SAN FRANCISCO--- Sanford 'Sandy' Robertson Joins Technorati Board
Technorati, the world's leading search service for social media, announced today the addition of legendary technology investment pioneer Sanford "Sandy" Robertson to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Robertson joins David L. Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati, Peter Hirshberg, chairman of Technorati, Joi Ito, vice president of international business and mobile devices of Technorati and head of Technorati Japan, Andreas Stavropoulous, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Ryan McIntyre, principal at Mobius Venture Capital, and Dan Beldy, former COO of Technorati and former partner at Hummer Winblad.
"I'm impressed by Dave Sifry's leadership and his innovating management team, and Technorati's explosive growth and unique user benefit," said Robertson. "I look forward to helping to shepherd the organization to its next great achievements."
Robertson is a principal of Francisco Partners, one of the world's largest technology buyout funds. With a focus on structured investments in technology and technology-related businesses, Francisco Partners is a pioneer in the private equity category of technology buyouts.
Prior to founding Francisco Partners, Robertson was the founder and chairman of Robertson, Stephens & Co., a leading technology investment bank formed in 1978, and sold to BankBoston in 1998. Since the sale, Robertson has been an active technology investor and advisor to several technology companies, and currently serves on the boards of the Democratic Leadership Council, Dolby Laboratories, Inc., Pain Therapeutics, Inc., salesforce.com, Inc., and the Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving.
He has had significant financing involvement in over 500 growth technology companies throughout his career, including 3Com Corporation, America Online, Inc., Applied Materials, Inc., Ascend Communications Inc., Dell Computer Corporation, E*Trade Securities, Inc., Siebel Systems, Inc. and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
"As Technorati continues our evolution beyond the world's greatest blog search to the indisputable nexus of the Live Web, Sandy's sage advice and deep experience will prove invaluable to our growth and future success," said Sifry.
Technorati recently completed its first major acquisition and announced continuing double-digit growth of its site. Sifry also recently announced a search to identify candidates for the role of CEO to help take the company to its next level, seeking individuals with significant leadership experience in growing online media companies, liquidity events and leveraging the abilities of great teams.
About Technorati
Technorati is the world's leading search service for blogs and tagged social media such as video, podcasts, photos, music and more -- truly the hub of the Live Web. Currently tracking more than 72 million blogs and 230 million tagged media objects in real-time, Technorati brings together social media from across the Web in real-time based on users' interests and needs, creating a wholly different news, entertainment and information experience on the Web.