About a year ago I sold Gizmo5 to Google. I started Gizmo5 (initially called SIPphone) 5 years earlier because I believed all calls will go over the net and SIP technology would allow every device to communicate with each other.
After realizing we had to build our own software to compete with Skype, we built the Gizmo5 software for Mac/Win/Linux. By then Skype had a big headstart and had captured the 'network effect' — more users makes the service better, which attracts even more users.
In 2009 both Andreessen Horowitz (negotiating to buy Skype) and Google's Voice division contacted us. Having two interested parties created urgency. After some back and forth, we decided to sell to Google. Selling Gizmo5 to Google was a great experience — the culmination of a 5 year effort by a team of hard working people.
--MR
