Jay Gould (entrepreneur)

Jay Gould (born April 1, 1979)[1] is an American tech entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of Yashi.[2] Gould is also an active angel investor in web-based startups, such as DogVacay,[3] Tout (company), Buffer (application), and Fitocracy.[4]

Education

Gould graduated from Rowan University in 2001, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Law & Justice.[5]

Career

In December 2005, Gould sold his first business to Bolt Media for an undisclosed amount[6] and joined Bolt as its President. At the time of the sale, Gould's websites had 3.3 million U.S. unique visitors, according to comScore Media Metrics.[1]

While under Gould’s management, Bolt’s revenue grew to $7 million annually, 5.3 million monthly U.S. visitors to their website,[7] culminating in signing a definitive agreement to sell the company for up to $30 million.[8][9][10] Just prior to signing the $30 million definitive agreement, Universal Music Group filed a highly publicized lawsuit against Bolt, MySpace and others for alleged copyright infringement.[11] Bolt was ultimately unable to reach a settlement with Universal Music, which resulted in the termination of Bolt’s $30 million acquisition, eventually leading Bolt to file an assignment for the benefit of creditors.[12][13]

During Gould’s tenure at Bolt, he co-founded WikiYou, which raised $500,000 from investors, including Mayfield Fund, First Round Capital, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.[14]

Gould later founded GamersMedia, the first vertical-advertising network to bring brand advertisers to casual-gaming websites, which at its launch had over 20 million unique visitors across 40 sites.[15][16][17] GamersMedia was later rebranded as Yashi,[18] and today is an award winning advertising technology company that has been named to Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 list of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America for three consecutive years in 2012, 2013, and 2014,[19] as well as numerous other awards including Deloitte's Technology Fast 500,[20] Red Herring[21] NJBIZ 50 Fastest Growing Companies in New Jersey,[22] as well as a Stevie Award for Company of the Year.[23] On February 2, 2015, Yashi was acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $33 million.[24]

Gould was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year™ Award finalist in 2014.[25] Other accolades include a Stevie Award for Executive of the Year in the American Business Awards[23] and an NJBIZ Forty under 40 Award.[26]

Investments

Gould has actively been involved with helping entrepreneurs acquire capital and expertise for their startup ventures.[27] He is an active angel investor, with sizable contributions to companies such as Buffer,[28] CapLinked, Tout, iDoneThis, Fitocracy, Cadee, and others.[29] In March 2012, Gould was part of a $1 million funding initiative for DogVacay, an online marketplace for residential dog boarding.[29]

In addition to startup capital, Gould also contributes his knowledge and expertise to entrepreneurs. He is a member of the Rowan University Entrepreneurship Program Advisor Council (ENTAC). In April 2010, he returned to his alma mater to serve as a judge for the Rowan University Elevator Pitch Contest.[30]

Foundville

In October 2011, Gould launched foundville.com, a video podcast site featuring interviews with successful Internet entrepreneurs. Gould has interviewed founders of well-known companies such as HotOrNot,[31] RockYou,[32] Adify,[33] Mochi Media,[34] Eric M. Jackson's CapLinked,[35] The Receivables Exchange,[36] Wikia,[37] SitePoint,[38] and others.

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 "Who Says Money Can't Buy Hipness?". Bloomberg Businessweek. 26 February 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Steve Hall (23 June 2014). "How This Ad Network You've Never Heard of Bootstrapped Itself to Multi-Million Dollar Success". AdRants. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Investors". DogVacay. 26 February 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "Jay Gould AngelList". AngelList. 26 February 2006. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "Jay Gould". LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  6. ↑ Rafat Ali (21 February 2006). "Bolt Buys Two Video Sites". PaidContent.org. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Matt Marshall (12 February 2007). "Bolt hosed, shows the risks of video". Venturebeat. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Liz Gannes (11 February 2007). "Bolt.com Selling to GoFish for $30M". GigaOm. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Agreement and Plan of Merger". Securities and Exchange Commission. 11 February 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  10. ↑ "Betawave Corp". Securities and Exchange Commission. 11 February 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  11. ↑ Dawn C. Chmielewski (18 October 2006). "Universal Sues Video Sharing Websites". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  12. ↑ Joshua Chaffin (9 March 2007). "Rights success for Universal as Bolt settles". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  13. ↑ Margaret Kane (12 February 2007). "Universal turns DRM thunder on Bolt". CNet. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  14. ↑ Michael Arrington (24 July 2007). "WikiYou Beats Spock to Launch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  15. ↑ Stacey Higginbotham (26 February 2008). "Former Bolt.com Owner Gets into Games". GigaOm. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  16. ↑ Matthew Nelson (27 February 2008). "Bolt Man Back with Casual Gaming Ad Network". ClickZ. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  17. ↑ Mark Hendrickson (26 February 2008). "Former Bolt.com Owner Launches Casual Gaming Ad Network, Gamers Media". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  18. ↑ Mark Hendrickson (26 February 2008). "Former Bolt.com Owner Launches Casual Gaming Ad Network, Gamers Media". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  19. ↑ Inc. Magazine (August 26, 2014). "Yashi Named to Inc. 5000". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  20. 1 2 "Deloitte's 2014 Technology Fast 500 Ranking" (PDF). Deloitte. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "2014 Red Herring North America: Winners", Red Herring, 27 May 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  22. ↑ "Yashi Named One of New Jersey's 50 Fastest Growing Companies in 2012". The Business Journals. November 13, 2012. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  23. 1 2 3 "2014 Company/ Organization Awards Categories Stevie® Award Winners", The American Business Awards, 3 June 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  24. ↑ "exstar Broadcasting Acquires Yashi, Leading Local Digital Video Advertising and Programmatic Technology Company, for $33 Million in Accretive Transaction". Marketwatch. February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  25. 1 2 "Congratulations to the 2014 finalists for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in New Jersey.", Ernst & Young, 22 May 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  26. 1 2 "Forty under 40 2010". Infovision. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  27. ↑ "Jay Gould". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  28. ↑ Leo Widrich (20 December 2011). "The 19 Awesome Investors in Our $400,000 Seed Round And How We Met Them". Buffer. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  29. 1 2 "Jay Gould". AngelList. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  30. ↑ "Rowan University Calendar". Rowan University. 24 April 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  31. ↑ "HOTorNOT: Hear How They Bootstrapped it to $8 Million Annually Before Selling it for $20 Million – with James Hong". foundville. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  32. ↑ "Lance Tokuda: How RockYou Grew to 100 Million Uniques and $50 Million Revenue and SchoolFeed Gained 1 Million Members in its First 4 Months!". foundville. 17 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  33. ↑ "Adify: Built and Sold for $300 Million In Under 3 Years with the Help of Investors – by Russ Fradin". foundville. 25 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  34. ↑ "Learn How Jameson Hsu Went From Game Developer to Selling His Business for $80 Million". foundville. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  35. ↑ "Early PayPal Employee Quits to Become Author and Serial Entrepreneur – with Eric Jackson". foundville. 26 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  36. ↑ "The Receivables Exchange Co-founder Nicolas Perkin Explains How They Built a $1 Billion Marketplace Within 5 Years". foundville. 28 October 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  37. ↑ "Learn How Wikia Empowered Its Members to a Top 100 Site – told by former CEO Gil Penchina". foundville. 1 November 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  38. ↑ "How to Successfully Spinoff Startups by SitePoint Co-Founder Matt Mickiewicz". foundville. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
  39. ↑ "50 Fastest Growing Companies". NJBIZ. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  40. ↑ "Yashi". Inc. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
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