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Amir Ashkenazi

Founder & CEO at Switchboard & Proactive VC

Amir Ashkenazi is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Switchboard, a remote collaboration software startup.12 He has founded six companies and sold three prior to launching Switchboard.1 Some of his notable achievements include:

  1. Founded Shopping.com in 1997 and served as CTO until its acquisition by eBay in 2006.12
  2. Worked as VP of Product Search at eBay from 2006 to 2007.12
  3. Founded Adap.tv, a video advertising platform, in 2007 and was CEO until its acquisition by AOL in 2013.12
  4. Served as President of AOL from 2013 to 2015.12
  5. Founded Tookee, an AI & voice technology company, in 2018, which was later acquired by LogMeIn.12

Switchboard was inspired by Ashkenazi's experience with virtual guitar lessons during the pandemic, where he identified a gap in existing collaboration tools.1 The platform aims to recreate the magic of in-person collaboration for remote and hybrid work environments.1

Ashkenazi is also the Managing Partner at Proactive VC, an algorithmic early-stage venture capital firm.4 He holds a degree from Tel Aviv University.3

Highlights

May 16 · linkedin

Last night I had the honor of accepting a Webby Award on behalf of the Switchboard team. For my entire career, I have admired The Webby Awards winners, from companies like Instagram to artists like David Bowie.

It was such an exciting and moving night. Two of my favorite moments were watching Bridgett Floyd accept an award on behalf of the George Floyd Memorial Fund and seeing Shigetaka Kurita, the creator of the emoji.

And thank you to everyone who helped us with our five word speech! We decided on: Nothing great is accomplished alone.

May 4 · linkedin

💡 Calling all creative thinkers: Switchboard won a Webby Award (!) and I need to write a 5-word acceptance speech. The team came up with a few - what’s your favorite? Vote below or even better, post a comment with your own.

Thanks to the team at The Webby Awards for recognizing Switchboard as the best on the internet in the Productivity and Collaboration category!

#5WordSpeech #webbyawards #collaboration

Related Questions

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What challenges did Amir Ashkenazi face while founding Switchboard?
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Amir Ashkenazi
Amir Ashkenazi, photo 1
Amir Ashkenazi, photo 2
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Location

San Francisco Bay Area