Darshan Somashekar
Born (1983-02-11) February 11, 1983
Chicago, U.S.A
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationBrown University
OrganizationUnWind Media (Solitaired.com)
Websitesomashekar.com

Darshan Somashekar is an Indian-American tech entrepreneur, advisor, and investor.[1] Some of the companies he has co-founded include drop.io, Imagine Easy Solutions, and Unwind Media with Neal Taparia.[2] He is also a Venture Partner at TMV.vc.[3][4]

Early life and education

Somashekar was born in Chicago and raised in Willowbrook, a suburb of Chicago. He attended Brown University, where he majored in public policy.[5]

Career

Somashekar co-founded EasyBib in 2001 while he was a student at the Hinsdale Central High School. The company was initially bootstrapped and remained a side project for several years. After graduating from college, Somashekar joined Bain & Company as an associate consultant. He left Bain in 2007 to co-found drop.io, a file-sharing service that was eventually acquired by Facebook in 2010.[6][7]

In 2008, Somashekar returned to EasyBib to focus on growing the company. Under his leadership, EasyBib grew through organic growth and acquisitions to reach over 30 million students.[8] The company was sold to Chegg in 2016, and Somashekar became a vice president of product for the writing tools group.[9]

Somashekar left Chegg in 2019 and became a venture partner at Trail Mix Ventures.[10] He also co-founded Unwind Media with Neal Taparia.[11] Unwind Media's flagship product is Solitaired.com, a popular solitaire game website.[12][13]

  1. ↑ Kassaye, Bereket (2022-06-20). "How Data Science Became the Most Popular Job on the Market". Youth Time Magazine. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  2. ↑ Magee, Christine (2015-07-15). "With 100 Million Annual Users, Imagine Easy Launches A New Research Tool For Students". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  3. ↑ "Chegg Acquires Imagine Easy Solutions, Provider of Bibliography Tool EasyBib, for $42 Million". EdSurge. 2016-05-03. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  4. ↑ Konrad, Alex. "Women-Led VC Firm TMV Raises $64 Million To Back 'Triple Bottom-Line' Startups Benefiting The Planet". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  5. ↑ "Darshan Somashekar". somashekar.com. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  6. ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia (2010-10-29). "Facebook Acquires Drop.io, Nabs Sam Lessin". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  7. ↑ Blodget, Henry (2010-10-29). "Facebook Buys Drop.io (And Sam Lessin)". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  8. ↑ Myers, Courtney Boyd (2012-04-03). "EasyBib Boasts Half a Billion Citations with 34 Million Students". TNW | Apps. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  9. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2016-05-02). "Chegg acquires Imagine Easy Solutions, the company behind EasyBib, BibMe and Citation Machine". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  10. ↑ "Darshan Somashekar". TMV. 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  11. ↑ "Unwind Media (Solitaired)". Google for Publishers. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  12. ↑ Somashekar, Darshan. "I left NYC to live in Miami for 5 months. It's been great for business — here's why other entrepreneurs should make a similar trip". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  13. ↑ Somashekar, Darshan (2020-11-10). "Why I left edtech and got into gaming". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
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