Gagan Biyani Explained

Gagan Biyani
Birth Date:30 May 1987
Known For:Sprig, Udemy, Lyft
Nationality:American
Website:https://www.gaganbiyani.com

Gagan Biyani (born May 30, 1987) is an American of Indian descent[1] serial entrepreneur, marketer, and journalist.[2] [3] He was a co-founder of Udemy, an online education company, and was co-founder and CEO of Sprig, a food delivery company.[4]

Life and career

Biyani was born to Indian parents in Fremont, California.[5]

Early career

Biyani attended the University of California, Berkeley, and received a bachelor's degree in Economics. He began his career working at Accenture before transitioning into technology entrepreneurship and journalism. As a journalist, he covered mobile applications and technology at TechCrunch.[6] While there, he wrote a number of investigative journalism pieces, including one about a PR firm that was writing fake reviews on the App Store.[7] He broke the story in TechCrunch. According to The New York Times,[8] the findings led to an FTC investigation and Biyani's findings were quoted by the FTC's official documents.

Udemy

See main article: Udemy. In 2009, Biyani co-founded Udemy,[9] [10] one of the first MOOC platforms. Courses are offered across a breadth of categories, including business and entrepreneurship, academics, the arts, health and fitness, language, music, and technology.[11] Most classes are in practical subjects such as Excel software or using an iPhone camera.[12]

At Udemy, Biyani focused mainly on marketing, instructor acquisition, investor relations, finance, business development, and public relations.[13] As of 2018, the company claims to have over 24 million students and offers more than 80,000 courses[14] from thousands of teachers. As of 2019, Alexa counts Udemy among top 500 most-visited websites.[15]

Lyft & Growth Hackers Conference

After Udemy,[16] Biyani spent six months as a Growth Advisor at Lyft.[17] He soon left Lyft in 2013 to begin new ventures.

Biyani founded the Growth Hackers Conference in 2013,[18] which he co-founded with Erin Turner.[19] The event was in San Francisco and featured a number of well-known growth hackers, including Chamath Palihapitiya, Sean Ellis, Keith Rabois, and others.[20] [21] [22] [23]

Sprig

While at Lyft, Gagan came up with the idea for Sprig. While speaking with friends, he came up with the idea to start a food delivery service.[24] He left Lyft in 2013 to begin the venture into healthy home-cooked food. He partnered with a number of chefs, including Nate Keller, a former Executive Chef at Google's headquarters,[25] and Michelin-starred chef Kyle Connaughton, who served as culinary advisor.[26]

The concept for Sprig was to provide home cooked food via delivery.[27] [28] The startup claimed to allow users to order a “balanced meal”, which was prepared in Sprig's industrial kitchen and delivered in 15–20 minutes. Sprig's chef was Nate Keller, Google's former executive chef.[29]

In March 2014, Sprig raised $10 million in Series A funding from Greylock Partners with Battery Ventures and Accel participating. As part of the funding, Greylock partner Simon Rothman joined Sprig's board.[30] A year later, the company announced it had raised $45 million via its Series B funding round.[31]

In 2016, Biyani and his co-founder Neeraj Berry were named by Forbes in its 30 Under 30 list for Consumer Tech entrepreneurs.[32] Gagan was also part of the Fast Companys Most Creative People list around the same time.[33]

