Career
Mike Farmwald is known for his combination of computer engineering skill and market vision. Mike, who holds a doctorate in Computer Science from Stanford University where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow, has founded six companies to date, five of which were financed in part by Benchmark Capital, where he is a Venture Partner. He has founded these companies:
FTL (1986) - ECL supercomputers, merged with MIPS Computer Systems
Rambus (1990) - high speed interfaces, used in PCs and video game consoles
Chromatic Research (1993) - media-processors, acquired by ATI Technologies
Epigram (1996) - inventor of HomePNA, a local area network implemented over POTS, acquired by Broadcom
Matrix Semiconductor (1997) - 3D semiconductors
Mike is probably best known for cofounding Rambus (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation: RMBS), a developer of high-bandwidth interfaces for memories and other chips.
After founding the company in 1990, Mike served as Vice President and Chief Scientist, overseeing the development of several key innovations, including the 1992 introduction of the world"s first 4 Mbit RDRAM. Mike also invests directly in startups through Skymoon Ventures.
His recent investments include technology companies incubated at Skymoon R&Doctorate (Dash, whose navigation systems bring internet to the car, and Finesse Solutions, a measurement and control provider to the biotechnology industry) as well as companies that bring technology to traditional business (Remote Lands, a luxury bespoke Asian travel outfitter started by entrepreneur Catherine Heald and Institute of Civil Engineers, a fitness concept company started by award-winning cheerleading coach Darlene Fanning). He has also publicly criticized and shorted the stock of technology companies he believes are defrauding investors by misrepresenting their technology.
In 2005 he shorted ParkerVision, a RF semiconductor Intellectual Property company, and created a website detailing their problems with the company.
