Prerna Gupta

Prerna Gupta is an American serial entrepreneur focused on consumer entertainment.[1] She currently is the CEO of Telepathic Inc., which developed the smartphone app Hooked.[2] She cofounded several startups focusing on music, dating, and short-stories. In 2011, she was named one of the most influential women in technology by the Fast Company magazine.[3]

Prerna Gupta
Headshot of Prerna Gupta
Born1981 or 1982 (age 41–42)
Shawnee, Oklahoma
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materStanford
OccupationCEO of Hooked
Known forSerial entrepreneur
SpouseParag Chordia
Websiteprernagupta.com

Early life and education

Prerna Gupta was born c. 1981/1982[4] to Dr. Sudhir and Shikha Gupta, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[5] Her parents were Indian-American immigrants.[6]

In 1999, Gupta won the title of Miss Asia Oklahoma at a beauty pageant.[7][8] She also was mistress of ceremonies at Brad Henry's inauguration, the governor of Oklahoma in 2003;[7][8] she had met his wife, Kim Henry, in one of her high school history classes.[1] Gupta graduated with a degree in economics from Stanford in 2004, earning the Phi Beta Kappa honor.[9]

Career

Gupta's first job out of college was at the Monitor Group in San Francisco, a strategy consulting practice.[3] In 2006, she and her husband moved to Atlanta, Georgia[8] and created a dating site for young Indians called Yaari.[5] Gupta grew the site to two million users before moving to her second venture.[3]

In 2009, the couples started an app company called Khush[10][11] which developed an iPhone app called LaDiDa creating background music to a user's singing.[3] It became one of the most downloaded free music apps.[4] The company also developed the app Songify.[12] Khush was acquired by Smule in December 2011.[10][13] After the acquisition, Gupta became the Chief Product Officer at Smule,[14] staying there until 2013.[2] She also became involved in angel investing.[9]

After leaving Smule, Gupta went on a road trip and started writing a book,[15] a fiction piece that took place in a futuristic Silicon Valley.[16] Abandoning the book, she and her husband created Telepathic Inc. and an app called Hooked where users share 1,000-word pieces of fiction.[2][15] By 2017, Hooked was one of the most popular apps on the iTunes store.[1] In 2018, the company released its first feature-length story.[17]

Personal life

Gupta married to her husband Parag Chordia on March 16, 2009.[5] She lives in San Francisco, California.[18]

References

  1. Meacham, Scott (October 31, 2017). "Oklahoma is fine place to launch tech startup, entrepreneur says". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  2. Ha, Anthony (September 17, 2015). "Hooked Is An App For Readers Who Think Fiction Should Be More Like Text Messaging – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  3. Dannen, Chris (January 10, 2011). "The Most Influential Women in Technology 2011 – Prerna Gupta". Fast Company. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  4. Wang, Jennifer (September 5, 2011). "Khu.sh's Prerna Gupta Pioneers High-Tech Music for the Masses". Entrepreneur. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  5. "Chordia Wedding". The Shawnee News-Star. April 12, 2009. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  6. O’Brien, Sara (June 24, 2015). "15 questions with Prerna Gupta". CNNMoney. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  7. Brinkman, Lillie-Beth (November 1, 2011). "Top-ranking social music making app developer Smule acquires Khush". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  8. Brinkman, Lillie-Beth (April 26, 2010). "LaDIDa, LaDIDa". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  9. Chang, Angie. "This Is What An Angel Investor Looks Like – Prerna Gupta". women 2.0. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  10. Graham, Jefferson (December 1, 2011). "Smule snags Songify app creator". Tech. USA Today. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  11. Anders, George (March 10, 2012). "11 Secrets of Viral Videos". Tech. Forbes. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  12. Eördögh, Fruzsina (9 March 2012). "Prerna Gupta shares her secret viral-video sauce". Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  13. Samuels, Diana. "Smule to acquire friendly competitor Khush". BizBlog. San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  14. Craggs, Ryan; Sargent, Joshua (May 9, 2013). "'CineBeat' app by Smule makes music videos". SFGate. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  15. Meacham, Scott (November 12, 2017). "Oklahoma entrepreneurs advised to 'follow curiosity'". Tulsa World.
  16. Fortson, Danny (February 11, 2018). "The app that has younger readers Hooked". Sunday Times.
  17. Ha, Anthony (October 26, 2018). "Chat fiction startup Hooked unveils Dark Matter, its first feature-length thriller". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  18. Khanna, Priyanka (October 14, 2020). "Meet the Indian-origin women entrepreneurs laying the foundation of the brands of the future". Vogue India. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.