Alex Algard

Alex Algard
Born 1975 (age 42–43)
Stockholm, Sweden
Alma mater Stanford University
Occupation Businessman
Known for Co-founder of CarDomain.com (1998)
Founder of Whitepages.com (1996)
CEO of Hiya (2016)

Alex Algard is an Internet entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of CarDomain, the founder and former CEO of Whitepages.com, and the founder and current CEO of Hiya.

Early life

In 1975, Algard was born in Stockholm, Sweden.[1] His father was Swedish and his mother was Korean.[2] As a teenager, Algard moved to Canada.

Education

Algard has a BA degree in Economics (1996) and a MS degree in Engineering (1998) from Stanford University.[3][4][5]

Career

CarDomain

In 1998, Algard and Simon Han co-founded CarDomain, an online community for auto enthusiasts to share information about cars.[6]

From 2002 to 2006, Algard left his position as CEO of Whitepages in order to focus his attention on CarDomain.[4] He remained CEO of CarDomain until 2012, when he sold the company to Source Interlink Media, a company that owns a number of other car-oriented publications.[6] (Source Interlink was subsequently renamed TEN: The Enthusiast Network.)

Whitepages

Algard founded Whitepages in 1996 after purchasing the domain name for $900. He began the business by developing an online database of phone numbers. The website began to generate significant revenue through advertisements, hitting $66 million a year by 2008.[7]

In 2005, two venture capital firms invested $45 million in the company. In 2013, Algard bought out the investors for $80 million, citing a desire for the company to be free of pressure from outside investors. In 2016, he stepped down as CEO of Whitepages to run Hiya full-time.[8]

Whitepages provides fraud screening and identity verification for businesses, as well as public record background checks and directory services for consumers.

Hiya

In April 2016, Whitepages spun out its caller ID and spam-blocking service into a separate company, Hiya, of which Algard is the CEO. The service provides consumers insight into who is behind the numbers that are calling them[9] and also protects against unwanted spam and scam calls.

In August 2016, Hiya entered into a contract with Samsung to integrate its caller ID and spam protection services into Galaxy S7 phones.[10] That same month, the company announced the launch[11] of Hiya Cloud, a network based solution designed to help wireless carriers protect consumers from unwanted robocalls. Hiya also provides caller ID and call blocking services for AT&T and T-Mobile Name ID.[12]

Personal life

When he was a teenager, his family moved to Vancouver, B.C. [13][14][15] He is married.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Fried, John (January 1, 2006)"Things I Can't Live Without: Alex Algard Inc.com". Retrieved Apr 26, 2017. Note: This interview revealed that Algar is age 31 in 2006, therefore he was born in 1975.
  2. ↑ Feldman, Amy (August 23, 2016)"Alex Algard Risked Everything To Turn His Struggling Firm, Whitepages, Into A Growing Tech Company Forbes.com". Retrieved Apr 26, 2017.
  3. ↑ Feldman, Amy (September 9, 2016). "White Pages Founder Alex Algard Gives Up CEO Slot There To Focus On Caller ID Spinoff". Forbes.
  4. 1 2 Schlosser, Kurt (September 16, 2016). "Whitepages founder Alex Algard names Rob Eleveld new CEO". Geek Wire.
  5. ↑ Day, Matt (September 16, 2016). "Whitepages gets new CEO as founder steps down to focus on spinout company". Seattle Times.
  6. 1 2 Murtaugh Gillespie, Liz (September 7, 2012). "CarDomain sold to Source Interlink Media". GeekWire.
  7. ↑ Broberg, Brad (September 30, 2007). "Founder returns to Whitepages.com". GeekWire.
  8. ↑ Cook, John (October 22, 2013). "WhitePages CEO Alex Algard: Not having VCs will allow a 'cleaner' focus". Geek Wire.
  9. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (April 27, 2016). "Whitepages spins out its caller-ID business as Hiya to take on TrueCaller". TechCrunch.
  10. ↑ Goenka, Himanshu (August 2, 2016). "Samsung Galaxy Note 7 To Ship With Hiya For Robocall, Spam Protection". International Business Times.
  11. ↑ Gibbs, Colin (August 3, 2016). "Hiya launches network-level caller ID and call-blocking offering". Fierce Wireless.
  12. ↑ Marek, Sue (October 29, 2014). "T-Mobile to offer name ID service from Whitepages". Fierce Wireless.
  13. ↑ Feldman, Amy (August 3, 2016). "Alex Algard risked everything to turn his struggling firm Whitepages into a growing tech company". Forbes.
  14. ↑ Fried, John (January 1, 2006). "Things I Can't Live Without: Alex Algard". Inc.
  15. ↑ Kim, Paul (February 2, 2011). "A Directory of Success: WhitePages CEO Alex Algard". International Examiner.
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