Accomplished serial entrepreneur and Google alum adds to Oblong’s goal of expanding human capability and collective cognition
Los Angeles, CA (August 15, 2018) — Oblong Industries, Inc., the pioneer of interactive spatial computing technology for the new era of collaborative work, is pleased to announce that accomplished serial entrepreneur Jim Marggraff has joined its board of directors. The addition coincides with the successful extension of Oblong’s Mezzanine™ product family for content-rich teamwork, and the announcement of deeper software integrations with popular enterprise collaboration platforms such as Cisco Webex Teams, IBM Watson Workspace, and Slack.
Jim Marggraff is an accomplished technologist, entrepreneur, and advocate for human excellence. His interests lie in evoking the best of humanity with AI, which is clear in his current roles advising Rival Theory, the world’s first AI relationship network, and Foresight AI, empowering mobile robots with data and intelligence. Jim’s contribution to Oblong builds upon several decades of corporate leadership as a founder/co-founder of StrataCom (acquired by Cisco in 1996 for $4B), Eyefluence (acquired by Google in 2016), and Livescribe (the world’s first smart pen). Jim is also noted for his work at Leapfrog, where he invented the renowned LeapPad Learning System with $1B+ in sales and impact on more than 100M children and adults globally. Jim is a celebrated member of his community, active Rotarian, E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year (Northern California, 2011), MIT Top 150 Inventor, author of “How to Raise a Founder with Heart” (Sept. 2018), prolific inventor with dozens of patents issued, and an advisor to academic institutions and non-profit foundations.
Says Oblong Industries founder and CEO John Underkoffler, “We’re honored to have such an accomplished visionary join our board. He shares with us a deep interest in expanding human capability and collective cognition through advanced human-machine interface, as well as an unshakeable dedication to user-focused product excellence. We look forward to working with Jim to expand our impact globally.”
Foundry Group managing director Brad Feld, an Oblong board member since the company’s first financing, adds, “Jim’s pursuit of technologies which maximize how human brains can be more effective in working together will be a tremendous asset for us.”
Jim Marggraff posits, “Oblong is at the precipice of explosive growth. The Company comprises a highly innovative team of experienced designers and technologists, with international sales, marketing, and operations expertise, led by a world leader in the future of human collaboration. At a time when collaboration is a buzzword, and continuous innovation is table-stakes for all enterprises, nothing compares to the simplicity and ease of use of the platform Oblong has built with Mezzanine. Given my career focus on technologies that advance communication, cognition, and collaboration, I share a commitment with this team to enhance human potential through improved collective intelligence augmented with collaborative thought-environments. I see great things happening with Oblong and their partners.”
Oblong’s collaboration products and custom solutions have been deployed on every continent except Antarctica. Customers choosing Oblong’s products for their meeting rooms, briefing centers, and global teaming spaces range from IBM to Accenture, NASA to Network Rail, Lendlease to Lockheed Martin. To learn more, visit oblong.com.
