John Zimmer is the

co-founder An organizational founder is a person who has undertaken some or all of the formational work needed to create a new organization, whether it is a business, a charitable organization, a governing body, a school, a group of entertainers, or any oth ...

and former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Lyft Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...

, an on-demand transportation company, which he founded with

Logan Green Logan D. Green is the chairman and former CEO of Lyft, which he co-founded with John Zimmer in 2012. Lyft grew out of Zimride, a rideshare company previously founded by the duo in 2007.Chima, ChikodiTicketfly partnership makes music events more ...

in 2012. In March 2023, Zimmer announced that in June he would step down as Lyft president and become vice-chair of the board of directors.

Early life and education

Zimmer grew up in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

. In 2006, Zimmer graduated from

Cornell University School of Hotel Administration The Nolan School of Hotel Administration (SHA, more commonly known as the Hotel School) is a specialized business school in the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in ...

where he was a member of

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

fraternity, Mu chapter. After graduation, Zimmer worked as an analyst in real estate finance at

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1850. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Merril ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Zimmer left Lehman Brothers three months before it declared bankruptcy. In 2007, while Zimmer was working at Lehman Brothers, he and Logan Green founded Zimride, a ridesharing platform across college campuses.

Zimride

While at Cornell, Zimmer was inspired to develop a rideshare program by filling the empty seats he had during his rides home over school breaks.Shaughnessy, Haydn
How to Win Friends AND Cut your Travel Costs
''Forbes''. November 18, 2011.

had also been thinking along those lines and had started "Zimride".Cohen, Deborah
Former Lehman's banker drives startup Zimride
''Reuters''. September 15, 2010.Shah, Semil
Why Zimride's John Zimmer Left Wall Street to Start a Company
''TechCrunch''. April 19, 2012. Zimride launched the first version of its rideshare program at Cornell University where, after six months, the service had signed up 20% of the student body.Sullivan, Colin

''New York Times''. July 29, 2009.Schomer, Stephanie

. ''Fast Company''. January 5, 2011. Later in 2007, Zimride was active on both the Cornell and

UCSB The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joine ...

campuses.Booking a ride in someone else's car
''Smart Planet''. April 9, 2012. Zimmer quit his job at Lehman Brothers to work with Green full-time on Zimride. Green and Zimmer focused the service on carpooling between connected users and making carpooling fun and interesting.Kwan, Connie
Zimride's John Zimmer
''Triple Pundit''. November 1, 2010. By April 2012, the company was renamed Lyft and had raised $7.5 million in funding and was active at over 125 universities.Takahashi, Dean
Zimride raises $6M for ride-sharing car service
''VentureBeat''. September 21, 2011.

Lyft

After leaving his job at Lehman Brothers, Zimmer moved to Silicon Valley with Green to work on Zimride full-time. Lyft was launched in the summer of 2012 as a service of Zimride, before Zimmer and Green officially changed the name of the company from Zimride to Lyft. Zimmer did not take a salary during the first three years of Lyft's operation, and he and Green worked on the company out of an apartment they shared.

Personal life

Zimmer is married. He met his wife while studying abroad in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Spain; they have a daughter.

References

External links

Zimride.comJohn Zimmer
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmer, John 1983 births Living people Lyft people American company founders Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni American chief operating officers Sigma Pi members