
Joe Kraus is a serial entrepreneur with a impressive track record. He co-founded Excite, a popular web portal, in 1994.
Joe Kraus's entrepreneurial journey began with Excite, which he co-founded in 1994 and later sold to @Home in 1999 for $6.7 billion. He also co-founded JotSpot, a web-based wiki and collaboration platform, in 2004.
Kraus's experience in the tech industry has been marked by innovation and success.
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Joe Kraus' Career
Joe Kraus has been a long-time entrepreneur, involved in early-stage technology development and starting companies for over twelve years. He graduated from Stanford University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in political science.
After joining five engineering friends to found Excite, the Internet company declared bankruptcy in 2001. Kraus was the original President of Excite, involved in product strategy, direction, and vision as the company grew.
Kraus also held senior operational roles in business development, international development, and content at Excite. He later co-founded Digitalconsumer.org, a non-profit consumer organization with over 50,000 members dedicated to expanding consumers' fair-use rights to digital media.
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Early Life and Education
Joe Kraus grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in Symbolic Systems.
Professional Experience
Joe Kraus has been involved in early-stage technology development and starting companies for over twelve years. He co-founded Excite, an internet company, with five engineering friends in 1993.
As the original President of Excite, Kraus was involved in product strategy, direction, and vision as the company grew. He also held senior operational roles in business development, international development, and content.
After leaving Excite@Home in 2000, Kraus co-founded Digitalconsumer.org, a non-profit consumer organization with over 50,000 members dedicated to expanding consumers' fair-use rights to digital media.
Kraus was a key figure in JotSpot, which was purchased by Google in 2006. He became a partner at Google Ventures in 2009.
As a partner at Google Ventures, Kraus helped lead the investment for GV in OpenCandy.
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Founding Excite
I co-founded Excite.com in 1993, making it one of the first Internet search engines.
The company took a significant leap in 1996 when it went public.
In 2000, Excite.com was sold in a massive $6.7Bn transaction.
As the founding CEO, I led the product organization, including engineering, product management, design, and user research.
Excite's Impact

Joe Kraus co-founded Excite, a popular search engine and web portal, in 1994 with Graham Spencer and Robin Vasan.
Excite quickly gained popularity, reaching 20 million users by 1996.
The search engine was known for its user-friendly interface and innovative features like "Get Smart" which provided personalized search results based on user behavior.
Excite's success led to a significant increase in traffic and revenue, making it one of the top search engines of its time.
Joe Kraus's experience at Excite taught him the importance of innovation and user-centric design.
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Investments and Ventures
Joe Kraus has been involved in several successful ventures throughout his career. He is an Investment Partner on the GV team.
Joe Kraus has also founded several companies, including Excite, JotSpot, and DigitalConsumer.org. He co-founded these companies with his long-time business partner Graham Spencer.
The GV team, which Joe Kraus is a part of, has made significant investments in various startups. The total funding for these investments has ranged from $46M to $690M.
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Startup Outcomes
Joe Kraus, an Investment Partner at Google Ventures, has a background in founding successful startups like Excite and JotSpot. He co-founded these companies with his long-time business partner Graham Spencer.
Excite was a pioneering web portal that helped launch the internet into mainstream usage. Kraus' experience in building and scaling a successful startup is invaluable to the GV team.
Kraus' success with Excite and JotSpot is a testament to his ability to identify and capitalize on emerging trends.
Joe Kraus' Investments
Joe Kraus' investments have been quite impressive. He's secured a total funding of $690M, which is a significant amount for any venture.
This level of investment is not a one-off, as Joe Kraus has also received funding of $47M and $46M in the past. These figures demonstrate his ability to attract substantial investments.
The total funding of $690M is a testament to Joe Kraus' business acumen and ability to secure funding for his ventures.
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