Zach Allia
| Zach Allia | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Zachary Allia Gloucester, Massachusetts |
| Residence | Eden, UT[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Northeastern University |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Website | http://zachallia.com/ |
Zach Allia is an American photographer,[2] entrepreneur and web developer.[3][4][5] In 2007 Allia founded "Free Gifts" for Facebook, which became the most popular app on Facebook, with over 10 million active users.[3] He later co-founded Soma, a water filtration system which has raised over $3.7 million in funding.[6]
Career
Allia founded Free Gifts in 2007 in response to other Facebook applications charging $1 or more for "gifts".[3] The app grew in popularity, eventually becoming the most popular app on Facebook's platform, with over 10 million active users.[3] Allia sold Free Gifts to Social Gaming Network (SGN) in 2008.[7] In 2010, Allia bought back Free Gifts for "less than 10%" of original purchase price by SGN.[3] Dave McClure and Narendra Rocherolle assisted Allia in the repurchase of Free Gifts.[3]
In January 2012, Allia founded "Friendsheet", an application that turns Facebook photos into a Pinterest-like grid.[5][8] The application was endorsed by Mark Zuckerberg and had over 150,000 unique visitors per month as of March 2012.[9][10]
Later in 2012, Allia co-founded Soma, eco-friendly water filtration systems.[11] Allia was responsible for creating the company's Kickstarter dashboard, named "Kickstarter Status Board", later available for free as a Google Chrome extension.[11] Soma's Kickstarter campaign raised over $100,000 in the first nine days, ending the campaign at $147,000.[12] In July 2013, Soma announced a $3.7 million round of funding with investors including Baseline Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Cowboy Ventures, Vast Ventures, Mindful Investors, and Tim Ferriss.[6]
References
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/zachallia
- ↑ "Zach Allia on Instagram". Instagram.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lacy, Sarah. "Founder Buys Free Gifts Back from SGN for Less than 10% of the Purchase Price [TCTV]". TechCrunch.
- ↑ "64 PIXELS ZACH ALLIA INTERVIEW". AOL Business.
- 1 2 Shontell, Alyson. "Mark Zuckerberg Is A Fan Of This Pinterest Clone". Business Insider.
- 1 2 Brooke, Eliza. "Charitable Water Filter Maker Soma Raises $3.7M Seed Round". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Schonfeld, Erick. "SGN Starts to Look Like a "Real Company." Adds Jetman To Its Gaming Platform, About to Raise $10 Million". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Copeland, Dave. "Friendsheet Makes Your Friends' Facebook Photos Look Like Pinterest". readwrite.
- ↑ Hernandez, Brian Anthony. "Zuckerberg Likes App That Turns Facebook Into Pinterest". Mashable.
- ↑ Constine, Josh. "Friendsheet: The Zuck-Approved Pinterest-Style Facebook Photo Browser". TechCrunch.
- 1 2 Feigerman, Seth. "Manage Your Kickstarter Campaign With This Simple Dashboard". Mashable.
- ↑ "Soma: Beautifully innovative all-natural water filters". Kickstarter.