Travis VanderZanden

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Travis VanderZanden
Disrupt SF TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 - Day 2 Travis VanderZanden cropped.jpeg
VanderZanden speaking in 2019
Born1979 (age 44–45)
Appleton, Wisconsin, USA [1]
Education University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (BBA)
University of Southern California (MBA)
Occupation Entrepreneur
Known forFounder of Bird
Notes
[2]

Travis VanderZanden (born 1979) [3] is an American businessman and the founder and former CEO of Bird, a scooter sharing service owned by Third Lane Mobility. Before founding Bird, VanderZanden was Chief Operating Officer at Lyft, then VP of International Growth at Uber.

Contents

Education

VanderZanden graduated from Appleton North High School in 1997, [1] he later attended University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire from 1997 to 2002, receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the USC Marshall School of Business in 2007.

Career

Early career

VanderZanden worked as a product manager at Qualcomm.[ citation needed ] After leaving Qualcomm, he was Chief Revenue Officer for Yammer from 2009 to 2011, then left to co-found Cherry, an on-demand car-wash service. He was CEO of Cherry until 2013, when the company was acquired by Lyft, and he was brought on as Chief Operating Officer. [4] He left Lyft for Uber in October 2014. Lyft later sued him for allegedly breaking his confidentiality agreement, and the lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms, with VanderZanden denying any wrongdoing. [5] [6] VanderZanden then left Uber in October 2016. [7]

Bird

VanderZanden founded Bird in the summer of 2017. The company deployed its first scooters that September, before raising a $15 million Series A round of financing in February, 2018. [8] In October of 2018, Bird released its latest edition of the scooter, Bird Zero, which was designed and built in partnership with Okai. [9] As of 2019, the company is now in 120 cities across the globe. [10] [11] The company has taken in $415 million in funding. To date, Bird has provided more than 10 million rides. The company currently receives $1.27 on every Bird ride taken, which is inclusive of all costs. [12] VanderZanden was a speaker at TechCrunch's Disrupt SF in October 2019. [13]

During the COVID-19 mass layoff of Bird employees, VanderZanden was criticized for not informing employees in person about their dismissal, rather, delegating the task to the company's Chief Communications Officer. [14]

In September 2023, Bird was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of its low stock price. Its $7 million market capitalization is less than the value of the $22 million Miami mansion that VanderZanden bought in 2021. [15] In 2024, Bird was acquired by Third Lane Mobility to avoid bankruptcy. [16]

Personal life

In 2020, VanderZanden purchased a home in Bel Air formerly owned by Trevor Noah. [17]

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References

  1. 1 2 "How Bird scooters CEO Travis VanderZanden went from Appleton to the head of a company valued at $2 billion". www.postcrescent.com. Retrieved September 22, 2021.(subscription required)
  2. ↑ "Travis VanderZanden - CEO & Founder - Bird". LinkedIn . Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  3. ↑ https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/the-electric-scooter-invasion-is-underway-bird-ceo-travis-vanderzanden-leads-the-charge/&ved=2ahUKEwiCtsWqv9rsAhUFi6wKHef_CnsQFjADegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1mIw1Bzf0q3ZxaG7ntLjVu&ampcf=1 [ dead link ]
  4. ↑ "Lyft Acquires Cherry, Prepares for Lyft-off in Seattle". Lyft Blog. 2013-03-26. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  5. ↑ Kosoff, Maya (2014-10-06). "Uber Has Hired The Former COO Of Its Biggest Competitor". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  6. ↑ Levine, Dan (2016-06-28). "Uber, Lyft settle litigation involving top executives". U.S. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  7. ↑ Carson, Biz (2016-09-30). "The only executive to hold a high-ranking position at both Uber and Lyft is leaving Uber". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  8. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2018-02-13). "This former Uber (and Lyft) exec just raised $15 million for his controversial e-scooter startup: Bird". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  9. ↑ "Bird unveils custom electric scooters and delivery". TechCrunch. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  10. ↑ "Bird CEO on scooter startup copycats, unit economics, safety and seasonality". TechCrunch. 3 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  11. ↑ Yakowicz, Will (2018-12-10). "14 Months, 120 Cities, $2 Billion: There's Never Been a Company Like Bird. Is the World Ready?". Inc.com. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
  12. ↑ Griffith, Erin (2019-07-22). "Bird Is Said to Raise New Funding at $2.5 Billion Valuation". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-07-31.
  13. ↑ "Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden to talk scooters, unit economics and a multi-billion-dollar valuation at Disrupt SF". TechCrunch. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  14. ↑ "Bird layoffs". TheVerge. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  15. ↑ "From Unicorns to Zombies: Tech Start-Ups Run Out of Time and Money".
  16. ↑ Blum, Sam (30 April 2024). "Bird Flies Again From Bankruptcy With a New, Regulator-Friendly Strategy". Inc. Magazine.
  17. ↑ Mcclain, James (2021-01-26). "Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden Paid $21.7 Million for Trevor Noah's Bel Air Mansion". Dirt. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
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