Owl Labs Inc., the Somerville-based startup that makes videoconferencing hardware, has a new CEO, the company announced on Tuesday.
Frank Weishaupt, who previously led the sales team at Cambridge-based CarGurus Inc. (Nasdaq: CARG), took on the leadership role in October. Weishaupt replaces Owl Labs co-founder, Max Makeev, who is staying on to focus on product development, manufacturing and operations.
Weishaupt said Owl Labs was looking for an executive with experience leading tech companies through rapid growth. Weishaupt joined CarGurus in 2014 and stayed through its initial public offering in 2017. He previously worked as chief operating officer of Jumptap, which was acquired for $225 million in 2013.
“Bringing in a CEO at this point is all about creating focus,” Weishaupt said.
Makeev, the former CEO, and Mark Schnittman, the chief technology officer, co-founded Owl Labs in 2014. The company has raised $7.3 million in funding, including from Playground Global Ventures, the venture capital firm founded by Android creator Andy Rubin.
Makeev and Schnittman both previously worked at Bedford-based iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT).
Owl Labs began selling the Meeting Owl, an 11-inch tall smart speaker with a 360-degree camera lens, in June 2017. The device, which costs $799, is meant to sit on the table in the middle of a meeting and create a better experience for remote workers video conferencing into the meeting by automatically showing them closeups of who’s talking.