Logan Green

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logan Green
Born Logan Green
Occupation Co-founder and CEO of Zimride
Website
www.zimride.com

Logan Green is the co-founder and CEO of Zimride, which he founded with John Zimmer in 2007.[1][2] Zimride currently has over 350,000 users and partnerships with Wal-Mart, Cigna, and 125 universities.[3][4][5][6]

Early life

Green attended New Roads High School in Santa Monica, California.[7] Green graduated from UCSB in 2006 with a B.A. in Business Economics.[7] While a student, Green created The Green Initiative Fund, served as a board member for the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District, and was the youngest director for the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District.[7][8] From August 2007 to February 2008, Green was the Sustainability Director at UCSB.[9]

Zimride

Inspiration

Green grew up in Los Angeles where he "spent most of [his] life stuck in traffic."[9][10] Interested in solving transportation flaws, Green forced himself to travel around California without an automobile.[9] After realizing the limits of public transportation, Green started a car-sharing program and asked Zipcar to place cars at UCSB. Because the company only had 100 cars at the time and was based on the East Coast, it couldn’t provide any vehicles.[9] Instead, Green acquired Toyota Priuses and other cars and began a car-sharing program that let users unlock cars with radio-frequency identification.[9] The program had over 2,000 people on campus sharing four cars.[9]

Green had the inspiration for Zimride after sharing rides from the University of California, Santa Barbara campus to visit his girlfriend in Los Angeles.[10] He had used Craigslist’s ride boards, but wanted to eliminate the anxiety of not knowing the passenger or driver.[10] When Facebook opened its API to third-party developers, Green thought "Here’s the missing ingredient."[10]

Company foundation

Green was introduced to John Zimmer through a mutual friend and the pair initially met on Facebook.[11] The company name comes from the country Zimbabwe, where, during a trip in 2005, Green observed locals sharing minivan taxis.[9][11] He says, "I came back to the US inspired to create that same form of transportation here."[12] Green had coding experience and was able to develop the site in four months.[9][13]

Growth

Zimride launched the first version of the rideshare program at Cornell University, where, after six months, the service had signed up 20% of the campus.[5][14] Of the early versions of Zimride, Green said, “Public transportation is broken. We’re trying to create the next form that works.”[15]

Zimride is currently the largest rideshare community in the United States.[16] As of April 2012, Zimride has raised $7.5 million in funding, has facilitated more than 26,000 carpools, has helped users travel over 100 million miles, employs 29, and has saved over $50 million in vehicle operating expenses.[17] The service is active at over 125 universities including the USC, University of Minnesota, UCLA, UCSF, Cornell, Harvard, and the University of Michigan.[11][18][19][20]

Personal life

He lives with his wife in Menlo Park, California.[21] In 2009, Zimmer and Logan Green were named finalists in Business Week’s list of America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Chima, Chikodi. Ticketfly partnership makes music events more intelligent and more social. VentureBeat. December 5, 2011.
  2. ↑ Nicole, Kristen. Zimride Launches Carpooling Network for Facebook. Mashable. April 14, 2007.
  3. ↑ Lazlo, Luz. Zimride offers college students cheap -- and checked out -- rides. The Washington Post. December 30, 2011.
  4. ↑ Nelder, Chris. Bikes, Car Shares and Buses: The New Transportation Era is Here. The Txchnologist. April 17, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sullivan, Colin. Startup Bets that Social Networking Will Spur Carpool Craze. New York Times. July 29, 2009.
  6. ↑ Kessler, Sarah. Zimride Brings Carpooling to the Masses. Mashable. August 17, 2011.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Logan Green - LinkedIn. LinkedIn. May 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ Students’ Green Fund Helps Finance Sustainability. News for the Faculty and Staff of UCSB.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Logan Green - Zimride. Founderly. April 18, 2012.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Bell, Josh. Two Startups Harness Facebook’s Power to Connect Riders to Rides. ABC News. September 4, 2007.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Cohen, Deborah. Former Lehman’s banker drives startup Zimride. Reuters. September 15, 2010.
  12. ↑ Zimride mini-doc @fbFund Rev 2009. fbFund REV. April 13, 2010.
  13. ↑ Bogusky, Alex. Digital Hitchhiking with Zimride. Fearless. February 28, 2011.
  14. ↑ Schomer, Stephanie. Zimride: Carpooling for College Students. Fast Company. January 5, 2011.
  15. ↑ Garthwaite, Josie. With $6 million in New Financing, Zimride has some Car Seats to Fill. New York Times. September 21, 2011.
  16. ↑ Car Sharing and Pooling: Reducing Car Over-Population and Collaborative Consumption. Stanford University. April 9, 2012.
  17. ↑ Takahashi, Dean. Zimride raises $6M for ride-sharing car service. VentureBeat. September 21, 2011.
  18. ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia. Carpool Community Zimride Lands $1.2 Million In Seed Funding. TechCrunch. August 23, 2010.
  19. ↑ Hargarten, Jeff. UMN Morris acquires ride-sharing network. Minnesota Daily. October 7, 2011.
  20. ↑ Shah, Semil. Why Zimride’s John Zimmer Left Wall Street to Start a Company. TechCrunch. April 19, 2012.
  21. ↑ Galker, Linda. Zimride CEO Logan Green Talks Ride Sharing and the Services Introduction in Menlo Park. InMenlo. January 9, 2012.
  22. ↑ 2009 Finalists: America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs Business Week.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.