Worldview Expands Investment Team; Adds General Partner
PALO ALTO, CA 
July 27, 2004

Irwin Gross, co-founder of Wilson Sonsini IP Strategy Practice, Joins Worldview Team

Worldview Technology Partners, a leading technology venture capital firm, today announced that Irwin Gross, formerly with Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, has joined the firm as a General Partner focused on investments in the software and semiconductor markets. Gross co-founded and built Wilson, Sonsini’s intellectual property (IP) counseling practice and served as a manager of WS Investments - Wilson, Sonsini’s highly successful venture fund. 

Trained as a computer scientist, Gross brings to Worldview a depth of technology expertise. He is well-known nationwide as a leading expert on intellectual property issues, and he has a wealth of experience helping companies such as HP, Sun, Broadcom and Netscape exploit IP rights to bring new products to market, obtain competitive advantage, and create new sources of revenue. Gross has served as a technology consultant to key policy makers in Congress, the FTC and the Justice Department and has previously counseled numerous Silicon Valley venture funds.

"Irwin’s skills uniquely complement those of our investment team, and he brings strong technology and market skills to our portfolio companies, which is critical as they exploit their technology strengths, extend their product reach and expand into new and emerging markets," said James Wei, general partner and co-founder of Worldview. "Irwin’s combined strengths in all areas of venture funding, technology, law, government relations, and general business are unmatched in the industry, and we are delighted and fortunate to have him join our team."

Diane Greene, president and co-founder of VMware, said Gross would be an enormous asset to a venture capital firm. "Irwin has incredible insight, intelligence, knowledge, and vision," said Greene. "He is a technologist and entrepreneur at heart. He’s also a very smart businessperson, which is why he is such a valuable resource to technology companies and can truly help them succeed. And he’s a visionary who can foresee the important trends shaping technology and technology markets. I expect him to be very successful as a venture capitalist."

Gross was instrumental in helping define IP strategies for many venture backed startups that became leading technology companies, such as Netscape, VMware, Brocade, Avanex, and RealNetworks. Prior to joining Worldview, he worked with various Worldview portfolio companies including Stretch, Miradia, Reactrix, Cemaphore and 3PAR.

At Worldview, Gross will be making new investments for the firm and will help broker and structure business partnerships for existing Worldview portfolio companies. "Worldview has a great track-record of helping portfolio companies realize their full potential, which was an important component of my decision to join the team," he said. "I’m really looking forward to working with both Worldview and its portfolio companies, and I’m excited about helping these companies exploit the opportunities and overcome the challenges that these emerging market leaders face."

Biography: Irwin Gross

As a partner at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, Gross founded the firm’s nationally recognized Intellectual Property Counseling practice and served as a manager of the firm’s venture capital fund. As a founder of the IP counseling practice, he became a leading expert on the development and exploitation of IP assets to bring new products to market and obtain competitive advantage.
Gross has worked closely with more than 100 companies across a broad spectrum of technologies to develop intellectual property, product, and market strategies. Among his clients were large technology enterprises such as Sun Microsystems, EMC, Broadcom, and Hewlett-Packard as well as a host of successful venture-backed companies, including Brocade, Avanex, VMware, RealNetworks, and Netscape.

For the last decade, Gross was involved in many of the events that have shaped the technology industry.  He worked with RealNetworks, Apple, and others in developing the business models, product strategies, and IP needed to begin the creation of a sustainable business in digital music.  He also helped structure dozens of key partnerships and transactions – between Apple and Microsoft, Broadcom and Intel, HP and Compaq, to name a few -- that have ended feuds, driven industry standards, and created new businesses.  Gross co-authored the original Netscape White Paper that explained the importance of Microsoft’s desktop operating system platform. 

Since he first came to Silicon Valley more than 15 years ago, Gross has been part of the community of entrepreneurs, technologists, and executives that form the backbone of the Silicon Valley.  He has worked closely with dozens of founders, CEOs, and engineering teams, helping them to move their companies from ideas to acquisitions and IPOs.  He has counseled investment banks and venture capital funds across the country.

Gross received a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

About Worldview Technology Partners

Worldview Technology Partners is a leading venture capital firm focused on investing in and building leading U.S. technology companies. Its comprehensive, industry-leading business development services help portfolio companies succeed in U.S. and international markets.

With a 12-year track record of successful technology investing and more than $1.3 billion under management, the Worldview team has both the experience and the resources to invest in a broad range of information technology markets, including communications, semiconductors, enterprise infrastructure and software. For more information, please visit www.worldview.com.

Contact: Lisa Kelaita/Steve Kaufman, VCPR, 1-408-340-6766, lkelaita@vcpr.com / skaufman@vcpr.com