Last month, I took the plunge and decided to leave Microsoft to join a very early stage start-up called Fraudwall Technologies as the Director of Product Management & Marketing.  Having just completed the launch of Windows Live Hotmail at the end of May, I was ready to take on a whole new set of challenges.  Ron Conway, the angel investor who had funded Vividence, (the company where I worked from 1999-2002) is both an investor and co-founder of Fraudwall; he approached me about joining the team and after over a month of research and interviews, I was convinced Fraudwall was the perfect next step for me.

Fraudwall is developing technology to enable ad networks, advertisers, and agencies the ability to assess click quality on their sites, thereby ensuring that ad dollars are spent on valid visitors and not on click fraud. 

As you may have noticed, click fraud has increasingly been in the spotlight over the past year.  Estimates for the percentage of online traffic that is considered fraudulent range from as low as 0.02% (per Google) to as high as 34% (per the China IntelliConsulting Corp ).  The reality is likely somewhere in between and our goal at Fraudwall is to develop the technology, backed by a sound methodology, to provide the source of truth for the industry. 

I’m joining a rockstar team of engineers and scientists, as well as an impressive network of investors and advisors.  I psyched about the potential for Fraudwall to change the face of online advertising.  Stay tuned for more news.  In the meantime… WE’RE HIRING!