Hooman Radfar
{{short description|American entrepreneur and investor}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Hooman Radfar
| image =Tech Cocktial Sessions DC - June 19, 2013 - 9124785305 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Radfar, 2013
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|7|14|mf=y}}
| birth_place = London, England
| occupation = Entrepreneur
| education = University of Pennsylvania (B.S.E/B.A.)
Carnegie Mellon University (M.S.)
}}
Hooman Radfar (born July 14, 1980, London, England) is an American entrepreneur and computer scientist. He is co-founder and CEO at Collective, an online back-office platform designed for freelancers and consultants. He is currently a Venture Partner at Expa, a San Francisco-based start-up venture firm and studio where he was a founding partner. Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of AddThis, which was purchased by Oracle in 2016 for around $200 million.{{Cite web|title = Oracle Buys Audience Tracking Firm AddThis For Around $200M|url = https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/05/oracle-addthis/|website = TechCrunch|access-date = 2016-02-01|first = Ingrid|last = Lunden| date=5 January 2016 }}
Early life and education
At the time of the Iranian Revolution, his family immigrated to England in 1979. Radfar was born in London in 1980. His family later moved to the United States where he was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Radfar graduated from Upper St. Clair High School in 1998. In 2002, he graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in computer science and economics. In 2004, he earned his M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University where he researched social networking, multi-agent systems, and their applications to computational economics.{{cite news|title=LinkedIn Public Profile|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZRg6ZIgGpc}}
Career
= AddThis =
In 2004, Radfar and Austin Fath founded Clearspring Technologies to create a platform for website developers to grow their traffic and engagement, based on their graduate research in web services and social networking at Carnegie Mellon.{{cite news|author=Shropshire, Corilyn |title= Clearspring's 'widget' deal may help boost NBC|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/business/technology/2007/06/06/Clearspring-s-widget-deal-may-help-boost-NBC.print|date=June 6, 2007|work=Pittsburgh Post Gazette|access-date=December 14, 2013}} Clearspring launched the first content sharing and tracking service designed for web publishers in 2006.{{cite news|author=Cashmore, Pete|title=Clearspring to Track Widgets Across Netvibes, Myspace, and More|url=http://mashable.com/2006/11/06/clearspring-to-track-widgets-across-netvibes-myspace-and-more/|date=November 6, 2006|work=Mashable|access-date=December 14, 2013}} The company acquired AddThis in 2008,{{cite news|author=Lardinois, Frederic|title=Widget Platform Clearspring Acquires AddThis|url=http://readwrite.com/2008/09/30/monetizing_a_button_clearspring_acquires_addthis#awesm=~os5XvrSdBS0r1Ke/|date=September 30, 2008|work=ReadWrite|access-date=December 14, 2013}} then XGraph in 2011. Clearspring was rebranded as AddThis in 2012. AddThis was acquired by Oracle in 2016.
= Expa =
In 2014, Radfar moved to San Francisco,{{Cite web|title = AddThis founder Hooman Radfar moves west - Washington Business Journal|url = http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/techflash/2013/10/addthis-founder-hooman-radfar-moves-west.html|website = Washington Business Journal|access-date = 2016-02-01}} joining Expa as an EIR.{{Cite web|title = Expa Brings On Hooman Radfar, AddThis Founder, As San Francisco EIR|url = https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/23/expa-brings-on-hooman-radfar-addthis-founder-as-san-francisco-eir/|website = TechCrunch|access-date = 2016-02-01|first = Jordan|last = Crook| date=23 September 2014 }} He became a founding partner at the firm alongside Uber co-founder Garrett Camp and Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai in 2015. He led the investment program at Expa before founding Collective.
= Collective =
Radfar co-founded Collective with Ugur Kaner and Bugra Akcay on September 29, 2020{{Cite web|date=2020-09-29|title=Collective launches to be the ultimate 'back office' platform for freelancers|url=https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/29/collective-launches-to-be-the-ultimate-back-office-platform-for-freelancers/|access-date=2020-10-01|website=VentureBeat|language=en-US}} and is funded by General Catalyst Investors, QED Investors, Expa, Gradient Ventures, and Sound Ventures.
= Patents =
- Method and apparatus for widget and widget-container platform adaptation and distribution, (2008) {{Cite patent|title=Method and apparatus for widget and widget-container platform adaptation and distribution|country=US|number=2008222232|pubdate=2008-09-11|inventor1-last=Allen|inventor1-first=Stewart O.|inventor2-last=Cosby
|inventor2-first=Scott F.|inventor3-last=Debutts|inventor3-first=Hasseltine R.|inventor4=John A. Fath;Hooman Radfar;Carlos F. Reverte}}
- Methods and apparatus for management of inter-widget interactions, (2010) {{Cite patent|title=Methods and apparatus for management of inter-widget interactions|country=US|number=2010100605|pubdate=2010-04-22|inventor1-last=Allen|inventor1-first=Stewart O.|inventor2-last=Cosby|inventor2-first=Scott F.|inventor3-last=Fath|inventor3-first=John A.|inventor4=Matthew J. Keesan;Richard S. Labarca;Hooman Radfar;Carlos F. Reverte}}
- Method and apparatus for widget-container hosting and generation, (2011).{{Cite patent|title=Method and apparatus for widget-container hosting and generation|country=US|number=8056092|pubdate=2011-11-08|assign=Clearspring Technologies Inc.|inventor1-last=Allen|inventor1-first=Stewart O.|inventor2-last=Cosby|inventor2-first=Scott F.|inventor3-last=Fath|inventor3-first=John A.|inventor4=Dylan J. Greene;Matthew J. Keesan;Hooman Radfar;Cyrus B. Radfar;Carlos F. Reverte}}
- Method and apparatus for data processing, (2012).{{Cite patent|title=Method and apparatus for data processing|country=US|number=8266274|pubdate=2012-09-11|assign=Clearspring Technologies Inc.|inventor1-last=Allen|inventor1-first=Stewart O.|inventor2-last=Cosby|inventor2-first=Scott F.|inventor3-last=Greene|inventor3-first=Dylan J.|inventor4=Matthew J. Keesan;Hooman Radfar;Carlos F. Reverte;Richard Scott Labarca}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.hoomanradfar.com Official Website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radfar, Hooman}}
Category:American computer programmers
Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni
Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni
Category:American computer businesspeople
Category:American technology chief executives
Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States