The problem is obvious: it’s hard to launch a startup. But one potential solution, great mentorship and support, isn’t so easy to come by. With their own startup of sorts, seven ex-Googlers are going to attempt to solve that.
While there isn’t too much information out there just yet about AngelPad, it should be something very interesting to watch in the next couple of weeks. A tweet today (the first from their account), reveals a launch date of Friday, September 10 and the opening of an office in San Francisco.
So what exactly is AngelPad? As they briefly state on their site:
AngelPad is a mentorship program founded by a team of ex-Googlers to help web-technology startups build better products, attract additional funding and ultimately grow more successful businesses.
As they also note on their site, AngelPad is about “founders and angels working together to build great startups.” In other words, it’s an incubator.
While at first, it undoubtedly won’t be as structured as something like Y Combinator or TechStars, given the pedigree of the people involved, AngelPad could be a hit among young startups in the Valley.
Here are the seven ex-Googlers involved complete with the bios they included on their team page:
Thomas Korte
Thomas is an active angel investor and startup advisor. Before investing in web technology startups, Thomas was a longtime Product Evangelist for Google and the company’s first international product marketing manager responsible for European advertiser and partner acquisition.Richard Chen
Rich is an active investor and board member with several technology startups. Previously, Rich led Google’s product strategy for international versions of its advertising, content, and distribution products. He also founded an interactive marketing agency based in Tokyo, Japan.David Scacco
David is the Chief Revenue Office of Mylikes and an active angel investor. Prior to Mylikes, David was a longtime Google business executive and the company’s first advertising sales executive. He was responsible for Google’s sales strategy dating back to 2000.Vibuh Mittal
Vibhu is the founder of Root-1 Research and an active angel investor. Prior to Root-1, Vibhu was at Google Research where he worked on a variety of machine learning technologies – several of which made it to publicly facing products. He has also worked at Xerox PARC, Carnegie Mellon University and TIFR, Bombay.Gokul Rajaram
Gokul is the founder and CEO of Chai Labs and a board member for several internet startups. Prior to founding his own company, Gokul was a Google Product Management executive who helped start Google’s Adsense partner business and other key products.Deep Nishar
Deep is the Vice President of Products & User Experience at LinkedIn. Prior to LinkedIn, he was a Google executive who helped start Google’s mobile business and was responsible for the product strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.Keval Dasai
Keval is the VP of Product at Digg. Prior to Digg, Keval was a Google Product Management executive responsible for Google’s AdWords, Syndication & TV Advertising products.
As I said, this a solid list of people that could undoubtedly help any startup. Expect to hear more about this in the coming weeks an months.
For More: More On AngelPad, The New Incubator Where The Google Blood Runs Thick
