Howard Lerman
{{Short description|American entrepreneur}}
{{puffery|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Howard Lerman
| birth_date = {{bda|February 27, 1980}}
| birth_place =
| education = Duke University, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
| other_names =
| employer =
| occupation = Entrepreneur
| years_active =
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
| relatives =
| website = {{URL|http://www.yext.com}}
| known_for = Co-Founder and CEO of Yext, Co-Founder and Chairman of [https://getconfide.com/ Confide]
| awards =
}}
Howard Lerman (born February 27, 1980) is an entrepreneur. Lerman was the CEO of Yext, a technology startup and Software as a Service company he co-founded that provides businesses with a way to update business information, including addresses and phone numbers, to multiple channels, such as landing pages, listings, and social pages, from a single source, the Yext Knowledge Engine.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/10/yext-sees-88-8-million-revenue-48-growth-for-location-data/|title=Yext sees $88.8 million revenue, 48% growth for location data|last=Roof|first=Katie|website=TechCrunch|access-date=2017-03-07|archive-date=2016-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924042857/https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/10/yext-sees-88-8-million-revenue-48-growth-for-location-data/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.yext.com/products/|title=Products {{!}} Control the Knowledge About Your Business - Yext|work=Yext|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305093431/http://www.yext.com/products/|url-status=live}} Lerman also launched Confide, an iOS app which allows professionals to send one another messages that are untraceable, operating similarly to Snapchat, but for the business world.[http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/01/09/confide-creators-hope-to-eliminate-permanent-digital-record Confide Creators Hope to Eliminate Permanent Digital Record] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416215237/http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2014/01/09/confide-creators-hope-to-eliminate-permanent-digital-record/ |date=2014-04-16 }}, Fox Business. January 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.[http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/tag/confide/ The App That Could've Prevented Chris Christie's Traffic Scandal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416192701/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/tag/confide/ |date=2014-04-16 }}, "CNN Money". January 8, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.[http://www.businessinsider.com/confide-a-snapchat-for-professionals-2014-1 There's A New App That Lets People Send Self Destructing Messages. It Wants To Be Snapchat For Professionals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320203519/http://www.businessinsider.com/confide-a-snapchat-for-professionals-2014-1 |date=2014-03-20 }}, Business Insider. January 8, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
Early life
Lerman grew up in Vienna, Virginia and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school with various amenities such as a $1 million supercomputer, located in Fairfax County, in 1998.[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/11/27/yexts-winding-seven-year-journey-began-with-al-sharpton-in-spandex/ Yext's Winding Seven-Year Journey Began With Al Sharpton... In Spandex] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206162207/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2013/11/27/yexts-winding-seven-year-journey-began-with-al-sharpton-in-spandex/ |date=2022-12-06 }}, Forbes. December 16, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2014. In the days before the Internet, Lerman rigged a phone line to his computer to allow him to chat online with others who had done the same, including fellow hacker and future entrepreneur, Sean Parker.
In 2002, Lerman graduated from Duke University, where he studied history.{{Cite web |url=http://whereconf.com/where2012/public/schedule/speaker/133591 |title=O'Reilly Where Conference, Howard Lerman speaker bio |access-date=2014-03-18 |archive-date=2014-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418234639/http://whereconf.com/where2012/public/schedule/speaker/133591 |url-status=dead }}
Career
= JustATip.com =
In 2000, his sophomore year at Duke University, Lerman and two former high school classmates, Tom Dixon and Sean MacIsaac launched JustATip.com, a humorous website that allowed users to e-mail friends “tips” anonymously. Jon Stewart used the site on The Daily Show, resulting in a large increase in website traffic. In 2001, Lerman and his partners sold JustATip.com to Traffix, a publicly traded online marketer, for $150,000.
= Intwine =
Lerman, Dixon, and MacIsaac next founded Intwine, a consulting firm with a specialization in Microsoft’s .NET programming language. In 2005, after growing the company and reaching $5 million in sales, Lerman sold Intwine to Daltran Media for $7 million.
= GymTicket.com =
After seeing a salesman trying to attract new customers to a gym with a “Wheel of Savings”, Lerman came up with the idea for GymTicket.com, a lead generation service that directed people to gyms in their area. Within a year, GymTicket.com had over 3,000 gyms across the country signed up.
Lerman and his team expanded their business to include nine additional categories, including LocalVets.com and TVRepairman.com. As the group considered itself to be the "next Yellow Pages", they condensed this designation to create the company name, "Yext".
