Summary: Blake Irving, CEO of the web hosting company GoDaddy is a self-professed “product guy.” He spent his 15-year career at Microsoft in a range of engineering and product management roles, then ran the product team at Yahoo before taking the top post at GoDaddy. But that’s only part of the picture. Irving is also a band geek, cyclist, and skater. He began taking drumming lessons at age 7 after his family moved to California, playing into his 20s before realizing music was a tough way to make a steady living. After Microsoft, Irving took his family on a one-year trip around the world. During a stop in Hong Kong, he accompanied his kids to a skatepark, where word quickly got out that the guy who launched MSN Messenger was in attendance. At the time, the IM service held a 90% share of messaging outside the United States, according to Irving.
