John Ludwig, PARTNER
John is a founding partner of Ignition. He invests in end-user and consumer-facing technology companies. John represents Ignition as director on the boards of Judy's Book and Network Magic. John previously served on the board of Avogadro (acquired by OpenWave) and Wildseed (acquired by AOL).
Prior to Ignition, John spent 11 years Microsoft where he most recently served at Vice President of Product Development. At Microsoft, John led the $400 million acquisition and ongoing operation of Hotmail, the world's largest email service, growing it from 10 million to 60 million users; the $260 million acquisition and integration of the LinkExchange, the most popular ad serving network in the world; and the restart of the MSN Internet Access service.
As VP of Development for MSN, John had overall responsibility for product development. On behalf of MSN, John's team negotiated MSN partnering deals with Compaq, BestBuy, Costco, and other distribution partners, created the MSN Mobile team and partnership with Nextel ($600 million investment). John directed the development and release of the MSN portal and search and developed the Passport network for authentication and commerce across the entire network of Microsoft and partner websites.
John built the 700-member team responsible for the first four releases of Internet Explorer, growing market share from 0% to 60%. He co-managed the development of Windows 95, He also led the acquisition of the initial technology for Microsoft Exchange; led the team that created Windows for Workgroups, which grew to 50% market share to become the most widely-used peer networking product worldwide.
John received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. degree with distinction in Industrial Administration from Carnegie-Mellon and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, cum laude honors from Ohio State.
For more on John and his interests, see http://www.theludwigs.com