= Yext =
Yext's early technology model focused on the lead-generation service, which recorded customer phone calls and then charged clients based on keywords used in conversations. But while working with clients to strategize on further developing their online presence, Lerman and his colleagues recognized a consistent challenge: companies had trouble keeping tabs on all of their different online listings, and usually only noticed a problem existed when a customer complained about outdated addresses or business hours. Lerman realized that businesses would pay to get all of their online information updated for them, and he created a small company within Yext to focus on updating business listings. They developed cloud software known as "Powerlistings", which was launched in January 2011 and it was an immediate hit.{{Cite news|url=http://www.yext.com/products/knowledge-manager/|title=Yext Knowledge Manager {{!}} Manage Every Fact About Your Brand - Yext|work=Yext|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308133803/http://www.yext.com/products/knowledge-manager/|url-status=live}}
Lerman decided to focus on this business listing model, and spun out the pay-per-call business as a separate company called Felix. He then sold Felix to IAC’s CityGrid Media for $30 million in April 2012. All proceeds from the sale were reinvested to fund Yext's new Powerlistings product,{{Cite news|url=http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130327/NEWS/130329893/the-yext-big-thing|title=The Yext big thing|last=Flamm|first=Matthew|work=Crain's New York Business|access-date=2017-03-07|archive-date=2017-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417155426/http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130327/NEWS/130329893/the-yext-big-thing|url-status=live}} now called Yext Listings.{{Cite news|url=http://www.yext.com/products/listings/|title=Yext Listings {{!}} Update Local Listings & Get Found Everywhere - Yext|work=Yext|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308044350/http://www.yext.com/products/listings/|url-status=live}} Yext's Knowledge Engine now offers a suite of products, expanding the company's services beyond simply business listings.
Forbes magazine featured Yext as one of America’s Top 25 Most Promising Companies of 2014[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2014/01/22/americas-most-promising-companies-the-top-25-of-2014/ America's Most Promising Companies: The Top 25 Of 2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526165927/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jjcolao/2014/01/22/americas-most-promising-companies-the-top-25-of-2014/ |date=2022-05-26 }}, Forbes. January 22, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014. and 2015.{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/yext/|title=Yext on the Forbes America's Most Promising Companies List|work=Forbes|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308050727/https://www.forbes.com/companies/yext/|url-status=live}} Yext has been recognized as one of America's fastest-growing companies by the Inc. 5000 in 2015 and 2016,{{Cite web|url=http://www.inc.com/profile/yext|title=Yext: Number 839 on the 2016 Inc. 5000|website=Inc.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-07|archive-date=2017-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730210446/https://www.inc.com/profile/yext|url-status=live}} and as one of Fortune's Best Places to Work in 2014, 2015{{Cite news|url=http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces/2015/|title=50 Best Small and Medium Workplaces|date=2015-10-21|work=Fortune|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308044757/http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces/2015/|url-status=live}} and 2016.{{Cite news|url=http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces/yext-10/|title=Yext|date=2016-10-12|work=Fortune|access-date=2017-03-07|language=en-US|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308044119/http://fortune.com/best-medium-workplaces/yext-10/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/yext|title=Yext|website=reviews.greatplacetowork.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-07|archive-date=2017-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308182638/http://reviews.greatplacetowork.com/yext|url-status=live}}
Lerman stepped down as Yext's CEO in March 2022. {{Cite web|url=https://www.yext.com/about/news-media/2022-leadership-transition|title=Yext Announces Leadership Transition|website=Yext|date=2022-03-08}}
= Confide =
Lerman is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Confide with former AOL executive Jon Brod. The Confide app, which provides corporate users with the means to deliver untraceable messages, was released on January 8, 2014.[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-08/confide-a-snapchat-for-the-corner-office Confide, a Snapchat for the Corner Office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223081706/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-08/confide-a-snapchat-for-the-corner-office |date=2014-02-23 }}, Bloomberg Businessweek. January 8, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2004.
= Roam =
Lerman is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of Roam, a platform which bills itself as a “cloud HQ” for distributed, remote companies.{{cite news |last1=Wiggers |first1=Kyle |title=Former Yext CEO launches Roam to provide a virtual HQ for distributed teams |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/02/former-yext-ceo-launches-roam-to-provide-a-virtual-hq-for-distributed-teams/ |access-date=19 February 2023 |work=TechCrunch |date=2 November 2022 |archive-date=26 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126155019/https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/02/former-yext-ceo-launches-roam-to-provide-a-virtual-hq-for-distributed-teams/ |url-status=live }}
Personal life
Lerman lives in Miami Beach, Florida with his wife, Wendy.