Procket has raised something like $300m, and now there's talk that the company is trying to sell itself. Could it really be out of money?
Unless they have raised more funding that is not publicly known, then I'd say they need to do something quickly. They should be close to running out of money by now.
People have been saying that Cisco is interested in buying Procket. Does this make sense to you?
I'm not sure what Cisco's rationale is. If it's a matter of improving hardware density and getting some software talent, then that makes sense. But I don't see how this wouldn't really [anger] the team that just built Cisco's new CRS-1 router.
People say that Procket could be going for between $80m and $100m. What's your take on that?
Well, I'm a bit biased, but I think that's a real steal for the technology.
Procket was one of the most highly valued start-ups in Silicon Valley at one point. What happened?
There was a lot of mismanagement, especially in the early days. Things were delayed, and the sales didn't happen. The product ended up being much more expensive to develop than we had planned, simply because we were not able to execute as we had hoped.
Were there partnership opportunities that came about and were they missed?
A number. But I can't go into them specifically.
There's been a lot written about the fact that you and the previous chief executive, Randall Kruep, didn't get along. Is there anything to this?
I tried very hard to get along with Randall. That was basically rejected out of hand. I had nothing to do with him leaving. I did not want him to leave. It was actually sad to see that happen.
Why did you leave Procket? I thought that you were instrumental in getting Roland Acra, the new chief executive, to come on board.
Once he got into the company, he wasn't interested in having my help. That was unfortunate.
