About Joseph

While it’s a little difficult to write about oneself, here’s a little “third person” background on me…

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Joseph has spent the majority of his career as an entrepreneur creating successful companies by focusing on building great teams.  He has served as CEO and co-founded three companies: Trio Development, Connectify, and Vontu.  He is currently working with and advising early stage companies as an investor and active board member for Lookout, Smartling and 2 other stealth mode startups.  Additionally, he serves on the Board of the Homeless Prenatal Program (please donate here), a non-profit helping homeless families to have healthy children and find permanent housing and is a Board Member of the Wharton Undergraduate Executive Board.

Most recently, as co-founder and CEO of Vontu, the company became the market-leading provider of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions and was acquired by Symantec in November 2007 for $350 million. Founded in 2001, the company was instrumental in establishing and defining this new category of security solutions. With a mission to reduce the risk of data loss, Vontu helped organizations ensure public confidence, demonstrate compliance and maintain competitive advantage.  The company grew from 3 founders to about 200 people and from $0 to ~$50 million in sales prior to its acquisition by Symantec.

Additionally, Joseph was invited to testify before Congress on Fighting Identity Theft, Cybersecurity & Consumer Data: What’s at Risk for the Consumer?, and Protecting Consumer’s Data: Policy Issues Raised by ChoicePoint.

Prior to Vontu, Joseph was the Vice President of Marketing at Kana Communications, Inc. during which time the company went public and grew from $14 to $120 million in revenues with hundreds of Global 2000 customers. He joined Kana in August 1999 by virtue of Kana’s acquisition of Connectify for ~$300 million post IPO.  Connectify was a provider of electronic direct marketing software that he co-founded and served as its CEO. Additionally, he has held various product management and business development positions with companies including Netscape, Etrade, and Macromedia.

Apple acquired his first venture, Trio Development and the software was licensed to Palm to serve as its desktop integration solution for the Mac.

Joseph holds several patents, is quoted in various publications on startups and information security, and received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He resides in San Francisco, CA, is an avid cyclist and photographer.