Former aQuantive CEO Joins Madrona Venture Group

Brian McAndrews, former CEO of digital marketing company aQuantive (acquired by Microsoft for $6 billion), has joined Madrona Venture Group as a managing director.

PRESS RELEASE

Madrona Venture Group, the Seattle-based venture capital firm, today announced that Brian P. McAndrews has joined the firm as a Managing Director. McAndrews will identify and lead new portfolio investments out of Madrona’s most recent $250 million fund, as well as support Madrona’s existing portfolio companies.

“Brian has an amazing talent for identifying exceptional people and helping them develop ideas to their full potential,” said Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain. “That’s what he accomplished at aQuantive, growing the company from a small digital agency to a leading global technology marketing company. We have built a strong relationship with Brian these past 10 years and are thrilled that he is joining the Madrona team.”

McAndrews served for eight years as the CEO of aQuantive, a global digital marketing company, and negotiated its $6 billion acquisition by Microsoft in August 2007. The sale represents the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history. During his tenure at aQuantive, McAndrews took the company public, launched the Atlas advertising division and DrivePM ad network, and led the acquisition of Razorfish and 14 other companies around the world.

After aQuantive was acquired by Microsoft, McAndrews served as Senior Vice President at Microsoft Corporation, founding and leading the Advertising and Publisher Solutions (APS) Group. The APS business group is today responsible for approximately $3 billion in revenue and for building and marketing the Microsoft Advertising Platform, which includes search, display, first-party ad networks and emerging media. McAndrews left the company in January 2009 after the transition of aQuantive into Microsoft was successfully completed.

“Madrona is a leading, early-stage venture capital firm with an outstanding track record of partnering closely with entrepreneurs,” said McAndrews. “As we learned at aQuantive, technology-driven innovation occurs in all market cycles and I am excited about jumping in and helping talented teams take their ideas and build them into lasting companies. The idea of helping identify, build and foster other promising, innovative businesses in the Pacific Northwest had an appeal that was simply too strong to pass up. ”

McAndrews’ work experiences prior to aQuantive, along with his current board of directors’ responsibilities with various companies, are also relevant to his new role at Madrona. From 1990 to 1999, McAndrews worked for ABC Inc., holding executive positions at ABC Sports, ABC Entertainment and ABC Television Network and eventually becoming Executive Vice President and General Manager for ABC Sports. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a product manager for General Mills. Currently, McAndrews serves as a director for Clearwire Corporation, a next-generation wireless Internet company; Fisher Communications Inc., a media company based in Seattle; WhitePages.com Inc.; and for United Way King County. He earned a bachelor of arts (A.B.) in economics from Harvard University and graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

About Madrona Venture Group:
Madrona (Madrona Venture Group) has been investing in early-stage technology companies primarily in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region’s most successful technology ventures. The firm invests across the information technology spectrum including consumer Internet, digital media and advertising, commercial software and services, networking and infrastructure, and wireless. Madrona currently manages over $675 million and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, aQuantive, Isilon Systems, iConclude, Farecast.com (now Bing Travel), and ShareBuilder.