Google Voice CEO Craig Walker Launches Firespotter

When Google Voice (previously GrandCentral) co-founder and CEO Craig Walker is starting an incubator, with initial funding from Google Ventures of $3 million. GrandCentral itself was nurtured in an incubator, one might note. Most recently, Walker had been working at Google Ventures as entrepreneur in residence.

At Google Ventures, Walker has had a chance to see hundreds to thousands of startup pitches, likely of varying quality or novelty. Walker likely also has found that many of the pitches are in similar market spaces, and knows from experience that it is difficult to separate ultimate leaders from laggards, even in the same space, at inception.

An incubator provides a business model where Firespotter will be able to spread its bets, essentially, without having to make judgments upfront about which teams and ideas are most worthy.

Walker is working with former Google Voice engineers Brian Peterson, John Rector and Alex Cornell) at Firespotter Labs.

Google Voice CEO Craig Walker Launches Firespotter, A Google Ventures Funded Incubator