Barna Ibrahim’s Journey in Building Platform Ecosystems: From Android and Chrome OS to RISC-V

Barna Ibrahim’s career centers on shaping ecosystems where technology, business, and community intersect. She’s worked on transformative platforms like Android, Chrome OS, and RISC-V, all requiring deep collaboration. Now Principal of Business Development at Rivos, she partners with engineering teams across hardware and software to align technology with market needs and drives strategic partnerships to solve real customer challenges. “It’s like putting together a puzzle,” she says. “Different players bring different strengths, and you have to fit them together.”

While leading ecosystem development at Google, Barna Ibrahim faced a difficult decision in 2022 when the opportunity came up to reconnect with former Chrome OS colleagues and founders of Rivos. But with the RISC-V architecture emerging as a fast-growing platform offering a flexible, open ISA that tightly integrates hardware and software for AI, she saw a rare opportunity to get in early and help build the ecosystem from the ground up.

In addition to leading business development at Rivos, Barna also serves as Vice Chair of the RISE (RISC-V Software Ecosystem) Governing Board, an industry effort focused on accelerating the development and adoption of RISC-V software. In this role, she bridges the needs of the RISE Technical Steering Committee with the board’s strategic priorities.

Transitioning from big tech to a startup gave Barna greater freedom. “At large companies, things move slowly and there’s a lot of rigidity,” she explained. “Here, we move quickly, experiment across the stack, and influence the product direction from the ground up.” 

Barna enjoys the continuous learning she experiences and the people at Rivos. “We have lots of senior talent who could work anywhere in this competitive market, but we all chose to be here,” she shared. “We’re all working toward the same goal, and there’s a real sense of camaraderie.”

Outside of work, Barna’s focus is on her three kids. She enjoys spending time outdoors and skiing with her family at Lake Tahoe.