When Mike Cassidy formed Xfire in 2002, he was at the forefront of two massive trends -- online gaming and social networking. Today, Xfire is the fastest-growing online gaming platform and community in the world. Xfire has 16 million registered users in more than 100 countries, and is also a server browser, IM, and file download system designed just for gamers.

In 2005, Mike partnered with Hany Nada and GGV Capital to lead a new round of venture financing for Xfire. In Mike's words, "I chose GGV because of their expertise and extensive network in the gaming space. They helped open the right doors at strategic accounts and were extremely valuable as an investor."

"Mike had an insatiable focus on the product and the user experience," according to Hany. "When we invested, the company was in the early expansion phase of its growth, but the key trends were very positive, and we were backing a great CEO."

Mike and Xfire navigated a number of key challenges along the way to building Xfire into the largest gaming community on the web, culminating in the sale of the company to Viacom (NYSE: VIA) in 2006.