Google's Nest loses two key execs, including Dropcam CEO
Nest, the unit of Google that makes smart-home fixtures such as the connected thermostat and smoke detector, saw two of its high-level executives depart this week.Nest lost Greg Duffy, the co-founder and CEO of Dropcam, and Yoky Matsuoka, vice president of technology for the company. The news was first reported by The Verge.The two were high-profile figures in the company. Matsuoka was in charge of the user experience and learning aspect of Nest's thermostat, and was one of the public faces of the company. Duffy joined the company in June, when Nest shelled out $555 million to buy Dropcam, which makes Web-connected home-security cameras.A Nest spokeswoman declined to comment.Duffy later confirmed the departure on Twitter. Duffy was part of the team of Dropcam employees that relocated from its San Francisco office to Nest's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters. The integration of the company's software with cameras that used motion sensors and video recordings to offer a cloud recording service made it attractive to Nest, which was looking to build on its burgeoning smart-home business. Matsuoka, meanwhile, will head to Twitter, according to The Verge. She previously worked at Google and before joining Nest was one of three founding members of Google X, a secretive facility tasked with creating technological breakthroughs. Prior to Google, she most notably built a lifelike robotic hand based on human anatomy, inspired by when her aspiration to become a professional tennis player was cut short by injury. She was also an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington and assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.