Bill gross idealab biography of donald
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Bill Gross’ many business ideas
The gig: Gross, 53, is chief executive of Pasadena’s Idealab, a business incubator that has spawned close to 100 companies since Gross founded it in 1996. Idealab companies span a range of industries, including renewable-energy firms like ESolar and Energy Cache, and well-known online services such as photo site Picasa, which was acquired by Google Inc. in 2004, and CitySearch, which merged with TicketMaster Online in 1998. Idealab is now developing nine separate companies at its headquarters on Union Street.
The first taste: Gross was born in Tokyo, where his father was a dentist in the military, and after an early childhood in New Jersey, he moved with his family to Studio City. His first venture was in the candy bar business; he figured out that by buying three candy bars for a quarter from the neighborhood Sav-On, he could undercut prices at the pharmacy near his junior high school, which sold the sweets for a dime. When he set the price at nine cents, “I started selling hundreds of candy bars a day,” he said. Soon he was riding his bike five miles to Smart & Final to buy cases of candy bars at six cents each to boost profit margins.
A light bulb goes on: In 1973, the energy crisis hit California, gas was rationed, and cars bega
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Idealab, the Roots of the SoCal Tech Community, and the Bill Gross Legacy
I thought I would take an opportunity on this blog to move away from some of the current investment and startup trends, reflect, and dive into the tech history books (as well as my own personal history) by looking at the man and place I believe really put the modern southern California tech community on the map: Bill Gross and Idealab.
Bill’s name is well known within the investment, start-up and tech communities, especially of late with the recent launch of his Chime.In as a social network for brands, but I still don’t think Bill gets nearly enough credit for just how completely innovative Idealab’s model and output was during the time I was there to witness it all. Bill was like a Willy Wonka who didn’t want to confine himself to the chocolate bar, and in my work for Idealab Capital Partners, I felt a bit like Charlie. Through Idealab Capital Partners, I was able to invest in these companies at a very early stage post-incubator. If I didn’t already know how good I had it on the bleeding edge of ‘90s tech, I can remember the day driving to the Idealab offices, after Bill said in a newspaper interview that he needed more staff to keep up, and 4,000 people showed up. That’s the kind of sway Bill h
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