Dean Drako

Career history

In 1982, Drako founded his first company, which sold a bulletin board system software package called T-net, used to share messages via modems. Drako used the profits to fund his college education.

In 1992, Drako founded Design Acceleration, Inc, served as its CEO, and sold it to Cadence Design Systems in 1999. Drako was also founder and CEO of Boldfish and Velosel; Boldfish was acquired by Siebel Systems in 2003. In 2003 Drako founded IC Manage, where he continues to be president and CEO.

Drako has written a number of articles on open source, big data, and system on chip design.

Drako is a frequently invited speaker and contributor on the topic of entrepreneurship, including by UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, ISPD, and Forbes.

Barracuda Networks

Also in 2003, Drako founded Barracuda Networks and introduced their email spam and virus appliance product line. Other Barracuda product lines launched during Drako's tenure were: web filters, load balancers, email archiving, and digital PBXs.

Drako executed six acquisitions by Barracuda Networks: In 2007, NetContinuum, an application controller company; in 2008, BitLeap, a provider of cloud-based backup services, and 3SP, an SSL and VPN company; in 2009, Yosemite Technologies, for incremental backup of applications; a controlling interest in phion AG, an Austria-based public enterprise-class firewalls company, and Purewire Inc, a software as a service (SaaS) cloud-based web filtering and security company.

Drako contributed to or supported 16 different open source projects while running Barracuda including Valgrind, Apache, and the Free Software Foundation.

Drako resigned from Barracuda Networks in July 2012 to pursue other ventures, remaining on its board of directors. At the time of Drako’s resignation, Barracuda stated it was profitable, generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue, close to 30% year-over-year growth since inception, and had surpassed 150,000 customers.

IC Manage

Drako also co-founded IC Manage, the leader in next generation design management and big data solutions for SoC, IP, IC and software design, enabling companies to efficiently and reliably manage single and multi-site development efforts where he continues to serve as President and CEO,

Eagle Eye Networks

In July 2012, Drako founded Eagle Eye Networks, a cloud-based video security company, and serves as its President and CEO.

In January 2014, Drako formally launched Eagle Eye Networks and introduced its cloud-managed video surveillance system. Eagle Eye’s goal was “to do for video surveillance what Dropbox did for file sharing by making video more available and far easier to use.”

Drako has been credited with establishing the concept of ‘true cloud’ in the physical security industry, to emphasize the differences between applications designed specifically for the cloud and legacy-design applications being run on a cloud-hosted virtual server.

Brivo

Drako acquired Brivo, a provider of cloud-based physical access control systems, in June 2015 for a reported $50 million. Brivo will sell its cloud-based access control systems along with Eagle Eye’s cloud-based security camera system, although the companies will continue to operate as separate entities.

Drako Motors

Drako is co-founder and CEO of Drako Motors, an electric sports car software platform provider, which on August 6, 2015 announced its first product, the Drako DriveOS, a single VCU (vehicle control unit) operating system which controls all four wheels independently.

LivingTree

In December 2016, Drako acquired LivingTree, a K-12 family engagement platform provider. The acquisition was described as a "multimillion-dollar investment." LivingTree provides a secure, community-wide platform for educators and parents to engage, independent of language preference, and is stated to address directives set by the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Swift Sensors

Drako founded Swift Sensors, a cloud-based wireless sensor company, in May 2015. In Dec 2016, Drako formally launched Swift Sensors and introduced its cloud wireless sensor system. Swift Sensors’ goal is to eliminate the pain and cost of Internet of Things sensing applications by offering a unified solution that requires no programming skills or technical expertise. Drako will serve as the company's Executive Chairman.

Awards and recognition

In 1984, Drako won finalist in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search for his solar energy research.

In 2007, Drako was named Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California for Networking and Communications by Ernst & Young.

In 2011, during Drako's tenure as CEO, Barracuda Networks was ranked #2 of the 2011 Best Tech Co's to Work For in 2011 by Business Insider.

In 2012, Drako was elected to be a director of the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC) board in 2012.

Since 2012 Drako has served on the University of Michigan Advisory council.

In 2014, Drako was selected as Keynote speaker for UC Berkeley Engineering Week.

In 2014, Goldman Sachs named Dean Drako as one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2014.

In 2016, Dean was commencement speaker at University of Michigan Engineering School.