Marimba, Inc.
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OVERVIEW
Marimba's notes have been both sweet and sour. The
Mountain View, California-based company's Castanet
software lets information technology professionals deliver
and update PC applications over the Internet, LANs, or
WANs from a central location. The one-time Silicon
Valley glamour company counts Seagate and Charles Schwab among clients
using its products to provide services over the Web. Netscape (acquired by
America Online in 1999) resells Castanet and accounts for almost 25% of
Marimba's sales. Co-founders Kim Polese (CEO), Arthur van Hoff (chief
technology officer), and engineers Jonathan Payne and Sami Shaio each own
about 13% of the company. Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers owns 15%.
Founded in January 1996 by four former members of Sun Microsystems' Java
programming language development team led by Polese, Marimba was named
to reflect Polese's love of dance and her belief the word suggests movement and
life. The foursome left Sun just as Java was garnering attention, and as the
spotlight on Java grew, it also focused on the developers and their new venture.
Polese became so well-known that she was dubbed the "Madonna of Silicon
Valley." High profile but without a product, Marimba received $4 million from
Kleiner Perkins.
After months of speculation about what the company would sell, Marimba
announced in October 1996 it would develop push technology, a distribution
method that sends content to users based on their stated interests or buying
habits. Push was hailed as the next big thing in Internet technology and
marketing.
In 1997 Compaq, PeopleSoft, and other companies invested $14.5 million in
Marimba. However, push hit the skids when it overloaded networks. Clients,
instead, put marketing money into their Web sites rather than Marimba's
software. Marimba abandoned the content delivery market and struggled to
reinvent itself, losing marketing staff and going through two public relations firms
in the process. Reemerging as a provider of business applications, the company
signed deals with Ingram Micro and FedEx later that year, and with Sun
Microsystems and Home Depot in 1998. Marimba filed to go public in
February 1999.
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NEWS & COMMENTARY
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OFFICERS & EMPLOYEES
President and CEO: Kim K. Polese, age 37, $130,000 pay
Chief Technology Officer: Arthur A. van Hoff , age 35
EVP Worldwide Sales and COO: Steven P. Williams, age 35, $250,000 pay
(prior to promotion)
VP Business Development: Thomas E. Banahan, age 40, $225,000 pay
VP Engineering: Robert E. Currie, age 31, $137,000 pay
VP Finance and CFO: Fred M. Gerson , age 48, $165,000 pay
VP Marketing: Jacqueline Ross, age 41
Senior Engineer: Jonathan Payne, age 34
Senior Engineer: Sami Shaio, age 35
Auditors: Ernst & Young LLP
1998 Employees: 145 (Company Job Openings)
1-Yr. Employee Growth: 190.0%
LOCATION & SUBSIDIARIES
Headquarters: 440 Clyde Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: 650-930-5282
Fax: 650-930-5600
Web Site: marimba.com
Marimba has offices in the UK and the US.
PRODUCTS/OPERATIONS
1998 Sales
$ mil. % of total
Licenses 14.0 82
Services 3.1 18
Total 17.1 100
Products
Castanet Infrastructure Suite
Client (Castanet Tuner)
Server (Castanet Transmitter)
Castanet Management Suite
Client customization (Castanet Tuner Packager)
Copying (Castanet Channel Copier)
Reporting (Castanet Transmitter Reporter)
Server management (Castanet Transmitter Administrator)
Castanet Production Suite
Application installation (Castanet Publisher)
Application preparation (Castanet Application Packagers)
Castanet Toolkits (for creating self-updating applications)
Services
Customer support
Design
Documentation
Integration
Project management
Training and certification
Customers Andersen Worldwide Charles Schwab Cisco Systems
DaimlerChrysler EarthLink Network Ford Motor Company Fujitsu Guardian
Life Insurance Hitachi Home Depot Ingram Micro Intuit Merck & Co. Samsung
Seagate Technology Sun Microsystems Toshiba U S WEST
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