Google VP Of Apps, Enterprise Departs

Dave Girouard, vice president of Google Apps and Google Enterprise, is resigning from the company to form a startup.

As chief of Google Apps, Girouard oversaw the company’s fast-growing cloud applications, including Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar. He also started the company’s Enterprise unit, which encompassed Google Chromebooks and Search Appliance for Business.

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Google Chrome and Apps, will take over Girouard’s responsibilities, the company said. Amit Singh will continue managing Enterprise.

In a Google blog posted Friday, Girouard said he was leaving to build Upstart, a new company funded by Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and NEA.

The Upstart home page features a brief statement, that says, in part, “Upstart let’s you raise capital in return for a small portion of your future income. So you can do what your meant to do.”

In his blog post, Girouard thanked Google Co-Founders Sergey Brin and CEO Larry Page, and former CEO Eric Schmidt. “After eight wonderful and life-altering years, I've decided to leave Google to pursue my own adventure,” he wrote.

“In recent months, I've thought a lot about the younger generation; about the opportunities and challenges they face in navigating their careers and life choices,” he wrote. “The result is www.upstart.com, which you'll (hopefully) hear a lot more about in the coming months.”

Google issued a statement on his departure. "Dave has decided to leave Google to pursue another opportunity,” the company said. “We’re so grateful for his contributions to Google and wish him all the best."

Last May at Google I/O, Girouard described Chromebooks as Google's effort to overhaul the flawed Windows desktop computing model.

"This may be bigger than the Google Apps launch," Girouard said at the event. "It may more impactful for people that need to run IT in a business." In 2005, Girouard, then-general manager of Google's enterprise business, briefed CRN on the search giant's plan to bring Google Desktop Search into businesses through an alliance with IBM Lotus Software.

"We try things in the consumer world and make sure they are well- and thoroughly tested. And I think we have other products that could be good in the enterprise," he told CRN at the time.

Kevin McLaughlin contributed to this article.