Prerna Gupta is an American businesswoman.[1] She currently is the CEO of Telepathic Inc., which developed the smartphone app Hooked.[2] She cofounded several startups focusing on music, dating, and short-stories. In 2011, she was named one of the most influential women in technology by the Fast Company magazine.[3]
Early life and education
Prerna Gupta was born c. 1981/1982[4] to Dr. Sudhir and Shikha Gupta, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[5] Her parents were Indian-American immigrants.[6]
In 1999, Gupta won the title of Miss Asia Oklahoma at a beauty pageant.[7][8] She also was mistress of ceremonies at Brad Henry's inauguration, the governor of Oklahoma in 2003;[7][8] she had met his wife, Kim Henry, in one of her high school history classes.[1] Gupta graduated with a degree in economics from Stanford University in 2004, earning the Phi Beta Kappa honor.[9] While at Stanford, Gupta joined Kappa Alpha Theta.[10]
Career
Gupta's first job out of college was at the Monitor Group in San Francisco, a strategy consulting practice.[3] In 2006, she and her husband moved to Atlanta, Georgia[8] and created a dating site for young Indians called Yaari.[5] Gupta grew the site to two million users before moving to her second venture.[3]
In 2009, the couples started an app company called Khush[11][12][13] which developed an iPhone app called LaDiDa creating background music to a user's singing.[3] It became one of the most downloaded free music apps.[4] The company also developed the app Songify.[14] Khush was acquired by Smule in December 2011.[12][15] After the acquisition, Gupta became the Chief Product Officer at Smule,[16] staying there until 2013.[2] She also became involved in angel investing.[9]
After leaving Smule, Gupta went on a road trip and started writing a book,[17] a fiction piece that took place in a futuristic Silicon Valley.[18] Abandoning the book, she and her husband created Telepathic Inc. and an app called Hooked where users share 1,000-word pieces of fiction.[2][17] By 2017, Hooked was one of the most popular apps on the iTunes store.[1] In 2018, the company released its first feature-length story.[19]
