Aaron Iba
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Aaron Iba (born June 18, 1983) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is known for co-authoring Etherpad, co-founding AppJet, and for his work as a partner in Y Combinator. Iba graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005 with a degree in Mathematics.
Background
[edit]Iba grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was there that he teamed up with David Greenspan to win the annual Battlecode programming competition in 2003.[1][2][3] Iba and Greenspan would go on to attend the Y Combinator program, where they created AppJet[4] and Etherpad.[5] Iba would go on to become a partner in Y Combinator, and was named "one of the best hackers among the YC alumni".[6][7]
Iba is also an Angel investor in over 10 companies, including Meteor, PlanGrid, and Light Table.[8]
AppJet/Etherpad
[edit]In 2007, Iba co-founded AppJet, a company providing JavaScript development and hosting tools. AppJet received funding from notable investors including Paul Graham, Paul Buchheit, Trevor Blackwell, Mitch Kapor and Scott Banister.[9]
AppJet failed to gain traction with developers, but in 2009 the company used its own tools to launch Etherpad, the first web-based realtime collaborative text editor.[10][11]
In 2009, AppJet was acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum.[12][13][14][15] The Etherpad technology and team were merged into the Google wave project.[16]
Y Combinator
[edit]In 2011, Iba became one of 6 full-time partners in Y Combinator, where he oversaw and participated in numerous investments in startup companies.[6][17][18][19][20] In 2013, Iba left Y Combinator to found PayGarden, an alternative payments company borne out of insights he gleaned as an investor in various online merchants.[21][22]
References
[edit]- ^ "Battlecode Hall of Fame". Battlecode. Archived from the original on 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
- ^ Plafke, James. "Battlecode is a competition where AIs fight each other in an RTS". geek.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
- ^ Lin, Kathy. "Team CDG Takes First In Programming Contest". The Tech.
- ^ Livingston, Jessica. "AppJet Takes Off".
- ^ Lyle Troxell (6 June 2009). "Etherpad with Aaron Iba" (Podcast). GeekSpeak.
- ^ a b Tan, Garry. "Welcome Garry and Aaron". YCombinator Official Blog.
- ^ Tiku, Nitasha (25 January 2012). "Are Y Combinator's Newest Ventures Partners Another Sign That the Coder Is King?". New York Observer.
- ^ "Notable Founder Profile". AngelList.
- ^ Mangalindan, JP. "Y Combinator's Paul Graham: Get a co-founder". Fortune.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (19 November 2008). "Etherpad Shows Google Docs How It's Done". TechCrunch.
- ^ Walling, Steven (2 June 2009). "AppJet's EtherPad: The Demo That Ate the Company". ReadWrite.
- ^ Kincaid, Jason (4 December 2009). "Confirmed: Google Acquires AppJet, The Maker Of EtherPad". TechCrunch.
- ^ Vascellaro, Jessica. "Apple, Google Rivalry Heats Up". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Shankland, Stephen. "Google acquires EtherPad online collaboration tool". CNET.
- ^ Perez, Juan (4 December 2009). "Google buys collaboration app to boost Wave". InfoWorld.
- ^ Bradley, Tony. "Google Redefines 'Real-Time' Collaboration with AppJet Purchase". PCWorld.
- ^ Geron, Tomio. "Clever Raises $3M Seed To Turn On Technology In Schools". Forbes.
- ^ Taft, Darryl. "Open-Source Startup Meteor Gets $11.2M from Andreessen Horowitz". eWeek.
- ^ "How Y Combinator's powerful alumni network operates". Fast Company.
- ^ Stross, Randall (2012). The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator. p. 64. ISBN 978-1591845294.
- ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (27 November 2013). "Paygarden's Platform Lets You Finally Redeem Those Unused Gift Cards For Good And More". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Aaron Iba: Executive Profile". Bloomberg Business.