Management & Board
Doostang is led by a team of innovators with proven experience and industry expertise. The company is backed by top Silicon Valley investors, including Shasta Ventures.
Management Team
Drew Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer
Drew joined Doostang from Wal-Mart, where he headed media businesses (photo, music, movies & books) for Wal-Mart.com. Under his leadership, Wal-Mart.com grew its photo business 10 times over three years, scaling to more than $100 million in annual sales. Prior to Wal-Mart, Drew worked as an Associate at Madrona Venture Group, a Seattle-based, early-stage technology fund. He also co-founded SF Interactive, a pioneering online marketing agency based in San Francisco. Drew has a BA from Amherst College and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Mareza Larizadeh, Founder
Mareza founded Doostang while completing his MBA at Stanford University. Previously, he was a Vice President at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) ePlanet Ventures. During his tenure, the fund invested in Skype (eBay) and Baidu, and he personally sourced and led its investments in End2End Mobile (MACH), Ember Corporation and Groxis. Mareza started his career at Merrill Lynch as a trader in the bank’s Global Credit Derivatives Group. He is a graduate of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and School of Engineering.
John Cwikla, Chief Technology Officer
John brings a wealth of experience to Doostang, driven by his long-standing passion for innovation in early-stage companies. Prior to Doostang, John was the CTO of Xoom, where he led his team in the development of an international online remittance service. He has also been involved in leading roles in a number of other companies, including Biz360, Brio Technologies, Wolfram Research, Synovial, and eGroups (bought by Yahoo!).
