Oblong has announced that entrepreneur Jim Marggraff has joined its board of directors. The addition coincides with the extension of Oblong’s Mezzanine product range and the announcement of deeper software integrations with enterprise collaboration platforms such as Cisco Webex Teams, IBM Watson Workspace, and Slack.
Jim Marggraff is a technologist and entrepreneur with a keen interest in AI. He has roles advising Rival Theory, the world’s first AI relationship network, and Foresight AI, empowering mobile robots with data and intelligence.
Marggraff’s contribution to Oblong builds upon several decades of corporate leadership as a founder/co-founder of StrataCom (acquired by Cisco in 1996 for $4bn), Eyefluence (acquired by Google in 2016), and Livescribe (the world’s first smart pen). Marggraff is also noted for his work at Leapfrog, where he invented the renowned LeapPad Learning System with $1bn+ in sales and impact on more than 100m children and adults globally.
John Underkoffler, Oblong founder and CEO commented: “We’re honoured 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, added: “Jim’s pursuit of technologies which maximise how human brains can be more effective in working together will be a tremendous asset for us.”
“Oblong is at the precipice of explosive growth,” said Marggraff. “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.”
