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Optimizely, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustrySoftware, Website Optimization
FoundedJanuary 2010
FounderDan Siroker, Pete Koomen
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Dan Siroker, CEO
Pete Koomen, CTO
Number of employees
400 (as of July 2015)[1]
Websitehttp://www.optimizely.com

Optimizely is a firm that makes customer-experience optimization software for companies. The Optimizely platform technology provides businesses with the ability to conduct A/B testing, in which two versions of a page can be compared for performance. Similarly, multivariate testing can also be done. Optimizely also enables personalization, which may be used for making data-driven decisions. The personalization capability can be used for serving advertisements on webpages. The firm's offering includes a testing product for websites (both desktop and mobile), as well as a testing solution for iOS apps.

History

Headquartered in San Francisco, California with offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Optimizely was founded in 2010 by Dan Siroker and Pete Koomen, both formerly of Google. Dan Siroker was a product manager for Google Chrome who also served as the Director of Analytics for the Obama campaign.[2] Pete Koomen was the product manager for Google's App Engine.[3][4]

Optimizely completed the Y Combinator program in the winter of 2010.[5] In November 2010, Optimizely closed a $1.2 million funding round from angel investors.[6] The company became cash flow positive in 2011. In May 2012, Optimizely announced that it has raised new funding from Battery Ventures, Google Ventures, and InterWest Partners.[7]

In April 2013, Optimizely raised $28 million in Series A round funding. The round was led by Benchmark, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Optimizely's existing investors Battery Ventures, InterWest Partners, and Google Ventures. Benchmark's Peter Fenton whose past investments include Yelp and Twitter joined Optimizely's board of directors.[8]

As part of a larger international expansion plan, Optimizely announced in April 2013 the launch of their platform in nine additional languages Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.[9]

In April 2014, the San Francisco Business Times ranked Optimizely as the #1 place to work among medium-sized companies (101-500 employees).[10] On April 17, Optimizely held its first Opticon user conference, where they announced the launch of their new mobile app A/B testing software.[11]

In May 2014, Optimizely raised $57 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Benchmark and Bain Capital Ventures. As part of the round, Scott Weiss general partner at Andreessen Horowitz joined Optimizely's board of directors.[12]

In October 2015, released their second product for mobile and website personalization.[13][14][15] Also in October, Optimizely raised $58 million in Series C funding, led by Index Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, Benchmark Capital, Citi Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Danhua Capital, Pharus Capital Management, Salesforce Ventures and Tenaya Capital. As part of the round, Ilya Fushman of Index Ventures joined Optimizely's board of directors.[16][17][18]

On March 10,2016 Optimizely announced a 10% reduction in the company's workforce through a layoff of 40 employees.[19]

Founders

Pete Koomen

Peter "Pete" Koomen is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded Optimizely with Dan Siroker, and is the company's current CTO.[20][21] Prior to Optimizely, Pete Koomen co-founded an educational software startup called CarrotSticks along with Dan Siroker.[22] Pete is also an angel investor; he contributed to a $3.1 million seed round in March 2015 to Man Crates.[23] He co-wrote a book with Dan Siroker on A/B testing called A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers.[24]

Dan Siroker

Dan Joseph Siroker (born March 25, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur who co-founded Optimizely with Pete Koomen, and is the company's current CEO.[25] Dan is a former Google product manager who was the Director of Analytics for the 2008 Obama campaign[26][27] before he ventured into entrepreneurship. His first company was a web-based educational platform called CarrotSticks, which he also co-founded with Pete Koomen.[28]

In 2012, Dan Siroker was listed in Forbes' annual 30 Under 30 feature.[29] He co-wrote a book with Pete Koomen on A/B testing called A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers.[30]

Conference

Opticon is a user conference organized by Optimizely focused on web experience optimization.[31] The first Opticon conference was held on April 17, 2014 where Optimizely announced their mobile A/B testing product.[32][33] The second Opticon conference was held on June 17 & 18, 2015 in San Francisco[34] where they announced a new Personalization product[13][14][15] and featured Marc Andreessen as the keynote speaker.

Community Service

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Optimizely helped the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund optimize its website resulting in an additional $1 million in contributions.[35]

Products

Optimizely's website and mobile app optimization solution is delivered in a software as a service (SaaS) model.[36] The company currently offers two products: Testing and Personalization.[13][14][15]

Awards and honors

  • Red Herring Top 100 North America 2013 Finalist[37]
  • Gartner's Cool Vendors in Web Computing 2013[38]
  • Digital Analytics Association New Technology of the Year (group)” Awards for Excellence 2013 – Finalist[39]
  • The Forrester Wave Seven Most Significant Online Testing Platform Providers 2013[40]
  • Forbes 30 Under 30, Optimizely CEO Dan Siroker[41]
  • San Francisco Business Times #1 Best Place to Work 2014 (Medium Companies, 101-500 employees)[42]
  • San Francisco Business Times #2 Best Place to Work 2015 (Large Companies)[43]

