Garrett Gruener

Last updated
Garrett Gruener
EducationUniversity of California San Diego
University of California Berkeley
OccupationVenture Capitalist
Known forFounder of Ask.com
Political partyDemocratic party

Garrett Gruener is an American venture capitalist, most known as the founder of Ask.com and a co-founder of Alta Partners. He was also a candidate for the 2003 California recall special election from the Democratic Party, finishing 28th in a field of 135 candidates with 2,562 votes.

Contents

Education

Gruener received his B.S. at the University of California San Diego in 1976, and he received his M.A. at the University of California Berkeley. [1]

Career

Business

Gruener has been working for more than two decades in the fields of software development, systems engineering, and corporate development. In 1982, he founded Virtual Microsystems , a communications software company that was later merged with a larger corporation. Garrett specializes in information technology and is on the board of directors of nCircle Network Security, Xelerated, and Nanomix. [2] [3] In 1992, he became a Partner at Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co.[ citation needed ] In 1996, along with Jean Deleage, Guy Nohra and Marino Polestral, he co-founded Alta Partners, a venture capital firm in life sciences. [4] As of 2018, he is still serving as the company's Managing Director. He is also on the Board of Directors of Goldman School of Public Policy, part of the University of California, Berkeley. [5]

Ask.com

In 1995, Gruener alongside David Warthen, a consulting engineer, created a company called Ask Jeeves. [6] After both investing over $250,000 they set up their office in Berkeley, California. Named after the butler in the stories by P.G. Wodehouse [7] "who had an answer to every problem", the firm provides software that operates in a "question-and-answer" format. In 1997, they made their product available for free on the Internet under the name Ask.com. [8] The product utilizes syntactic and semantic analysis to answer the asked question through one of the around 10,000 basic formulas. It shows various versions of the question and allows the user to pick the desired one. In the beginning, the company employed around 40 workers who provided the users with the needed answer to their question. In 1998, the company made around $1 million profit for adverts on its website. [9] In 2003, Gruener stepped out of the chairman position at Ask.com. [10]

Virtual Microsystems

Virtual Microsystems Inc (VMI) software [11] [12] enabled running MS-DOS and CP/M application programs on Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX minicomputers. [13] As of mid-1988, Virtual Microsystems Inc (VMI) and Logicraft were "the only commercially available products that let VAX/VMS systems run standard off-the-shelf PC applications from terminals and VAXstations." [13] VMI's "The Bridge" facilitated using the DEC machine's hard disk, which in turn provided better backups than individualized floppy-based arrangements. [14] The Bridge is slower than a top end PC; VMI's Z-Board add-on matches that speed. [14]

Other benefits included developing software for PCs [15] and printing on DEC-attached high speed printers. [14]

Politics

Gruener was a candidate for the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election from the Democratic Party. [16] He was one of the candidates who aggressively used the Internet to push his message and also ran campaign ads in selected television markets. [17] Eventually, Gruener finished 28th in a field of 135 candidates with 2,562 votes. [10]

Personal life

Gruener is married to Amy Slater, an attorney and lecturer on the subject of negotiations and conflict resolution at the Goldman School of Public Policy and at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. They live in the Bay Area. Gruener is also a pilot. [18]

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References

  1. ↑ "Garrett P. Gruener". Bloomburg Businessweek. Retrieved August 21, 2012.[ dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Garrett Gruener Executive Chairman, Nanōmix, Inc. Co-Founder, Alta Partners Founder, Ask Jeeves, now Ask.com". Goldman School of Public Policy. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Board of Directors Garrett Gruener Executive Chairman Garrett Gruener". Nanomix. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Zafgen Secures $21 Million in Series D Financing". PR Newswire. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  5. ↑ "Garrett Gruener | Board of Advisors". University of California, Berkeley. 2018-07-18. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  6. ↑ Warzel, Charlie (2023-03-03). "The Vindication of Ask Jeeves". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  7. ↑ "Why Everyone Stopped Asking Jeeves". Mental Floss. 2021-09-12. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  8. ↑ A. O. L. Staff (2023-03-06). "Ask Jeeves founder says AI chatbots can finally realise his dream". www.aol.com. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
  9. ↑ "Digital butler". Forbes . 1999-04-19. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  10. 1 2 "Garrett Gruener and David Warthen". Business Insider . Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  11. ↑ Tom Moran (January 5, 1987). "Virtual Microsystems, Inc". InfoWorld . p. 19.
  12. ↑ "Virtual Microsystems, Inc". Network World . February 8, 1988. p. 3. enables terminal users in a DECnet environment run MS-DOS programs
  13. 1 2 Kristina Sorenson (April 4, 1988). "VMI, Logicraft up the Ante". Digital Review . a new version of Logicraft's 386Ware that provides more support for the VAXstation
  14. 1 2 3 "Making A Big Machine Act Like A Small One". Inc. October 1982.
  15. ↑ "Virtual Microsystems, Inc". Computerworld . February 11, 1985. p. 37. By using the Bridge, users reportedly can compile and run Intel PL/M86 programs from any terminal
  16. ↑ "THE CALIFORNIA RECALL; Candidates Certified to Run in Recall Election for Governor of California". Archived from the original on 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  17. ↑ Lee Romney (2003-08-25). "High-Tech Modul Campaigns on Web". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  18. ↑ "Garrett Gruener and Amy Slater". B612 Foundation. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
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