years finding ways to get free time on mainframe computers.
Paul Allen
Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and was crucial to its earliest technical and strategic decisions. He helped develop Altair BASIC, gave the company its original name, and participated in the operating-system opportunity that led to MS-DOS.
monday.com
Roy Mann
Roy Mann co-founded monday.com (then daPulse) with Eran Zinman in 2012 and has served as co-CEO since. He led the company through its 2017 rebrand, its June 2021 NASDAQ IPO and growth to $1.232 billion in revenue in 2025.
Eran Zinman
Eran Zinman co-founded monday.com with Roy Mann in 2012 and shares the co-CEO role with him.
CEOs and their tenures
Microsoft
- Bill Gates1975–2000
Co-founder and CEO
Gates built Microsoft's licensing model: software sold to many hardware makers rather than tied to one.
Source - Steve Ballmer2000–2014
CEO
Ballmer grew revenue from about $23 billion in FY2000 to about $78 billion in FY2013 and built the enterprise server and sales business that Azure later scaled on.
Source - Satya Nadella2014–present
Chairman and CEO
Nadella made Azure and Microsoft 365 the company's core, opened Microsoft to Linux and open source, and positioned it early in generative AI through OpenAI.
Source
monday.com
- Roy Mann2012–present
Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer
As Co-Founder and Co-CEO, he transformed a deeply niche internal tool developed at Wix into an absolute massive, multi-billion dollar work operating system used globally.
Source - Eran Zinman2012–present
Co-Founder & Co-Chief Executive Officer
As Co-Founder and Co-CEO, he drives the massive technical roadmap, ensuring the platform remains highly aesthetic and incredibly intuitive despite adding massive enterprise complexity.
Source - Eliran Glazer2021–present
Chief Financial Officer
As CFO, he manages the massive global expansion strategy, aggressively moving the company 'upmarket' to secure highly lucrative, multi-million dollar enterprise contracts to justify the company's valuation.
Source
Timeline: Microsoft and monday.com side by side
1975Microsoft
Microsoft Founded
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft after recognizing that the Altair 8800 needed usable programming software. Their first product, Altair BASIC, turned a hobbyist computer kit into a programmable platform.
1981Microsoft
MS-DOS Ships With IBM PC
IBM introduced its personal computer with MS-DOS 1.0 and other Microsoft products. The milestone mattered because Microsoft's operating-system work moved from a small software supplier's project into the emerging corporate PC standard.
1985Microsoft
Windows Launch
The release of Windows 1.0 began Microsoft's long move from command-line operating systems to graphical personal computing. The first version was not an instant blockbuster, but it gave Microsoft a user-interface path that could evolve with PC hardware.
1986Microsoft
Microsoft IPO
Microsoft went public on the Nasdaq in March 1986.
1990Microsoft
Office Suite Release
The bundling of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into Microsoft Office created a productivity suite that became central to business work. The bundle simplified enterprise purchasing and made file compatibility a competitive weapon.
1995Microsoft
Windows 95 Released
Microsoft released Windows 95 in August 1995.
1998Microsoft
U.S. Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Microsoft of using Windows power to suppress browser competition. The case mattered because it placed Microsoft's platform tactics under public and legal scrutiny at the height of its PC strong position.
2010Microsoft
Azure Commercial Launch
Azure gave Microsoft a way to compete in cloud infrastructure as enterprise customers began shifting workloads away from company-owned servers.
2012monday.com
Founded as 'daPulse' in Tel Aviv
Roy Mann and Eran Zinman launched the company to bring visual transparency to team work.
2014Microsoft
Satya Nadella CEO
Satya Nadella became CEO and moved Microsoft away from a strategy that forced every product to serve Windows. He prioritized Azure, Microsoft 365, open source, Linux support, cross-platform software, and a more collaborative developer posture.
2014monday.com
daPulse Product Launch
The company launched its product, then called daPulse, in 2014.
