R.J. Pittman

Current

• Director, Product Management at Google, Inc.

Past

• Co-founder and CEO at Groxis, Inc.
• Managing Partner at Venture Factory Partners, LLC
• Co-founder and CEO at Digital Courier Technologies

• Vice President, Technology at Paradigm Systems Corporation
• Vice President, Technology at Metric, PLC

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Education

• Stanford University
• University of Michigan

Recommended

4 people have recommended R.J.

Connections

255 connections

Industry

Internet

R.J. Pittman’s Summary

I am currently working for Google on a broad range of products, driving innovation for company's next generation consumer search properties. Previously, I was the co-founder and CEO of Groxis, the advanced search engine technology company that created the industry’s first graphical information interface, the GII, to hundreds of prominent content services including Google, Yahoo, and Amazon.

I have spent the last two decades building Internet software companies to help accelerate the evolution of a commerce-enabled Web. I have applied this experience to the creation many pioneering Internet companies and projects in the field of web search, social networking, e-payments, and online trading. I have raised $50M in venture capital for the companies I founded or co-founded since 1992, completing two IPOs, and the sale of two other companies. I have also led e-business transformations at large multi-billion dollar corporations including McKesson (NYSE: MCK), and Interface Global (NASDAQ: IFSIA).

I am an experienced, hands-on company chief executive and entrepreneur. I have managed my companies with a balance of deep technical expertise and product vision along with sound business principles to create value and produce profitable, sustainable ventures.

R.J. Pittman’s Specialties:

• CEO-level operational experience
• Product development leadership
• Deep consumer Internet experience
• User experience design leadership
• Raising capital, venture capital investing, board member
• Expert in information architecture, usability, Human-Computer Interaction

R.J. Pittman’s Experience

• Director, Product Management

  Google, Inc.

  (Public Company; GOOG; Internet industry)

  2007 — Present (2 years )

  General Manager of Google's global Search Properties including News, Finance, Images, Blogs, Trends, Labs, and many others that together draw hundreds of millions of users and more than one billion page views every day.
  
  Also responsible for driving strategy, innovation, user experience, and design for the product portfolio.

• Co-founder and CEO

  Groxis, Inc.

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 2001 — April 2006 (5 years 4 months)

  Co-founded the web search company to vastly improve the search experience for researchers and consumers
  
  Raised $11.5M in venture capital from angels and top-tier venture capitalists
  
  Responsible for all pathfinder customer wins and key partnerships including: Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Sun, Stanford University, University of Michigan, Amgen, and many others
  
  Recruited a world class senior management team, board of directors, and advisors
  
  Set overall product direction and led the company to over 1 million users and moved Grokker.com into the top 5000 most visited web sites on the Internet
  
  Won several industry awards including DEMO 2003, Always On Top 100, Wired 100
  
  Editor and co-author of several granted utility and design patents for information visualization and search
  
  Featured keynote speaker at several technology and information science conferences around the world

• Managing Partner

  Venture Factory Partners, LLC

  (Computer Software industry)

  July 1999 — July 2001 (2 years 1 month)

  Founded the technology venture capital and venture management firm and assembled a executive team and advisory panel for the firm that consists of executives and founders from eToys, CitySearch, Intel, Sapient, Providian Financial, Wyatt Corporation, Bechtel Venture Capital, ideaLab!, and others
  
  Grew portfolio companies to reach an aggregate valuation of approximately $2B including fast growing companies such as DCTI, Broadway.com, Aravo, Startups.com, and Cosine Communications (IPO 9/23/00)

• Co-founder and CEO

  Digital Courier Technologies

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; dcti; Computer Software industry)

  March 1996 — January 2000 (3 years 11 months)

  Founded the e-commerce company in 1996 to create a universal platform of commerce-enabling technologies and secure online payment processing for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions
  
  Introduced the first fraud and risk management software suite for online transaction profiling and screening – reducing fraudulent credit card transactions by over 90%
  
  Successfully sold the business to a publicly-traded company in 1998 for $24M
  
  Became CEO of the public company and grew Digital Courier's market capitalization from $40M to over $400M, 200+ employees, with annualized revenues approaching $50M and profitable by 1999
  
  Led strategic partnerships and equity investments from AOL, Netscape, and Excite@Home
  
  Led acquisitions of 4 companies valued at over $150M

• Vice President, Technology

  Paradigm Systems Corporation

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 1994 — February 1996 (2 years 1 month)

  Sold a management consulting practice to this global IT systems and strategy consulting firm serving the blue chip financial services marketplace on Wall Street
  
  Expanded the strategic consulting practice in designing and deploying web-enabled technology solutions for global client list including: Sybase, McKesson, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, Sun Microsystems, Interface Global
  
  Engaged with C-level executives on globalization through e-commerce and content strategies and solutions
  
  Led the development of the first web-based portfolio management system for institutional traders
  
  Deployed the first web-based stock trading system for a small brokerage firm in San Francisco that was later
  acquired by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter for over $90M
  
  Paradigm was acquired by Platinum Technologies / Computer Associates in 1995

• Vice President, Technology

  Metric, PLC

  (Public Company; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 1992 — January 1994 (2 years 1 month)

  Joined this London-based software start-up while finishing graduate school to create a commercial marketplace for software components amidst the rise of the object-oriented software development model
  
  Acknowledged early by Esther Dyson and Release 1.0 as a game changer for the traditional software industry
  
  Successfully developed and marketed a software component library and marketplace for information technology tools in financial services
  
  The company was acquired by HM Holdings, PLC, a publicly held London-based technology holding company in 1994

R.J. Pittman’s Education

• Stanford University

  MS , Engineering-Economic Systems

  Concentration: Decision Systems
  Postgraduate studies: Human-Computer Interaction w/ Prof. Terry Winograd

• University of Michigan

  BSCE , Computer Engineering

  Concentration: Software design principles, network architectures, microprocessor design

Additional Information

R.J. Pittman’s Groups:

•    BayCHI