Eric Ly

Ly was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and emigrated to the United States in 1975 as a result of the Vietnam War. He lived in San Francisco, California, for some years, and when his parents found jobs in Silicon Valley, his family moved to Sunnyvale, California.

Ly attended Homestead High School, where he applied his interest in computers to journalism and the on-campus newspaper, The Epitaph. Through a sponsorship from Apple Inc., he transformed production methods for the publication, making Homestead one of the first schools in the country to use desktop publishing technology to publish its newspaper on the newly introduced Macintosh computers.{{Cite news|url=http://theferrisfiles.com/2011/08/steve-jobs-tribute/|title=Steve Jobs, a Tribute - The Ferris Files|date=2011-08-29|work=The Ferris Files|access-date=2017-10-31|language=en-US}}

Ly attended Stanford University and volunteered as a science writer for the Stanford Daily in addition to his studies.{{Cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-founders-unicorn-startups-1-billion-2017-1|title=Here are the colleges that have produced the most founders of billion-dollar startups|last=Jackson|first=Abby|date=2017-01-27|work=Business Insider Australia|access-date=2017-10-31|language=en}} Ly was inspired by professor Terry Winograd's perspective that computers ultimately serve as communications tools for people.{{Cite book|title=Understanding computers and cognition : a new foundation for design|last=Terry|first=Winograd|others=Flores, Fernando, 1943-|year = 1987|isbn=0201112973|location=Norwood, NJ|oclc=11727403}} Ly graduated with distinction in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa society.{{Cite news|url=https://www.collegexpress.com/interests/business/articles/business-internships/web-entrepreneurs-college-degrees/|title=Web Entrepreneurs with College Degrees|access-date=2017-10-31|language=en}} His contemporaries included Scott Forstall, Reid Hoffman, and Marissa Mayer.

Ly went on to earn a Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab in 1993 with a research thesis ("Chatter: A Conversational Telephone Agent") on combining speech-user interfaces and artificial-intelligence agents.{{cite web|url=https://www.media.mit.edu/speech/papers/1993/ly_thesis93_chatter.pdf |author=Eric Thich Vi Ly|date=1991 |title= Chatter: A Conversational Telephone Agent}}

Ly returned to Stanford University to get his PhD in Computer Science but he would later drop out of the program.{{cite web |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericly |title=Eric Ly |website=LinkedIn}}

Ly started his professional career in technical positions at Steve Jobs' NeXT (acquired by Apple Inc.), IBM, Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle), and General Magic.{{Cite news|url=https://www.pehub.com/2008/07/speaking-with-linked-in-entrepreneur-eric-ly/|title=Speaking With "LinkedIn" Entrepreneur Eric Ly - PE Hub|date=2008-07-15|work=PE Hub|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en-US}}

In 1995, Ly co-founded Netmosphere, a software company enabling project management collaboration utilizing Internet technologies such as Java. Menlo Ventures invested in the firm, which was subsequently acquired by Critical Path, Inc.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=32025|title=Netmosphere, Inc.: Private Company Information - Bloomberg|website=www.bloomberg.com|access-date=2017-11-01}} In 2000, Ly co-founded a mobile software company called Tresidder Networks in which Industry Ventures invested.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

In 2002, Ly co-founded LinkedIn with Reid Hoffman, a Stanford schoolmate, and several other co-founders, including Jean-Luc Vaillant, Allen Blue, and Konstantin Guericke. When Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2B, it was the world's "largest social networking site focused on the working world" with more than 400 million registered users.{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/08/microsoft-officially-closes-its-26-2b-acquisition-of-linkedin/|title=Microsoft officially closes its $26.2B acquisition of LinkedIn|last=Lunden|first=Ingrid|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en}}

As LinkedIn's founding CTO, Ly "helped create some of its core product features, which enabled the company to reach profitability and a quickly growing user base."{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=617447&privcapId=113360&previousCapId=7765508&previousTitle=AXS%20TV%20LLC|title=Eric Ly: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg|website=www.bloomberg.com|access-date=2017-11-01}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.vcic.org/eric-ly-linkedin/|title=Eric Ly, LinkedIn|work=VCIC|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en-US}}

