Chris Capossela, Senior VP of Microsoft

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Chris Capossela is the Senior Vice President of the Microsoft Information Worker Product Management Group. Chris is responsible for the worldwide product and business management of the Microsoft Office System of products, which includes desktop applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, server products such as Exchange, and hosted services such as Office Live.

Chris has been with Microsoft for over 15 years in various of business positions, including two years as a speech writer for Bill Gates.

In this interview, Chris tells us about his experiences and lessons from Microsoft. Notably, he shares his insight on how Microsoft continues to be innovative, the success and future of Office products, and anecdotes from his work with Bill Gates.

Chris graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics.

Enjoy the interview!

- Min Liu

Max Ventilla and Rob Spiro, Founders of Aardvark

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Max Ventilla and Rob Spiro are two of four founders of Aardvark, a new social search tool that gets real-time answers from social networks. Max and Rob, along with Nathan Stoll and Damon Horowitz , are carving out the social space with a product that’s a conversation facilitator.

In this interview, Max and Rob give an overview of social search, explain their approach in building an innovative product in a burgeoning space, and give insight into Aardvark’s user-centric and research-oriented approach to product and company development. They also packed the interview with some great advice for entrepreneurs and new graduates.

Max, Zoo Director, drives strategy and business development. Prior to Aardvark, Max focused on strategy for Adsense at Google and earlier was VP of Business Development for an enterprise data mining tool. Max holds a BS in Math and Physics and a MBA from Yale.

Rob, Assistant Curator to Birds, leads all quantitative and qualitative user research initiatives. Previously, Rob co-founded Mifly, a mobile software startup, and Reelblogs, a new media company. Rob holds a BA in History from Yale.

- Min Liu