Michael Patrick Leahy, a descendant of Civil War and Revolutionary War enlisted soldiers, was born in 1955 in Oswego, New York. He grew up in upstate New York , graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1977, and received an MBA from Stanford in 1981.

His professional career started as a management consultant with Arthur D. Little, and included management roles with Businessland, Tejano Syndications, and Glamour Shots of Canada. From 1993 to 1999 he was an adjunct professor of management at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management, where he taught the Entrepreneurship course. Since 2000, he has operated Guerrilla Enterprise Management, which provides technology marketing services to software companies and other clients.

He became an Evangelical Christian in 1984, strongly influenced in his decision to believe by many highly rational friends and professors at both Harvard and Stanford.