Martin Roscheisen
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Roland Martin Roscheisen (German: Röscheisen) is an Austrian-American technology entrepreneur and the CEO of Nanosolar, a leader in solar power innovation.
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[edit] Background and Education
According to a profile in Handelsblatt, the respected German business newspaper, Mr. Roscheisen was raised in Munich, Germany, as an Austrian citizen. While still a teenager, he spent a year at Silicon Valley's legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and subsequently studied computer science and electrical engineering at Munich Technical University, which he completed at the top of his class and in record time. In 1992, he moved to California to pursue a doctorate in engineering at Stanford University.
[edit] Entrepreneurial Activities
Mr. Roscheisen was early in discovering the Internet as a fertile ground for business opportunities and was among the first generation of Internet entrepreneurs.
In 1995, Roscheisen co-founded FindLaw, which rapidly became the most widely used Internet legal site, for the first time making U.S. case law including all Supreme Court decisions easily accessible to the public. FindLaw is now part of Thomson's West Group. No information on the purchase price was disclosed but FindLaw is said to be a highly profitable unit of the Thomson group.
In 1997, Mr. Roscheisen co-founded TradingDynamics, an enterprise software company, which ended up being acquired by Ariba for $740 million.
In 1998, Mr. Roscheisen became CEO of eGroups, an email messaging company, which was financed by Sequoia Capital and ultimately acquired by Yahoo in a transaction valued at $450 million.
In 2000/2001, Mr. Roscheisen was perhaps the first entrepreneur in Silicon Valley to seriously focus on green energy technology -- back then an unusual segment but by now an industry that is a very active area for leading venture capitalists, financiers, and entrepreneurs. SJMN
[edit] Miscellaneous
Mr. Roscheisen was named one of the United States' Top Ten entrepreneurs under the age of 40 by Fortune Magazine (List).
Together with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Roscheisen is an executive producer of Broken Arrows.
Roscheisen's San Francisco home was featured on the cover of Dwell magazine in 2002.