Sprig raised a total of $57 million and had over 1,300 employees[34] [35] at its peak, but announced in late 2017 that it would no longer be operational.[36] [37] [38] In his closing e-mail, Biyani cited challenges in the complexity of the operations as reasons for the closure.[39] According to Biyani's Twitter story about Sprig, one of the causes of Sprig's failure was the rise of Uber Eats.[40] According to TechCrunch,[41] a number of other startups in the same industry also closed in 2017, including venture-backed SpoonRocket and Maple.[42]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Food Delivery Start-Up Sprig Raises $45 Million - India West: Business . 2015-06-30 . 2015-06-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150630024508/http://www.indiawest.com/news/business/food-delivery-start-up-sprig-raises-million/article_b98d9836-e9dd-11e4-a81d-cb3198745d05.html . dead .
  2. Web site: DEAMICIS. CARMEL. Lyft's former interim head of growth thinks food is the next big startup market. pandodaily.
  3. Web site: GERBER. SCOTT. Udemy Founder Gagan Biyani Answers Reader Questions [LIVE CHAT]]. 25 October 2012. Mashable.
  4. Web site: Linkedin.
  5. Web site: About Me.
  6. Web site: Search Results for "Gagan Biyani" – TechCrunch. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  7. Web site: Cheating the App Store: PR firm has interns post positive reviews for clients [UPDATED]]. TechCrunch. 22 August 2009 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  8. News: Reverb P.R. Firm Settles Case on Fake Reviews. Helft. Miguel. 2010-08-26. The New York Times. 2019-04-27. en-US. 0362-4331.
  9. Web site: Udemy Scores $1M In Seed Funding, Aims To Democratize Online Learning. TechCrunch. 31 August 2010 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  10. Web site: How Udemy's First-Time Founder Raised $1 Million For His Startup – with Gagan Biyani. Mixergy. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  11. Web site: Udemy for Business The destination for workplace learning. Udemy for Business. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  12. Web site: With Over 6,000 Courses Now Live, Udemy Brings Its Learning Marketplace To iOS To Let You Study On The Go. TechCrunch. 3 April 2013 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  13. Web site: How Udemy Found Their First 1,000 Instructors... Tips For Building a Marketplace with Gagan Biyani. 2014-12-16. The Hustle. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  14. Web site: The New York Times – Search. The New York Times. 2019-04-27.
  15. Web site: Udemy.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors – Alexa. alexa.com. 2019-04-27. 2020-06-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20200621100928/https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/udemy.com. dead.
  16. Web site: This Is How Growth Hacking Got Udemy To A $6 Mil Run Rate – with Gagan Biyani. Mixergy. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  17. Web site: Lyft's former interim head of growth thinks food is the next big startup market. 2013-12-04. Pando. en-gb. 2019-04-26.
  18. Web site: Chamath Palihapitiya On Growth Hacking And How To Create A Sustainable User Acquisition Engine. TechCrunch. 14 January 2013 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  19. Web site: GrowthHackers Conference 2019 #GHConf19. GrowthHackers Conference 2019 #GHConf19. en. 2019-04-27.
  20. Web site: Growth Hacking: an Introduction. Udemy. en-us. 2019-04-27.
  21. Web site: Growth Hackers Conference 2013A Detailed Bullet-Point Summary. 2013-11-08. Backblaze Blog Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  22. Web site: Growth Hacking: Learning to Navigate the Stages of Growth. Udemy. en-us. 2019-04-27.
  23. Web site: 6 important lessons from this year's Growth Hacker Conference. 2013-05-10. VentureBeat. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  24. Web site: Gagan Biyani Selected as a Top Startup Mentor of 2012. The Founder Institute. en. 2019-04-26.
  25. Web site: Google's Former Executive Chef Is Creating 'The Easiest Way To Eat Well In The World' With A 3-Tap Food Delivery App, Sprig. Shontell. Alyson. 2014-08-19. Business Insider Australia. en. 2019-04-27.
  26. News: Frojo . Renée . Ex-Google chef, tech veteran launch food delivery service . San Francisco Business Times . November 25, 2013.
  27. Web site: Sprig founder Gagan Biyani on trying to build the largest healthy and organic restaurant. TechCrunch. 8 April 2016 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  28. Web site: Sprig Wants To Kill Fast Food And Make Braised Kale More Accessible. TechCrunch. 23 September 2015 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  29. Web site: Food Delivery Start-Up Sprig Raises $45 Million. Dispatches. News. India West. en. 2019-04-26.
  30. Web site: Sprig brings healthy meal delivery from Silicon Valley to Chicago. Carpenter. John. chicagotribune.com. 9 June 2015 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  31. Web site: Sprig Raises $45M. TechCrunch. 15 April 2015 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  32. Web site: Gagan Biyani, 28, Neeraj Berry, 28. https://web.archive.org/web/20160104192627/http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mfg45jmeh/marcela-sapone-29/. dead. January 4, 2016. Forbes. en. 2019-04-27.
  33. Web site: Gagan Biyani, Most Creative People. Fast Company. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  34. Web site: Yet Another On-Demand Startup Exits the Gig Economy. Bercovici. Jeff. 2015-08-06. Inc.com. 2019-04-27.
  35. Web site: Amid backlash, lawsuits, more delivery startups converting contractors to employees. 2015-08-06. The Mercury News. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  36. Web site: Sprig Shuts Down Its Once Popular Food Delivery App: SFist. 2017-05-26. SFist – San Francisco News, Restaurants, Events, & Sports. en. 2019-04-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20190427040259/https://sfist.com/2017/05/26/sprig_shuts_down_its_once_popular_f/. 2019-04-27. dead.
  37. Web site: Sprig Is the Latest Meal Delivery Service to Shut Down. Fortune. en. 2019-04-27.
  38. Web site: Food Delivery Startup Sprig Shutting Down Immediately. Pershan. Caleb. 2017-05-26. Eater SF. 2019-04-27.
  39. Web site: The On-Demand Economy Hits The Reset Button. Kessler. Sarah. 2016-06-20. Fast Company. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  40. 1265755248922157066. gaganbiyani. Nobody talks about failure in Silicon Valley, yet 90% of startups fail.Why?3 yrs ago, @neerajberry and I shut d… . 27 May 2020.
  41. Web site: On-demand food startup Sprig is shutting down today. TechCrunch. 26 May 2017 . en-US. 2019-04-27.
  42. Web site: Gagan Biyani, Co-Founder & CEO of Sprig Talks Unit Economics, Money, and More. Startups. This Week in. 2016-02-10. Medium. 2019-04-27.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gagan Biyani".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.