Mike Cassidy is an American entrepreneur, and was CEO and co-founder of four previous Internet start-ups including Stylus Innovation,
Direct Hit,
Xfire, and Ruba.com.
'Start-up King' Mike Cassidy In January 2012, he became director of product management at
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
and led
Project Loon
Loon LLC was an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary working on providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The company used high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere at an altitude of to to create an aerial wireless network with up to 1 Mbi ...
with
Google "> In April 2017 it was reported he is working on a clean energy startup, Apollo Fusion, using a hybrid reactor technology based on fusion power.
[Bloomberg Technology]
Former Google Vice President Starts a Company Promising Clean and Safe Nuclear Energy
Education
Cassidy was educated at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(BS '85, MS '86 in
Aerospace Engineering),
Harvard Business School (1991), and studied jazz piano at the
Berklee College of Music.
[Notable Biographies](_blank)
Mike Cassidy.
Career
His first success, Stylus Innovation, was started with $500 each from Cassidy and his two co-founders,
Krisztina Holly
Krisztina Holly, known by her colleagues as 'Z' is a Hungarian American innovator, entrepreneur, and adventurer.
Holly is best known as the creator of the first TEDx, the founding executive director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Inn ...
and John Barrus, and subsequently won the MIT 10K (now called the
MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
The MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is a student-managed business plan competition, where undergraduates and postgraduates from various programs and all levels at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT) organize and enter the comp ...
).
[VentureBeat](_blank)
How many times can you bet on this guy? The company was later sold to
Artisoft
Vertical Communications, Inc. is a corporation that specializes in cloud and premises-based private branch exchanges, i.e., business telephone systems. Vertical Communications changed its name on January 1, 2005 from Artisoft, Inc. after acquirin ...
for $13 million in 1996.
[VentureHacks](_blank)
Cassidy and speed. His second effort was early Internet search engine Direct Hit, which was sold to
Ask Jeeves
Ask.com (originally known as Ask Jeeves) is a question answering–focused e-business founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California.
The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky, from his own design. Wart ...
for $532.5 million in January 2000 only 500 days after launch. Cassidy's next effort was
Xfire, a freeware instant messaging service aimed at gamers. Xfire was sold to
Viacom on April 25, 2006 for $110 million.
After a stint as an
EIR
In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy"Orchard (1997:36).) is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; th ...
at
Benchmark Capital
Benchmark is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco that provides seed money to startups.
History
The firm's most successful investment was a 1997 investment of $6.7 million in eBay for 22.1% of the company. In 2011, it invested $12 mil ...
,
[GameDaily Interview](_blank)
Mike Cassidy on Leaving Xfire, Joining Benchmark Capital. Mike founded Ruba with Arnaud Weber,
[Ruba](_blank)
Discover your next perfect trip who was previously a technical lead for the
Chrome browser project at
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
.
Most recently, Cassidy co-founded and served as CEO of Apollo Fusion, an electric in-space satellite propulsion company. The company was acquired by Astra (NASDAQ:ASTR) on June 7, 2021 for $145 million.
[Apollo acquired by Astra](_blank)
Astra to acquire spacecraft propulsion company Apollo Fusion.
Cassidy is perhaps best known for his promotion of "speed as the primary business strategy." He has given numerous talks on the subject, and his Slideshare presentation on the subject has received over 75,900 views.
[Slideshare Speed Presentation](_blank)
Speed as THE Primary Business Strategy.
Awards
Mike is also the recipient of the
DEMO
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
Lifetime Achievement award.
[DEMO](_blank)
Lifetime Achievement Awards Fall 2009.
References
External links
Xfire.comRuba.comMichael Cassidy official siteA panel discussion with Mike Cassidy ''
Stanford Graduate School of Business''
Apollo Fusion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Mike
American computer businesspeople
Living people
Google employees
Year of birth missing (living people)