Company

Dirk Gates

Mr. Gates currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Xirrus. He brings more than 15 years of executive management experience to Xirrus as well as a track record of success evolving a high-tech startup into a world class, publicly traded company. Having founded Xircom, Inc. in 1988 on the premise of delivering Ethernet connectivity to mobile computers, he attracted venture funding from Greylock, grew the company to 2,000 employees, and achieved revenues of $500M and a market cap in excess of $2B.

During his tenure as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gates led Xircom into the wireless arena through partnerships and acquisitions that positioned the company to deliver mobility solutions based on IEEE 802.11, GPRS and BlueTooth technologies. He subsequently negotiated the sale of Xircom to Intel Corp. in March of 2001.

Mr. Gates holds a BSEE from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Bruce C. Edwards

Bruce Edwards formerly served as the Executive Chairman of Powerwave Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of antenna systems, base station subsystems and coverage solutions to the wireless communications industry. He served as Powerwave's CEO from 1996 until 2005 and on the Board of Directors from 1996 until 2007. Before joining Powerwave, Mr. Edwards served eleven years at AST Research, Inc, a personal computer company, where his last positions were Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Director.

He has also served in senior financial positions with AMDAX Corporation, a manufacturer of RF modems, and with Arthur Andersen and Co.

Mr. Edwards is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Semtech Corporation, Emulex Corporation and SouthWest Water Company.

Steve Krausz

Serving as General Partner at U.S. Venture Partners, Mr. Krausz has been with the Firm since 1985 and has led USVP's investments in Accelerated Networks, Occam Networks, Verity, Rasna, Xylan, Applied Digital Access, Elantec and Micro Linear, all of which became public companies.

Mr. Krausz has a background deeply rooted in information technology. Steve's eight years of operating experience with NASA Ames, BTI Computers, Direct Inc. and Daisy Systems have served him well as an advisor to many leading network vendors allowing him to focus on communications, Internet, infrastructure, networking and systems technology.

Mr. Krausz holds a BSEE from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

David Marquardt

Mr. Marquardt is a co-founder of August Capital and his commitment to entrepreneurs and their market vision is reflected by his long-standing board relationships. Mr. Marquardt has served on more than 25 boards of directors during his 20 year venture capital career including Microsoft, Sun, Seagate, Adaptec, and Grand Junction Networks (acquired by Cisco).

Prior to August Capital, Mr. Marquardt was a co-founder of Technology Venture Investors (TVI) in 1980 where he was involved in four highly successful funds that invested in more than 100 start-up and emerging growth companies. Among these early investments was Microsoft, where TVI was the sole investor and where Mr. Marquardt has been on the board of directors since 1981.

Mr. Marquardt received a BSME from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University. He also completed coursework for an MSEE at Stanford University.

Khaled Nasr

Khaled Nasr joined InterWest's IT group in 2005, focusing on investments in the communications, enterprise and data center infrastructure sectors, including systems, software and semiconductors. Nasr is a board member of Exalt Communications, Gear6, InVisage Technologies, NexPlanar, and Xirrus.

Prior to joining InterWest, Nasr invested in information technology companies for Alta Partners, including investments in Synad (acquired by ST Microelectronics), Netli (acquired by Akamai), Celetronix (acquired by Jabil) and Occam Networks (OCNW). Prior to that, Nasr spent 16 years with startups in the networking and telecommunications industries. He was president and chief executive officer of FlowWise Networks and general manager and vice president at Ipsilon. Prior to Ipsilon, Nasr served as chief operating officer at Advanced Computer Communications (ACC), and as vice president of marketing and services with Premisys Communications. From 1987 to 1992, Nasr served as vice president of network services with Newbridge Networks.

Nasr received his B.A. and M.A. in mathematics and social and political sciences from Cambridge University.

Bill Schroeder

Mr. Schroeder is a highly regarded Silicon Valley CEO and brings to Xirrus more than two decades of experience driving operational excellence at companies of all sizes, as well as being a respected and seasoned technologist.

As the former CEO of Diamond Multimedia Systems (makers of the Rio MP3 player) and president and vice-chairman of Conner Peripherals, Inc., Mr. Schroeder has taken several companies from start-up through IPO and also led large, successful public companies. At Conner Peripherals, he was a key member of the team credited with growing the company from zero revenue to in excess of $2 billion, and orchestrating a highly successful IPO.

Mr. Schroeder holds an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School as well as an MSEE and BSEE from Marquette University.  

Eric Young

Since co-founding Canaan in 1987, Eric Young has helped launch a multitude of market-leading companies from inception to IPO or acquisition. He was an early investor in Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), whose technology led the 1990's DSL wave in North America; ONI Systems, the leader in the revolutionary merging of the metro area voice and data communication that is the basis of Ciena's current offerings (acquired by Ciena); and Kalpana, which introduced the concept of a multi-port Ethernet switch (acquired by Cisco Systems). Eric also generated numerous positive outcomes from his investments in high-performance companies such as Argon Networks, Capstone Turbine, Diffusion Software, Frame Technology, International Network Services, International Packaging Assembly, Spectrian and Visigenic Software.

Eric earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and a MBA from Northwestern University. Eric recently served for five years as Silicon Valley's VC-industry representative on Nasdaq's Listing and Hearing Review Council, He is also member of Advisory Council of Cornell University's entrepreneurship initiative, Entrepreneurship@Cornell, as well as a frequent speaker to university students at Stanford, Cornell and UC Berkeley on the transformative power of entrepreneurship. An engineer at heart, Eric is happiest when figuring out "how things work" – but he also dabbles in fly fishing, golf and the outdoors in general.