Cambridge Cluster

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Forty years ago what became the Internet was built from work on both sides of The Pond!  Of course, academics could be trusted but when the Internet was open to all, security became a problem.  There are a number of programmes available but my eye was caught by the news that two British brothers, Edgar and Roy Turvey were selling ScanSafe to Cisco.

Both brothers had worked in serious companies, Goldmans and Merril Lynch and one also had an MBA from Insead.  Not just young kids from university.  Also they had attracted a top name VC, Balderton Capital.

Although spam blocking and internet filtering were familiar concepts back in 2004, the notion of dealing with the threat before it got anywhere near a customer’s computer system was revolutionary. “This market was very nascent when we started, but we believed that the threat would move from the inbox to the browser,” Eldar Tuvey said.

So a good model to study for aspiring MBA students and particularly to look at the business plan to understand how the brothers could end up with 25% between them with Balderton having 30%.  The 150 staff all have shares.  I wonder when the options scheme was started and who owns the rest of the shares.

With more than 2,000 customers in 100 countries, the brothers are staying on to help with the integration with Cisco which Eldar Tuvey says will involve a lot of travel.  Tough if Cisco make them travel economy; perhaps they will upgrade on their personal cards!  Be interesting to see how Cisco ensures that all the employees stay focused.

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