Josh joins Norwest Venture Partners with more than 20 years of operational experience having been a repeat entrepreneur, CEO, board member and investor in several high-growth technology companies. Josh has spent his career seeking to combine his passion for breakthrough technology with an ability to create innovative and sustainable business models for high-growth companies. At NVP, Josh focuses on investments in consumer-facing internet products and services including search, e-commerce, social networking and digital media. His current investments and board seats include NearbyNow, an Internet and mobile local shopping services company, and Sojern, an innovative advertising company servicing the travel industry. He is actively involved with the boards of directors at Evincii, Retrevo and Sonoa Systems.
Prior to NVP, Josh was CEO of Akimbo Systems, Inc., (a company backed by Cisco, AT&T and leading venture capital firms), which delivers video-on-demand content to large service operators and set-top makers including AT&T. Prior to Akimbo, Josh was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Sprout Group in Menlo Park, California.
Prior to Sprout Group, Josh was President and CEO of mySimon, Inc., a pioneer in online comparison shopping services. Josh oversaw all aspects of the company’s growth into one of the largest and best-known consumer ecommerce companies in the late 1990’s, culminating in its acquisition by CNet Networks in early 2000 for $730 million. After the acquisition, Josh was named President of CNet’s Consumer Division, reporting to the company’s CEO.
Earlier in his career, Josh held management roles at USWeb/CKS (which went public, and was then acquired by Whitman-Hart, Inc.), Softbank Content Services (Acquired by Logistix, Inc.), Phoenix Technologies, Inc., and Apple Computer Inc., Josh has served on the Board of Directors at Synaptics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) through its Initial Public Offering as well as at Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ: ASKJ) until its acquisition by IAC/Interactive Corp for $1.9 billion. Josh also served on the Board of Directors at PremierGuide, Inc. (acquired by Local.com) as well as at Akimbo Systems, Inc. He also has served on the Board of Advisors at Zedo, PremierGuide and Hyperpia.
Josh holds an MBA from Harvard Business school and a Bachelor of Science (honors) degree in Computer Science from Tufts University
