AOL’s Palihapitiya quits, joins Mayfield

Matt Marshall | December 2nd, 2005

Updated

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Palihapitiya

We’ve never met Chamath Palihapitiya in person, but talked with him twice when AOL was introducing features for its Instant Messenger — and he came across as energetic and passionate about the cause (scroll down).

He held the post of General Manager for AIM for just a year, but seemed to move quickly on closing deals, and some have credited him for helping turn around the division.

WSJ has a story today (sub required) about Palihapitiya, 29, quitting AOL to join Silicon Valley venture capital firm Mayfield — a week after AOL introduced its latest version of the product. Some say the defection is a sign of uncertainty at AOL, which is in the middle of negotiations to sell a minority stake to Google or Microsoft. An anonymous tipster this morning told us that Accel Partners had also been interested in hiring Palihapitiya, though we can’t confirm that. (Update: We’ve since heard from a trusted source that Accel was indeed talking with him, so move that to confirmed category.)

As for Mayfield, it is the second hire of a young, well-known tech person this year — an apparent effort to bring in new blood. We mentioned the hiring of Raj Kapoor earlier this year.

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  1. January 30th, 2006
    9:58 am

    SiliconBeat said:

    Open the floodgates for VC bloggers: Introducing Kapoor, Hirshland & Levine

    KapoorRaj Kapoor, partner at Silicon Valley’s Mayfield Fund, has started a blog, called the vc in me…. He’s posting about gaming, social networking and so on. He’s another consumer Internet guy, and we mentioned him earlier here. Mayfield seems to be…

5 Comments

  1. December 3rd, 2005
    1:31 am

    ouriel said:

    I met Chamath a couple of times within ICQ. Some even say we look like twins..A great brilliant guy that has done a great job at AOL. I would be really curious to know about his motivations to move out of AOL. But this we ll never know. Let s wish him the best for the next step…

  2. December 3rd, 2005
    1:39 am

    Matt Marshall said:

    I’m surprised that is even a question. Working within a large organization can be frustrating sometimes. And think of the financial upside: At Mayfield, he can invest in companies and lay claim to an ownership stake (granted, the stake is largely owned by Mayfield, but as a partner Palihapitiya would have “carry,” or ownership a percentage over the overall profits). This is way better financially than a salary at AOL with a decent bonus on a good year, given the likely lack of upside for AOL stock.

  3. December 3rd, 2005
    6:12 am

    ouriel said:

    your analysis is of course right. i was more referring to the other reasons: MSN / GOOGLE merge? for example

  4. December 5th, 2005
    7:40 am

    Greg said:

    Wish I’d read my WSJ Friday before sitting down to listen to Chamath speak on a VOIP and IM panel at the Interactive Local Media conferance in Reston, VA. He was still being ID’d as an AOLer of course. Struck me as a very bright guy. Example: someone else on the panel talked about online identities, suggested people want to be anonymous to start and reveal personal info only after trust is established. CP laughed at that. In the rest of the world, inluding his native India, people will get in your face and be completely open from the start in an effort to argue/debate/haggle, etc. Less concern about guarding privacy than here in the states. Interesting point. I’m sure he’ll do well at Mayfield.

  5. December 8th, 2005
    12:32 pm

    Hoodia said:

    I would be really curious to know about his motivations to move out of AOL. “Show me the Money” - Rod Tidwell / Jerry Maguire (1996) Yah Hoodia

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