BILL GROSS

Chairman

Idealab

Bill Gross founded Idealab in 1996 and has seen the technology incubator create more than 150 companies and execute more than 45 IPOs and acquisitions. Gross started Solar Devices, a solar energy products company, while he was in high school, and patented a new loudspeaker design while in college at Caltech. He also has created many well-known software products and companies, including the Magellan search program; Knowledge Adventure, an educational software publisher; and online interactive city guide CitySearch. Idealab-fostered UberMedia launched GoTo.com in 1998, providing the first bid-based, pay-per-click search engine, which became a key to monetizing the internet. The company was later renamed Overture Services and was acquired by Yahoo in 2003 for a reported $1.6 billion. Idealab’s latest project is Edisun Microgrids, a renewable energy technology company. Gross serves on the boards of trustees of Caltech and the ArtCenter College of Design.