American computer programmer and entrepreneur
Aaron Iba (born June 18, 1983) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is known for co-authoring Etherpad , co-founding AppJet , and for his work as a partner in Y Combinator . Iba graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005 with a degree in Mathematics.
Background
Iba grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It was there that he teamed up with David Greenspan to win the annual Battlecode programming competition in 2003.[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] Iba and Greenspan would go on to attend the Y Combinator program, where they created AppJet [ 4] and Etherpad .[ 5] Iba would go on to become a partner in Y Combinator , and was named "one of the best hackers among the YC alumni".[ 6] [ 7]
Iba is also an Angel investor in over 10 companies, including Meteor , PlanGrid , and Light Table .[ 8]
AppJet/Etherpad
In 2007, Iba co-founded AppJet , a company providing JavaScript development and hosting tools. AppJet received funding from notable investors including Paul Graham , Paul Buchheit , Trevor Blackwell , Mitch Kapor and Scott Banister .[ 9]
AppJet failed to gain traction with developers, but in 2009 the company used its own tools to launch Etherpad , the first web-based realtime collaborative text editor.[ 10] [ 11]
In 2009, AppJet was acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum.[ 12] [ 13] [ 14] [ 15] The Etherpad technology and team were merged into the Google wave project.[ 16]
Y Combinator
In 2011, Iba became one of 6 full-time partners in Y Combinator , where he oversaw and participated in numerous investments in startup companies.[ 6] [ 17] [ 18] [ 19] [ 20] In 2013, Iba left Y Combinator to found PayGarden , an alternative payments company borne out of insights he gleaned as an investor in various online merchants.[ 21] [ 22]
References
^ "Battlecode Hall of Fame" . Battlecode. Archived from the original on 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-04-10 .
^ Plafke, James. "Battlecode is a competition where AIs fight each other in an RTS" . geek.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2015-04-10 .
^ Lin, Kathy. "Team CDG Takes First In Programming Contest" . The Tech.
^ Livingston, Jessica. "AppJet Takes Off" .
^ Lyle Troxell (6 June 2009). "Etherpad with Aaron Iba" (Podcast). GeekSpeak.
^ a b Tan, Garry. "Welcome Garry and Aaron" . YCombinator Official Blog.
^ Tiku, Nitasha (25 January 2012). "Are Y Combinator's Newest Ventures Partners Another Sign That the Coder Is King?" . New York Observer.
^ "Notable Founder Profile" . AngelList.
^ Mangalindan, JP. "Y Combinator's Paul Graham: Get a co-founder" . Fortune.
^ Arrington, Michael (19 November 2008). "Etherpad Shows Google Docs How It's Done" . TechCrunch.
^ Walling, Steven (2 June 2009). "AppJet's EtherPad: The Demo That Ate the Company" . ReadWrite.
^ Kincaid, Jason (4 December 2009). "Confirmed: Google Acquires AppJet, The Maker Of EtherPad" . TechCrunch.
^ Vascellaro, Jessica. "Apple, Google Rivalry Heats Up" . The Wall Street Journal.
^ Shankland, Stephen. "Google acquires EtherPad online collaboration tool" . CNET.
^ Perez, Juan (4 December 2009). "Google buys collaboration app to boost Wave" . InfoWorld.
^ Bradley, Tony. "Google Redefines 'Real-Time' Collaboration with AppJet Purchase" . PCWorld.
^ Geron, Tomio. "Clever Raises $3M Seed To Turn On Technology In Schools" . Forbes .
^ Taft, Darryl. "Open-Source Startup Meteor Gets $11.2M from Andreessen Horowitz" . eWeek.
^ "How Y Combinator's powerful alumni network operates" . Fast Company.
^ Stross, Randall (2012). The Launch Pad: Inside Y Combinator . p. 64 . ISBN 978-1591845294 .
^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (27 November 2013). "Paygarden's Platform Lets You Finally Redeem Those Unused Gift Cards For Good And More" . TechCrunch.
^ "Aaron Iba: Executive Profile" . Bloomberg Business.