While still riding high on the Java buzz, Polese and three of Sun s most talented engineers, Jonathan Payne, Sami Shaio, and Arthur van Hoff, left in 1996 to begin Marimba. We wanted to do something and realized that if there was ever a good time to do it, this was it, says Polese, who with Shaio, Payne, and van Hoff, wrote an ambitious business plan and then tested it on some venture capitalist contacts in the week between Christmas and New Year s Eve 1995. We didn t want to start a company just because it was the cool thing to do, she says. We wanted to see if we had something that we could get funded. On I want to leave a legacy something that matters and benefits people, says Polese, who volunteers her time to nonprofit organizations.
People get focused on making money, and they achieve that and then feel empty.
I m frustrated when I see people start a company and then turn around and sell it for the cash. I admire people like Bill Gates who had the doggedness to persevere and build something that is successful and will last. Kim Polese is one of the few female chief executives in Silicon Valley s technology industry. She is the co-founder, chairman, and chief strategy officer of Marimba, a provider of Internet infrastructure management solutions. Polese does not think of herself as a pioneer for women in the technology industry, but she does work as a mentor with young women to encourage them to pursue engineering or computer science degrees.