References

  1. ^ "Optimizely:The secret to winning a presidential campaign". CNN Money. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  2. ^ Segall, Laurie. "Optimizely aims to give Obama 2012 a data edge". CNN. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  3. ^ "YC-Funded Optimizely Makes It Remarkably Easy To Run A/B Tests On Your Website". TechCrunch. July 15, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  4. ^ "Celebrities (but not Ashton Kutcher) share their top cloud & infrastructure picks at Y". VentureBeat. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  5. ^ "Yclist.com". 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  6. ^ "Optimizely A/B Tests Its Way To $1.2 Million In Funding From A Roster Of Top Angels". TechCrunch. November 16, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  7. ^ "A/B Tester Optimizely Raises Funding From Battery And Google Ventures, Plans Mobile Launch". TechCrunch. May 30, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  8. ^ "Website Testing Service Optimizely Raises $28M Round Led By Benchmark, Plans Global Expansion". TechCrunch. April 10, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  9. ^ "Optimizely's Web Optimization Platform Now Available in Ten Languages". PR Newswire. April 25, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  10. ^ "The Bay Area's Best Places to Work 2014". San Francisco Business Times. April 18, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  11. ^ "Optimizely Brings Its A/B Testing Platform To iOS Apps". TechCrunch. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  12. ^ "Website Testing Company Optimizely Raises $57M Round Led By Andreessen Horowitz". TechCrunch. May 5, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
  13. ^ a b c Kepes, Ben (July 17, 2015). "Optimizely Moves From Simple A/B Testing To Complex Personalization". Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Ha, Anthony (July 17, 2015). "Optimizely Moves Beyond Web And Mobile Testing With New Personalization Tools". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  15. ^ a b c Jones, Andrew (July 17, 2015). "Optimizely introduces new personalization capabilities for web and mobile". VentureBeat. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  16. ^ "Testing Company Optimizely Raises $58M As It Moves Into Personalization". TechCrunch. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  17. ^ "Optimizely raises $58 million in latest funding". Reuters. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  18. ^ "San Francisco startup founded by former Googlers grabs $58 million in funding". San Francisco Business Times. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  19. ^ "Controlling Our Own Destiny By Dan Siroker". March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  20. ^ Chirstian, Brian. "The A/B Test: Inside The Technology That's Changing The Rules Of Business". Wired. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  21. ^ Milian, Mark. "Pete Koomen: The Quest for More Clicks". BusinessWeek. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  22. ^ Swift, Mike. "Ex-Googlers penetrating Silicon Valley startup hierarchy". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  23. ^ Chapman, Lizette. "Man Crates Packages $3.1 Million Seed Round for Unusual Gifts for Men". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  24. ^ Taylor, Colleen. "Optimizely Co-Founder Pete Koomen On Using The Art Of A/B Testing". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  25. ^ Chirstian, Brian. "The A/B Test: Inside The Technology That's Changing The Rules Of Business". Wired. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  26. ^ Segall, Laurie. "Optimizely aims to give Obama 2012 a data edge". CNN. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  27. ^ Klein, Ezra. "Obama's second term is upending what we think we know about Washington". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  28. ^ Swift, Mike. "Ex-Googlers penetrating Silicon Valley startup hierarchy". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  29. ^ Barret, Victoria. "30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  30. ^ Taylor, Colleen. "Optimizely Co-Founder Pete Koomen On Using The Art Of A/B Testing". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  31. ^ "A/B testing company Optimizely raises a massive $57M". VentureBeat. May 5, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  32. ^ "Optimizely's so fast, Web surfers won't notice it". USA Today. December 18, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  33. ^ "Optimizely Brings Its A/B Testing Platform To iOS Apps". TechCrunch. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  34. ^ "Opticon Conference". Optimizely. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  35. ^ "Optimizely A/B Tests Its Way To $1.2 Million In Funding From A Roster Of Top Angels". TechCrunch. November 16, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  36. ^ "Optimizely Raises $28 Million To Expand To Custom Website Service". Forbes. April 10, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  37. ^ "2013 Top 100 North America: Finalists". Red Herring. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  38. ^ "Cool Vendors 2013". Gartner. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  39. ^ "Awards for Excellence 2013: Finalists". Digital Analytics Association. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  40. ^ "The Forrester Wave™: Online Testing Platforms, Q1 2013". Forrester. February 13, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  41. ^ "30 Under 30: Technology". Forbes. 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  42. ^ "The Bay Area's Best Places to Work 2014". San Francisco Business Times. April 18, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
  43. ^ "Best Places to Work Q&A: Empowered employees fuel Optimizely's rise". San Francisco Business Times. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.

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