Innovating Web 2.0 Storage: Fabrik CEO Mike Cordano (Part 7)

SM: Who are the key players at Fabrik these days?

MC: One of the key people on the team helping me execute the plan is Mike Williams. He was the original GM of Maxtor’s Branded Products group. He also spent 10 years prior to that at Apple. He is responsible for all the products of the company.

SM: Has he been with you since the beginning?

MC: He joined just before the acquisition of SimpleTech, right before the Series B. Mark McEachen, our CFO, came on board right about the same time. He has a terrific background that makes him well suited for the complex financial engineering we are doing. He has taken three companies public. We are using both debt and equity to finance the company, so we draw on his time at Chrysler, where he used very sophisticated means to raise billions of dollars.

SM: Where is your software done?

MC: It is done here. We have development in San Mateo. We do have a few resources in India.

SM: Anything else I should have asked you that I didn’t?

MC: I should talk about G-Technology. That was the second acquisition we did in the first quarter of 2008. That really accelerated this verticalization of our market. They put us in the premium creative pro space. We see them having terrific traction in the post production environment.

SM: How big is that market?

MC: For us it is hard to define. We took a company that was doing about $24 million in revenue and we think that market is going to grow for us at 60% year over year under the Fabrik umbrella.

SM: What was the genesis of G-Technology?

MC: It was founded by Roger Mabon. Roger came out of the video world with companies like Avid. It was a vertical storage play and their products were design for that market. It was incredibly complementary to what we are trying to do, and it gave us another market segment that we were interested in being in.

SM: How much did you pay for them?

MC: $10 million.

SM: With $24 million in revenue? Why that price?

MC: It was largely owned by the principle, who knew it had taken its course and who was looking for an exit opportunity. He was at a point where he needed to go raise money or find a partner. It was a stock and cash deal so he now has a stake in Fabrik, and he is still with the company.

SM: Now it is SimpleTech, G-Technology and Fabrik all under one umbrella. Are you looking at other acquisitions?

MC: Yes. We are actively looking to expand in Europe. Assuming we are successful there we will be done with our platform buildouts. At that point we will have the scale and the global reach we want to have. Any future M&A beyond that will happen around technology or value added services.

SM: So you could pick up a photo merchandising shop or something similar?

MC: Absolutely. We have the scale, we have fully optimized the devices side of the business, and now it is time to focus on the layers. We will continue to use M&A as a vehicle to do that. The team is exceedingly skilled at doing it and we have an investor base that is supportive. We see it as a great way to continue to build value.

SM: Very good. This has been a great story.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Innovating Web 2.0 Storage: Fabrik CEO Mike Cordano
1 2 3 4 5 6 7