Did you know that 95% of email sent out in 2007 was SPAM?

For some reason, a number of folks think that I left HP for Google which is not the case. Google would be a great place to work but I needed something smaller. Something that would allow me to get the experience and connections needed for me to start my own business down the line. Plus, find a leadership team that can take my experience to the next level.

I’ve taken the Director of Engineering position at Abaca Technology Corp. based out of San Jose. Abaca was founded by Steve Kirsch, one really famous and successful guy in the valley. You can read more about him on his website or his Wikipedia page. His accomplishments speak for themselves.

Abaca Technology Corporation is an innovator in email protection and messaging security. Abaca’s patent-pending technology, ReceiverNet™, offers an advanced approach in the fight against spam — providing unprecedented levels of accuracy and guaranteeing 99 percent spam filtration. Abaca has created a portfolio of innovative products and services based upon this core technology, thereby assuring users unparalleled messaging protection from spam, as well as viruses and phishing attacks.

The question becomes, why did I join an anti-spam company? Well, this was my reasoning …

• It’s time to get back to a real startup environment
• An opportunity to work with Steve Kirsch
• An opportunity to build another engineering team from scratch
• An opportunity to be part of a company being built from the bottom up
• An opportunity to bring real value to a space that doesn’t quite solve the problem.

The way I see it, the leadership team kicks butt, the product is truly “innovative” and I’m build one kick ass execution engine. Only time will tell, but I’m pretty bullish.

More details to come …