Michael Riccio

Michael Riccio is the Founder and serves as Managing Partner at Falcon Partners. He also is an Angel Investor. Prior to founding the Firm, Riccio served as Chief Operating Officer of Go2Net, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNET) until its acquisition by Infospace, Inc. (Nasdaq: INSP) in a $1.7 billion stock transaction in October 2000. As COO and a member of Go2Net's Board of Directors, Riccio had overall responsibility for Go2Net's strategic initiatives, including business development, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and international business strategy. Riccio also led Go2Net's corporate venture group which co-invested with Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures in several Internet and e-commerce companies, including AskMe, Inc., Commtouch Software, Lts. (Nasdaq: CTCH), Click2Learn, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLKS), FindWhat, Inc. (Nasdaq: FWHT) and National Discount Brokers, Inc. (acquired by Deutsche Bank). After Go2Net's sale to Infospace, Riccio became Executive Vice President of Infospace, Inc. (Nasdaq: INSP), where he had overall responsibility for Infospace's Broadband Division focused on developing broadband services and applications for PC, TV and 2.5/3G wireless platforms. Riccio was instrumental in the development and launch of the first interactive TV service offered by Bloomberg Television in 2001 and the execution of a number of strategic alliances with such companies as Microsoft, Verizon, Liberate and OpenTV. Prior to joining Go2Net in 1998, Riccio was a corporate partner at Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar, a Boston based law firm where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate finance. Riccio served as principal outside counsel to Lycos, Inc. from the time of the company's founding in 1995. In this capacity, he worked closely with Lycos' senior management on its initial public offering and on many subsequent strategic transactions, including the formation of the joint venture with Bertelsmann AG and the acquisitions of Angelfire, Tripod, WhoWhere and Wired Digital. Riccio also served as counsel to a number of private equity firms including CMG@Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Summit Partners and Thomas H. Lee Equity Partners. As counsel, he participated in transactions with a number of Internet companies, including Blaxxun Interactive, eToys, Mapquest (acquired by AOL), NextCard, PlanetAll (acquired by Amazon.com), Quote.com (acquired by Lycos), RoweCom, Silknet Software (acquired by Kana Software) and Ticketslive (acquired by Tickets.com). Riccio served as a founding partner of Xanthus Capital, L.P., a Seattle based investment firm focused on investments in emerging growth businessess, and managing partner of Vencor & Co., a Boston based investment firm focused on investing in Internet and e-commerce enterprises. He also served as interim Chief Executive Officer of Hamlet, Inc., a developer of predictive pricing solutions for the travel industry funded by Madrona Investment Group and WRF Capital. Riccio began his career as an associate in the corporate department of Willkie, Farr & Gallagher in New York. Riccio currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Verdiem Corp., a developer of PC power management software, and Local Lead, LLC, a provider of online lead generation services for local merchants, and as a member of the Advisory Boards of Linqware, Inc., a developer of real time collaboration software, and Integra Ventures, L.P., a venture capital partnership focused on investing in biotechnology and life sciences enterprises.