Travis VanderZanden (born 1979) is an American businessman and the founder and former CEO of

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, a

scooter sharing A scooter-sharing system or kicksharing system is a shared transport service in which Motorized scooter, electric motorized scooters (also referred to as e-scooters) are made available to use for short-term rentals. E-scooters are typically "doc ...

service owned by Third Lane Mobility. Before founding Bird, VanderZanden was Chief Operating Officer at

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 ...

, then VP of International Growth at

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

Education

VanderZanden graduated from Appleton North High School in 1997, he later attended

University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire The University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (UW–Eau Claire, UWEC or simply Eau Claire) is a public university in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and ...

from 1997 to 2002, receiving a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

. He earned a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the

USC Marshall School of Business The USC Marshall School of Business is the business school of the University of Southern California. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In 1997 the school was renamed following a $35 million donation fr ...

in 2007.

Career

Early career

VanderZanden worked as a product manager at

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

. After leaving Qualcomm, he was Chief Revenue Officer for

Yammer Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) is an enterprise social networking service that is part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. It is used mainly for private enterprise social software, communication within organizations but is also used for net ...

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. 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. VanderZanden then left Uber in October 2016.

Bird

VanderZanden founded

in the summer of 2017. The company deployed its first scooters that September, before raising a $15 million

Series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

of financing in February, 2018. In October 2018, Bird released its latest edition of the scooter, Bird Zero, which was designed and built in partnership with Okai. As of 2019, the company is now in 120 cities across the globe. 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. VanderZanden was a speaker at TechCrunch's Disrupt SF in October 2019. 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. 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. In 2024, Bird was acquired by Third Lane Mobility to avoid bankruptcy.

Personal life

In 2020, VanderZanden purchased a home in Bel Air formerly owned by

Trevor Noah Trevor Noah (born 20 February 1984) is a South African comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He was the host of ''The Daily Show'', an American late-night talk show and satirical news program on Comedy ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:VanderZanden, Travis Living people Marshall School of Business alumni University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni 21st-century American businesspeople American technology chief executives American technology company founders American transportation businesspeople Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area 1979 births People from Appleton, Wisconsin