Travis VanderZanden
American businessman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Travis VanderZanden (born 1979)[3] is an American businessman and the founder and former CEO of Bird, a scooter sharing service owned by Third Lane Mobility. Before founding Bird, VanderZanden was Chief Operating Officer at Lyft, then VP of International Growth at Uber.
Travis VanderZanden | |
|---|---|
VanderZanden speaking in 2019 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 46–47) |
| Education | University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (BBA) University of Southern California (MBA) |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of Bird |
| Notes | |
Education
VanderZanden graduated from Appleton North High School in 1997,[1] he later attended University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire from 1997 to 2002, receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration. He earned a Master of Business Administration from the USC Marshall School of Business in 2007.[4]
Career
Early career
VanderZanden worked as a product manager at Qualcomm.[5] After leaving Qualcomm, he was Chief Revenue Officer for Yammer from 2009 to 2011, then left to co-found Cherry, an on-demand car-wash service. He was CEO of Cherry until 2013, when the company was acquired by Lyft, and he was brought on as Chief Operating Officer.[6] He left Lyft for Uber in October 2014. Lyft later sued him for allegedly breaking his confidentiality agreement, and the lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms, with VanderZanden denying any wrongdoing.[7][8] VanderZanden then left Uber in October 2016.[9]
Bird
VanderZanden founded Bird in the summer of 2017. The company deployed its first scooters that September, before raising a $15 million Series A round of financing in February, 2018.[10] In October 2018, Bird released its latest edition of the scooter, Bird Zero, which was designed and built in partnership with Okai.[11] As of 2019, the company is now in 120 cities across the globe.[12][13] The company has taken in $415 million in funding. To date, Bird has provided more than 10 million rides. The company currently receives $1.27 on every Bird ride taken, which is inclusive of all costs.[14] VanderZanden was a speaker at TechCrunch's Disrupt SF in October 2019.[15]
During the COVID-19 mass layoff of Bird employees, VanderZanden was criticized for not informing employees in person about their dismissal, rather, delegating the task to the company's Chief Communications Officer.[16]
In September 2023, Bird was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because of its low stock price. Its $7 million market capitalization is less than the value of the $22 million Miami mansion that VanderZanden bought in 2021.[17] In 2024, Bird was acquired by Third Lane Mobility to avoid bankruptcy.[18]
Personal life
In 2020, VanderZanden purchased a home in Bel Air formerly owned by Trevor Noah.[19]