Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff (born October 24, 1975) is an entrepreneur and company leader. He was the co-founder and former CEO of Zillow Group, and one of the co-founders of Hotwire.com. He also co-founded dot.LA,[1] Los Angeles' leading news source for startups, where he is chairman; and Pacaso, a real estate platform that makes second home ownership more accessible, where he is on the board of directors. In 2020 Rascoff created Supernova, a special purpose acquisition company. [2] Rascoff is on the board of directors of Palantir.[3] Additionally, in 2019 Rascoff was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-created and co-taught the “Managing Tech Ventures” course. He also hosts the "Office Hours" podcast.

Early life and education

Rascoff was born to his mother (Jane) and father (Joseph) who was a business manager and tour producer for numerous well known musicians including The Rolling Stones, U2, and Paul Simon.[4] Rascoff grew up in New York and then Los Angeles, where he attended Harvard-Westlake. He received his A.B. from Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude.

Career

After graduating from college, Rascoff worked as a private equity investor at TPG Capital and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Hotwire.com

In 1999, at the age of 24, Rascoff co-founded Hotwire.com, a leading Internet travel company, which a few years later was sold to InterActiveCorp (the parent company of Expedia) for $685 million. He then served as vice president of lodging for Expedia before leaving to co-found Zillow.[5]

Zillow

Rascoff served various roles through the years including chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and VP of Marketing until his appointment to CEO in 2010.[6] As CEO, Rascoff led Zillow through its 2011 IPO and 15 acquisitions. In 2017, Spencer was named "The Most Powerful Person in Residential Real Estate" by the Swanepoel Power 200.[7] Spencer was also awarded Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEO recognition for 2017.[8] He was named one of America’s 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under by Forbes magazine in 2012[9] and 2013.[10] Rascoff stepped down as CEO in February 2019.[11] In April 2020, Rascoff resigned from Zillow's board of directors.[12][13]

dot.la

In January 2020, Rascoff co-founded dot.la, a news site for California Tech.[14]

Pacaso

In October 2020, Rascoff co-founded Pacaso, a real estate platform that makes second home ownership more accessible through shared ownership. [15]

75 and Sunny

Spencer is now an active angel investor in over 50 startups and is starting new companies through his Los Angeles startup studio “75 & Sunny.”

Supernova SPAC

In 2020, Rascoff and three partners took public the special purpose acquisition company Supernova.

Other projects

In 2015, he co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times’ Best Seller “Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate.”[16] Rascoff is also the host of “Office Hours,” a podcast featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership and management topics. Rascoff and his young son, Luke Rascoff, have a podcast called "Dad I have a question". He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

Personal life

Rascoff lives in Los Angeles and is married to Dr. Nanci Rascoff, with three children.

References
  1. https://dot.la/st/about
  2. https://www.yahoo.com/now/zillow-hotwire-founder-spencer-rascoff-191535409.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. Kuhlman, Cara (9 Jul 2020). "Tech Moves: Zillow co-founder joins Palantir board; Hootsuite names new CEO; and more". GeekWire. GeekWire, LLC. Retrieved 12 Nov 2020.
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/business/media/joseph-rascoff-dead-business-manager-for-rolling-stones.html
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/22/realestate/commercial/spencer-rascoff.html
  6. http://www.zillowgroup.com/leadership/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Stiles, Marc (Jan 9, 2017). "Report names Zillow CEO the most powerful person in real estate". Puget Sound Business Journal.
  8. "Highest Rated CEOs". Glassdoor.
  9. Smith, Jacquelyn. "America's 20 Most Powerful CEOs 40 and Under". Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  10. Smith, Jacquelyn. "America's Most Powerful CEOs 40 And Under". Retrieved 27 January 2014..
  11. Salinas, Sara (2019-02-21). "Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff is out — co-founder Rich Barton is taking over". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  12. "Spencer Rascoff Leaves Zillow Board - The Real Deal". The Real Deal New York. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  13. "Spencer Rascoff departs Zillow Group board, 1 year after stepping down as CEO". GeekWire. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  14. Schlosser, Kurt (9 Jan 2020). "Former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff launches dot.LA, a news site for Southern California tech". GeekWire. GeekWire, LLC. Retrieved 12 Nov 2020.
  15. https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-pandemic-boosts-suburban-home-demand-startup-sells-a-new-ownership-model-11601553600
  16. "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous Books - Best Sellers - February 22, 2015 - The New York Times". Retrieved 2018-03-15.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.