Naveen Selvadurai

Naveen Selvadurai
Naveen Selvadurai in 2011.
Born	(1982-01-27) January 27, 1982 (age 43) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	Worcester Polytechnic Institute, King's College London
Occupation	Internet entrepreneur
Known for	Co-founder of Foursquare

Naveen Selvadurai (born January 27, 1982) is an American internet entrepreneur and co-founder of location-based social networking site Foursquare.com. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} Until recently,^{[ when? ] [5]} he was working at startup studio Expa which was founded by co-founder of Uber and StumbleUpon - Garrett Camp, as a partner. ^{[6] [7]} He was featured in Inc Magazine's 30 under 30 list in the year 2010. ^[8] He was also featured in Rediff.com's article - 4 NRIs among US's coolest young entrepreneurs. ^[9]

Early life

He was born on the January 27, 1982 in Chennai, India, to Kuppuswamy Selvadurai and Latha Selvadurai. He was their first child and has a younger sister Chindhuri Selvadurai.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

Selvadurai graduated in 4 years from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Master of Science in Computer Science in Worcester, MA. ^[10] During his time at Worcester, he spent 5 months in his junior year on a study abroad programme at King's College London. ^[11] He went on to work with Lucent, Sony, Nokia and Sun Microsystems before he started his mobile social-networking venture Foursquare, along with Dennis Crowley.

He has been on Fox Business Network, and CNN's special by Fareed Zakaria, "Getting American Back to #1," talking about how he became the person that he is today. ^{[12] [13]}

Foursquare

Main article: Foursquare (company)

In 2009, Selvadurai co-founded Foursquare with Dennis Crowley. It is a location-based social networking website for mobile devices, such as smartphones. Users "check in" at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby. ^[14] Location is based on GPS hardware in the mobile device or network location provided by the application, and the map is based on data from the OpenStreetMap project. Each check-in awards the user points and sometimes "badges". The user who checks in the most often to a venue becomes the "mayor," and users regularly vie for "mayorships."

On March 4, 2012, Selvadurai announced on his blog that he will step down from his day-to-day operational role at the company later that month. ^{[15] [16] [17]} He said he will continue to serve as a board member and adviser to the company. ^[18] According to Naveen, he was pushed out of his position in Foursquare. According to an article published in FastCompany, ^[19] he mentions that "There was pretty much no other role for me at the company. Beside the CEO, there's nothing a founder can really stick around to do. You don't know a lot of these things when you're starting off." and this was extensively covered by multiple sources ^{[20] [21] [22]} and it surfaced out that he sold his stock of Foursquare to Spark Capital before leaving the company. ^{[23] [24]}

Selvadurai joined the Expa startup studio, founded in May 2013 by former Uber and StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp. Selvadurai joins Expa as a partner focused on New York operations for the organization. ^[25]

Personal life

Naveen married Diana Marie Hardeman in 2017. ^[26]

References

1. "Bloomberg Profile - Naveen Selvadurai". Bloomberg News .
2. "Foursquare's Naveen Selvadurai on Competition". Forbes.
3. "Be There or Be Square: The Rise of Location-based Social Networking". Wharton School of Business - UPenn.
4. "Naveen Selvadurai - U.S. South Asian Entrepreneurs". IIP Digital - US Department of State.
5. "A New New Thing". naveen.blog. 11 February 2020.
6. "Wall Street Journal - Foursquare Co-founder Naveen Selvadurai to lead expa capital in New York".
7. "The Masterminds Behind Uber And Foursquare Are Teaming Up On A New Startup Venture". Business Insider.
8. "Naveen Selvadurai, Co-Founder of Foursquare". Inc.com. 19 July 2010.
9. "4 NRIs amongst US's coolest entrepreneur". Rediff Business.
10. "Notable Alumini : Worcester Polytechnic Institute". Forbes.
11. "Alumni | King's alumni | King's College London".
12. "Mr. Naveen Selvadurai". ithistory.org. 21 December 2015.
13. "Show Pages - Fareed Zakaria". CNN.
14. Kincaid, Jason. "SXSW: Foursquare Scores Despite Its Flaws". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
15. "Checking In With the Foursquare Founder Parting: More "Tense" (Of Course)". All Things D.
16. Shontell, Alyson (March 6, 2012). "Co-Founder Naveen Selvadurai 'Tried To Fight' His Departure From Foursquare". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012.
17. "Cofounder Naveen Selvadurai leaves Foursquare". The Observer.
18. Emerson, Ramona (March 4, 2012). "Naveen Selvadurai, Foursquare Co-Founder, Is Leaving The Company". Huffington Post.
19. "Fast Company : Foursquare Cofounder Naveen Selvadurai Opens Up About His Exit: "I Wanted To Stay"".
20. "Business Insider : Who's Laughing Now? Fired Foursquare Cofounder Naveen Selvadurai Is Who".
21. "Co-Founder Naveen Selvadurai 'Tried To Fight' His Departure From Foursquare". Business Insider.
22. "Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai leaving the company". Venture Beat.
23. "Naveen Selvadurai, Foursquare co-founder is leaving". GigaOm. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
24. "Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai announces he is leaving the company to work on new projects". The Next Web.
25. "Foursquare Co-Founder Naveen Selvadurai Joins Expa Startup Studio as NY Partner". 22 May 2014.
26. Mallozzi, Vincent M. (19 August 2017). "Turning Over a New Leaf, and Finding Love". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 July 2021.

External links

• "About us". foursquare.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012.
• "Naveen Selvadurai". linkedin.com.