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Nikesh Parekh, Technology Entrepreneur, Executive, & Investor (Suplari, Inc.) Services for Real Estate Pros

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Nikesh Parekh
Technology Entrepreneur, Executive, & Investor
location_on Seattle, WA — Suplari, Inc.
Get to Know Nikesh Parekh

I am an executive, entrepreneur and investor with significant experience in online real estate, marketplaces, SaaS software, community and blogging.  I am currently the CEO of Suplari which is applying AI in Procurement.  I was most recently with the Zillow Group and Trulia, where I was the VP of New Ventures at Trulia, in charge of Rentals, Mortgage and New Construction.  Previously, I was the CEO of ActiveRain and the Executive Vice President of Product at Market Leader, a subsidary of Trulia.  Market Leader is the leading provider of Saas based CRM, email marketing, and lead generation solutions to the residential real estate industry.  

Here are my favorite recent blog posts:

SEO Breakdown: How To Diagnose Lost Traffic To Your Blog Post

ActiveRain: Powered By Optimism

Hustle, Not Muscle: The Key to Lifelong Success

How You Leave A Sales Presentation is As Important As Your Pitch

Outside of work, I cherish and love my family.   I am happily married and have two wonderful daughters aged 9 and 7 who keep us very very busy.   In my personal time, I love running, yoga, skiing, volleyball, and my stand-up paddleboard.  

My daughters are in Spanish Immersion school, such that they don't learn any English until the third grade.  We enjoy travelling as a family and recently moved the family to Costa Rica for a month.  I was able to work from Costa Rica, while my kids brushed up on their Spanish.  It was a great life experience.

Skills

Here is a link to Nikesh Parekh's LinkedIn profile if you want detail in terms of my background.  

I have been a part of a lot of different businesses over the past 18 years.  

I am currently the co-founder and CEO of Suplari, which is a Seattle based enterprise software company applying AI in Procurement.

Previously I was was the VP of New Ventures at Trulia, responsible for Rentals, Mortgage and New Construction.  I am one of only three revenue owners/general managers at Trulia, managing ~$40m in revenue.  Trulia was acquired by Zillow for $2.5Bn in 2015.  

Previously I was EVP of Product at Market Leader and the CEO of ActiveRain.  Market Leader is the leading provder of SaaS and performance marketiing solutions to the residential real estate industry.  I managed products ranging from CRM, email marketing, analytics, personal web sites, social media and consumer web sites like RealEstate.com.  Market Leader was acquired by Trulia in 2013 for $380m.  ActiveRain is the largest blogging network and professional social network in real estate.  ActiveRain was acquired by Market Leader in 2011.

Prior to ActiveRain and Market Leader, I was CEO of a cleantech company called Bio Architecture Lab that had developed technology to convert seaweed into low cost sugars for biofuel and renewable chemical development.  We were fortunate to raise $35m in financing in a very challenging 2008 financial environment and build a 40 person company located in San Francisco and Chile.  In 2010, we hired a great CEO from Shell named Dan Trunfio to take the company to the next level.

For five years, I was an executive at one of the pioneers in online marketing for the real estate industry called HouseValues.  HouseValues was a 70 person company doing $10m in revenue before I joined.  When I left, we were 600 employees, 2 locations, and more than $100m in revenue.   I joined in 2002 and ran product, business development, consumer marketing, and corporate development over the next 5 years.  In 2005 and 2006, I started and was VP/GM of our mortgage division.    

I have been able to work some interesting people in the venture capital and private equity industries:

Second Avenue Partners: I was lucky enough to work for four amazing individuals at a Seattle based venture firm called Second Avenue Partners. We focused on seed stage investments in the Pacific Northwest with hands-on heavy lifting in weekly meetings with the entrepreneurs.  We invested in some great companies like the In Situ Group (acquired by Boeing for ~$400m), HouseValues (IPO ~$400m), Azaleos (acquired by Avanade), Essention (acquired by McKinstry), and LocationLabs (acquired by ATG for $220m).    

CVC Capital Partners:  From 2000-2002, I served as a consultant as a consultant to CVC Capital Partners which is one of Europe's largest and best performing private equity funds.  In 2000, they were looking at technology and telecommunications investments.  We looked at mobile carriers, wireline carriers, directories, mobile towers and satellites.  Good experience.  Lots of travel.

Madrona Ventures: After HouseValues, I was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Madrona Ventures, which is one of the best known VC's in Seattle.  Good experience looking at start-up opportunities.  Good experience, good people.  In the end, I ended up joining Bio Architecture lab which was funded by XSeed Capital.

XSeed Capital:  Bio Architecture Lab was funded by Michael Borrus and David Hanzel from XSeed Capital.  XSeed Capital specializes in spinning out revolutionary technologies from universities.  These are generally high risk ventures, but if they work, they really can change the world.  Bio Architecture Lab was also funded by Energy Capital Management from Norway and Austral Capital in Chile.

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Technology entrepreneur, manager, and investor. Husband, father, skier. Builder of sand castles at the Enatai Beach Park.