Written by Om Malik
Posted Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 12:23 AM PT

 

Mike Volpi’s Post-Cisco Gig: Joost CEO

It was a rumor that had been hanging in air, like thick smog over Los Angeles. Mike Volpi, till recently a rising star at router maker Cisco Systems, was said to be joining Joost as chief executive officer. Our sources said it was going to happen, but the Joost press team kept on denying it, feigning surprise at the very notion. Given that we only had a single source on that piece of information, we decided to dig deeper.

paidContent’s Staci Kramer, however, beat us to it, and reports that it is happening, citing multiple sources. We have been able to verify this piece of information independently. The news shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that Joost recently raised $45 million in venture funding from some top venture capital firms at an astronomical valuation.

The funding meant that Joost was going to be looking for a brand-name chief executive who could have immediate impact. Volpi, an Italian by birth who grew up in Japan, is a suave sort of an executive. He fits the bill of Hollywood slickness combined with Silicon Valley chops.

We had heard that Volpi was hanging around Sequoia Capital’s offices, and with Sequoia being one of the big investors in Joost; it all begins to fall in place. How successful Volpi will be at taking Joost to the next level remains to be seen. Dealing with the L.A. sharks and working with alpha geeks at large corporations require different types of skills.

Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the feed

Sphere
Topic: Startups
« Previous Post Next Post »

Comments & Trackbacks

  1. [...] going to happen, but the Joost press team kept on denying it, feigning surprise at the very notion. Continue Reading Share This | Sphere | Print | Topic: Uncategorized [...]

    GigaOM Mike Volpi, new Joost CEO « on May 31st, 2007 at 12:28 am - Permalink

  2. [...] It was a rumor that had been hanging in air, like thick smog over Los Angeles. Mike Volpi, till recently a rising star at router maker Cisco Systems, was said to be joining Joost as chief executive officer. Our sources said it was going to happen, but the Joost press team kept on denying it, feigning surprise at the very notion. Continue Reading [...]

    Mike Volpi, new Joost CEO · New York Articles on May 31st, 2007 at 1:39 am - Permalink

  3. giving the fact that mike volpi was already a skype investor… no surprise

    Giovanni on May 31st, 2007 at 6:01 am - Permalink

  4. Sorry I’m not plugged into the celebrity tech circuit. But who exactly is Mike Volpi?

    Esme Vos on May 31st, 2007 at 7:05 am - Permalink

  5. Volpi is the star of Cisco’s soccer team.

    Ian on May 31st, 2007 at 7:08 am - Permalink

  6. Volpi was a key SVP who was best known for driving the famous Cisco buying spree in the 90s that led to its incredible growth (he was responsible for 70+ acquisitions I think). Additionally, as the lead for the core routing + switching business, he oversaw development of many of the company’s most important and successful R&S products, plus new emerging technologies. In fact, he has played a key role in product development and was rumored to be the next CTO before Charles Giancarlo was named to that job. In fact, the recent rumors had been that Chambers’ successor would be between these two guys. Volpi’s last role at Cisco was SVP for Service Provider technology and routing technology–in fact he had spent much of his efforts pushing the SP-related technologies, especially around cable and wireless as Cisco was trying to break into that old school business with its new school tech. Volpi’s extensive experience with start ups (through all his acquisitions at Cisco) should be an asset to Joost, especially if it relies a little bit on some technology acquisitions for growth. However, how his Valley experience will play on the Hollywood side of Joost remains to be seen. It might be good for him to become buddies with Steve Jobs for some tips and tricks there. Jobs has certainly mastered that balance beam, and I think it will be a smililar game at Joost. In fact, it will be very similar.

    Paul on May 31st, 2007 at 1:47 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] by Om Malik Monday, June 4, 2007 at 10:18 PM PT | No comments Mike Volpi was rumored to be the new CEO of Joost for quite a while, and the company confirmed the news today. We had a [...]

    GigaOM 5 Questions for Joost CEO Mike Volpi « on June 4th, 2007 at 10:21 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] rumeur courait depuis un moment y compris sur Twitter mais c’est désormais officiel, Mike Volpi, jusqu’à présent VP [...]

    TechCrunch en français » Un Vice Président de Cisco devient officiellement CEO de Joost + sondage on June 5th, 2007 at 2:33 am - Permalink

  9. [...] rumeur courait depuis un moment y compris sur Twitter mais c’est désormais officiel, Mike Volpi, jusqu’à présent VP [...]

      Un Vice Président de Cisco devient officiellement CEO de Joost + sondage by e5k on June 5th, 2007 at 3:04 am - Permalink

Leave a reply








Safari hates me

If your comment doesn't show up immediately, it may have gotten caught in our trusty (but occasionally overly ambitious) spam filter. Please drop us a note and we'll retrieve it.