2016Microsoft
LinkedIn Acquisition
Microsoft agreed to acquire LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. The deal mattered because it added a professional identity network to a company already strong in Office, Dynamics, cloud services, recruiting tools, advertising, and enterprise sales.
2016monday.com
Series A Funding
daPulse raised $7.6 million in a Series A round in 2016.
2017monday.com
Historic Rebranding to 'monday.com'
Rebranded the company and pioneered the Work Operating System (Work OS) category.
2018Microsoft
GitHub Acquisition
Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock, reversing years of developer skepticism toward the company. The acquisition placed Microsoft inside the daily workflow of software developers across languages, clouds, and operating systems.
2019monday.com
Series D at $1.9 Billion Valuation
monday.com raised $150 million in July 2019 at a $1.9 billion valuation.
2021monday.com
IPO on the NASDAQ (MNDY)
Listed on the NASDAQ, raising $574 million at a $6.8 billion market valuation.
2022monday.com
Launch of monday CRM & monday dev
Transformed into a multi-product SaaS suite with dedicated sales and developer tools.
2023Microsoft
AI Leadership
Microsoft's expanded OpenAI partnership and Copilot product rollout placed the company at the center of enterprise generative AI adoption.
2023Microsoft
Activision Blizzard Acquisition Closes
Microsoft completed the Activision Blizzard acquisition after intense regulatory review. The deal added Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Candy Crush, and other franchises to Microsoft Gaming.
2023monday.com
Launch of monday Service & WorkCanvas
Expanded into enterprise ITSM service desk and infinite digital whiteboarding.
2024monday.com
Surpasses $1.0B in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)
Crossed the $1 billion ARR milestone with positive net income and strong cash flows.
2025monday.com
Fiscal 2025 Revenue of $1.232 Billion
Revenue grew 27% with a 14% non-GAAP operating margin and 26% adjusted free cash flow margin.
2026monday.com
Restructuring and Q2 2026 Results
Cut about 20% of staff in July; Q2 revenue rose 22% to $364.6 million as AI products made up 17% of net new ARR.
Acquisitions
Microsoft
- Activision Blizzard2023$68.7B
- Nuance Communications2022$19.7B
- ZeniMax Media2021$7.5B
- TakeLessons2021Undisclosed
- Clipchamp2021Undisclosed
- GitHub2018$7.5B
monday.com
No verified acquisitions are listed.
Questions about Microsoft vs monday.com
Who is the CEO of Microsoft Corporation and monday.com?
Microsoft Corporation is led by Satya Nadella and monday.com is led by Roy Mann, Eran Zinman. Both serve as the top executive responsible for the company's strategy, operations, and financial performance.
When was Microsoft Corporation founded vs monday.com?
Microsoft Corporation was founded in 1975 — 37 years before monday.com, which was founded in 2012. Microsoft Corporation's longer operating history gives it a deeper track record but also potentially more institutional inertia compared to the younger monday.com.
How many employees does Microsoft Corporation have compared to monday.com?
Microsoft Corporation employs approximately 223,000 people, while monday.com employs approximately 3,155. Microsoft Corporation has the larger workforce at 223,000 employees, compared to monday.com's 3,155. A higher headcount does not necessarily imply greater efficiency — it often reflects differences in business model (e.g., manufacturing vs. software).
Where are Microsoft Corporation and monday.com headquartered?
Microsoft Corporation is headquartered in United States and monday.com is headquartered in Israel. Their different home markets mean they may face different regulatory frameworks, tax regimes, and currency exposure.
Who founded Microsoft Corporation and monday.com?
Microsoft Corporation was founded by Bill Gates, Paul Allen. monday.com was founded by Roy Mann, Eran Zinman.
Which company has a longer operating history — Microsoft Corporation or monday.com?
Microsoft Corporation has been operating for approximately 51 years, making it the more established of the two companies. monday.com has been in operation for around 14 years. A longer operating history often signals greater institutional resilience and brand recognition, though it can also mean slower adaptation to new market conditions.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Microsoft vs monday.com overview