Brian HinmanBrian L. Hinman (born August 22, 1961, in Bethesda, Maryland) is an entrepreneur and investor in high technology businesses, especially the computer-based communications industry. Entrepreneur careerHinman has founded five successful technology companies, two of which had initial public offerings and three achieving annual revenues greater than $500 million PictureTel Corp. (Videoconferencing), Polycom (Conference call), and 2Wire (digital subscriber line). PictureTel Corp.
HP Inc.HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company with its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, that develops personal computers (PCs), printers and other related supplies, as well as 3D printing services. It is the world's second-largest personal computer vendor by unit sales after Lenovo and ahead of Dell as of 2024. HP Inc. was founded in 2015 when the original Hewlett-Packard company split into two companies.Wideband audioWideband audio, also known as wideband voice or HD voice, is high definition voice quality for telephony audio, contrasted with standard digital telephony "toll quality". It extends the frequency range of audio signals transmitted over telephone lines, resulting in higher quality speech. The range of the human voice extends from 100 Hz to 17 kHz but traditional, voiceband or narrowband telephone calls limit audio frequencies to the range of 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz.
San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, officially the City of San José ( SAN hoh-ZAY, -SAY; Spanish: [saŋ xoˈse]), is the most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, and the 13th-most populous in the United States, with an estimated 989,814 residents as of 2025. The city's metropolitan area is home to nearly two million people, while the broader combined statistical area (the fifth-largest in the United States) has a population of over nine million.Oak Investment PartnersOak Investment Partners is a private equity firm focusing on venture capital investments in companies developing communications systems, information technology, new Internet media, healthcare services, and retail.PlantronicsPlantronics, Inc. is an American electronics company producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its products support unified communications, mobile use, gaming and music. Plantronics is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, and most of its products are produced in China and Mexico.
Multinational corporationA multinational corporation (MNC) is a corporate organization that owns and controls the production or trade of goods or services in at least one country other than its home country. Control is considered an important aspect of an MNC to distinguish it from international portfolio investment organizations, such as some international mutual funds that invest in corporations abroad to diversify financial risks.
Accel (company)Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American global venture capital firm. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional offices in London, and India. The company's most notable investment was a $12.7 million investment in Facebook in May 2005 for 10% of the company, before the company had revenue. Accel invests in enterprise, SaaS, and consumer companies in seed, early, and growth-stage worldwide.MitelMitel Networks Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications company. The company previously produced TDM PBX systems and applications, but after a change in ownership in 2001, now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP (VoIP), unified communications, collaboration and contact center products. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide.
PictureTelPictureTel Corporation was one of the first commercial videoconferencing product companies. It achieved peak revenues of over $490 million in 1996 and 1997 and was eventually acquired by Polycom in October 2001.
San FranciscoSan Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 826,079 in 2025. Among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income, third by population density, and sixth by aggregate income as of 2024.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.