From 2008 to 2011, Ly served as a venture partner for Wellington Partners, a Munich, Germany-based venture capital firm whose investments include Xing and Spotify.{{Cite web|url=https://venturebeat.com/2008/07/03/linkedin-co-founder-eric-ly-joins-wellington-ventures/|title=LinkedIn co-founder Eric Ly joins Wellington Partners {{!}} VentureBeat|website=venturebeat.com|date=3 July 2008|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-01}}

In 2007, Ly launched Presdo with $35,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=35000|start_year=2007}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) of his own money.{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2008/04/25/presdo-the-magical-online-scheduler/|title=Presdo, The Magical Online Scheduler|last=Schonfeld|first=Erick|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en}} The company first built a meeting scheduler chatbot described as "pure, refined, focused, with a fairly deep understanding of how real people, not just 'users,' think, act and want from their online apps."{{Cite news|url=https://gigaom.com/2008/05/05/presdo-twitter-for-your-calendar/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404163015/http://gigaom.com/2008/05/05/presdo-twitter-for-your-calendar/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 4, 2014|title=Presdo: Twitter for Your Calendar?|last=Walsh|first=Bob|date=2008-05-05|work=Gigaom|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en-us}} On the suggestion of Loic Le Meur and others, Ly was persuaded to adapt the meeting scheduler to conferences where it could help attendees arrange face-to-face meetings. The technology evolved into a mobile app called Presdo Match, "that facilitates networking" and "provides a searchable directory of attendee profiles (imported from LinkedIn when desirable), makes connection recommendations, and highlights which contacts from existing networks are in attendance so users can send messages and schedule meetings with other attendees."{{Cite news|url=http://www.eventtechbrief.com/top-stories/presdo-match-added-a-business-card-exchange-feature-so-what|title=Presdo Match Added A Business Card Exchange Feature, So What?|work=EventTechBrief|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en-US}} Presdo Match was launched in 2010 at the LeWeb conference, "the biggest European Internet conference."{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/17917959|title=Eric Ly Presents Presdo Match at Le Web '10|website=Vimeo|access-date=2017-11-01}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.webseoanalytics.com/blog/the-highlights-and-the-review-of-leweb-2010-conference/|title=The Highlights and the Review of LeWeb 2010 conference {{!}} Web SEO Analytics|website=www.webseoanalytics.com|date=13 December 2010 |language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-01}} Ly subsequently expanded his marketing efforts for Presdo Match globally.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/business/linkedin-founder-takes-the-next-step-1.390459|title=LinkedIn founder takes the next step|work=The National|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en}}

Ly is currently the CEO and founder of a blockchain based trust protocol Hub, as well as the CEO and co-founder of KarmaCheck, a company providing candidate's background checks.

Ly has spoken at many event-industry conferences on the topic of social technology and its role in live events, including The Meetings Technology Expo, Web Summit, Expo! Expo!, and the Society of Independent Show Organizer's CEO Summit.{{Cite web|url=http://sociable.co/web/facebook-joins-dublin-web-summit-lineup/|title=Facebook joins Dublin Web Summit lineup - The Sociable|website=sociable.co|date=8 September 2011|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-01}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.thejournal.ie/tech-leaders-land-in-the-city-for-dublin-web-summit-265363-Oct2011/|title=Tech leaders land in the city for Dublin Web Summit|last=O'Carroll|first=Sinead|work=TheJournal.ie|access-date=2017-11-01|language=en}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.tradeshowexecutive.com/archive/industry-news/iaees-expo-expo-offered-something-everyone/|title=Trade Show Executive :: IAEE's Expo! Offered Something for Everyone|website=www.tradeshowexecutive.com|language=en|access-date=2017-11-01|archive-date=2018-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818223338/http://www.tradeshowexecutive.com/archive/industry-news/iaees-expo-expo-offered-something-everyone/|url-status=dead}}

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• {{LinkedIn URL|https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericly}}

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Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:LinkedIn people

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Vietnamese emigrants to the United States

Category:MIT Sloan School of Management alumni

Category:People from Ho Chi Minh City

Category:People from Sunnyvale, California