categories
HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Role Model Interview
Turning Around LeapFrog: CEO Jeff Katz (Part 8)
SM: Does this include the kids chatting with each other? JK: At launch we will not do that, and we are targeting that age range where today it is delicate. We have another product that is an expansion of our gaming line, where we are getting old enough kids that we will be able to
Pioneering Video Conferencing: Polycom CEO Bob Hagerty (Part 9)
SM: Yes, i remember, even in the 2001 timeframe the Polycom equipment was not that great. The pictures were horrible often. BH: If you run it on IP, it runs pretty darn good. However, 90% of the installations were on ISDN at that time. The technology shift to IP changes it all. Plus, we have
Turning Around LeapFrog: CEO Jeff Katz (Part 7)
SM: Even the kids are very connected these days. JK: I was fond of saying that for whatever reasons the memo of the Internet did not make it to the company in 1999. They had that failed effort and the management team was disenchanted. We had to get our products connected so that notion of
Pioneering Video Conferencing: Polycom CEO Bob Hagerty (Part 8)
SM: What happened after 9/11? I remember, I bought the Polycom stock and it did very well for me. BH: We were ramping very, very fast through 1999 and 2000. Cumulative average growth rates in the 30’s and 40’s. After 9/11 it exploded even more for us, but for really horrible reasons. Then the financial
Turning Around LeapFrog: CEO Jeff Katz (Part 6)
SM: What is the strategy you arrived at? And what is the process you used to get there? JK: It is pretty simple looking back. The process started simply by getting the various constituencies lined up. There was a board constituency, a senior management constituency, and you had key movers and shakers; people who, once
Pioneering Video Conferencing: Polycom CEO Bob Hagerty (Part 7)
SM: When you mapped out the acquisitions, were companies like PlaceWare and WebEx on your radar? BH: We considered it. SM: Was it too expensive? BH: No, we did buy one actually. We bought MeetYou. It did not resonate with our company. It did not fit our go to market, although we were technically in
Turning Around LeapFrog: CEO Jeff Katz (Part 5)
SM: How did LeapFrog miss the Internet? JK: This is an interesting question, one that I used to ask a lot. The company was, in 2001, very active with a product called MindStation which was a dial up hub where customers would subscribe and get learning applets from LeapFrog. It was a flop because it
Pioneering Video Conferencing: Polycom CEO Bob Hagerty (Part 6)
SM: What was your response to the customer demands? We created a suite of solutions. We bought Accord Networks which we felt was the best multipoint conferencing network. Then we had the endpoints in the multipoint. From within we built an IT application called GMS, which allowed us to run all of the equipment. We
