Founder, Chair
Idealab
When Gross was admitted to Pasadena-based California Institute of Technology, he paid for his education using the profits from the first company he created at the age of 15: Solar Devices, which sold solar oven building kits. After he graduated, Gross cultivated more than 150 nascent companies helmed by other young founders through Idealab, a technology incubator in Pasadena he founded in 1996. He also continued to develop his own ideas through Idealab. In 2013 he founded Heliogen Inc., a concentrated solar power startup far more sophisticated than his first venture as a teenager. Heliogen went public in 2021. In 2024, Gross created ProRata.ai, a tool meant to help creators receive compensation for work used by generative AI platforms.
YEARS ON LA500: 10
