Mobile Expert Charles Jolley Joins Battery Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence

WALTHAM, MA and MENLO PARK, CA and HERZLIYA, ISRAEL--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2013) - Battery Ventures today announced that Charles Jolley, most recently Facebook's Mobile Platform Head of Product, and co-founder of mobile software company Strobe (acquired by Facebook), has joined as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) in its Menlo Park office. Jolley is a well-known and seasoned technologist and entrepreneur, who will bring his deep background in mobile, software and tablet engineering to work alongside the Battery investment team. 

Jolley will collaborate with the team on its research into the enterprise tablet space, to help further define the most compelling opportunities for investment. Battery's fundamental premise is that as business users go tablet-centric, the workflows and business-critical applications must follow suit, and they are scrambling to catch up. 

"Demand is exploding as tablets like the iPad Mini fall in price," said Jolley. "Just like companies had to quickly adapt as employees abandoned their company-issued Blackberries for personal smartphones, they will face a similar challenge as people drop their PCs in lieu of tablets."

Jolley has a unique and important intersection of skills and perspective in the mobile universe: He has hands-on experience with both iOS (during his tenure at Apple) and Android (during his tenure at Facebook), combined with direct involvement on companies' move to mobile through Strobe, a mobile application development framework company he founded and sold to Facebook. Jolley's complete bio can be found here.

"Few people have spent more time in mobile than Charles, and he is particularly insightful around how users' adoption of tablets differs from smartphones," said Mike Dauber, Battery Ventures principal. "We've been intently watching the rapid move of tablets from fun consumer gadgets to go-to devices in the enterprise, and agree with Gartner's recent prediction that they will overtake laptops within a few years*. We have believed for some time that this spells opportunity, and are thrilled to bring Charles on board to help catalyze our work here."

Battery's EIR program is designed to combine forces with unique individuals who bring complementary skills sets and can work closely with the team to see over the horizon. EIRs may go on to found new companies, or take on roles within established companies in which Battery invests. Examples of Battery EIRs who have founded companies include Vijay Manwani (Bladelogic, IPO then acquired by BMC Software) and Todd Papaioannou (Continuuity, a current Battery investment). Read more about Battery's EIR program here and meet the team of EIRs here.

*Gartner report titled, "Forecast: Devices by Operating System and User Type, Worldwide, 2010-2017, 1Q13 Update."

About Battery Ventures
Since 1983, Battery has been investing in category-defining ideas and high potential companies and management teams worldwide. The firm views its investment as a true partnership, and works hard to help its companies carve out unique positions, dominate markets and reach business goals. Battery funds companies in technology and related markets at the Seed, Early, Growth and Buyout stage. For a full list of Battery's companies go to: http://www.battery.com/our-companies/list/

The firm has offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, and has raised more than $4.5B since inception. For more information, visit www.battery.com and follow @BatteryVentures.