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Mark Pincus
Mark Jonathan Pincus (born February 13, 1966) is an American Internet entrepreneur known as the founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company. Pincus also founded the startups Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and Support.com. Pincus was the CEO of Zynga until July 2013, then again from 2015 to 2016.
Pincus was named 2009 "CEO of the Year" at The Crunchies technology awards and a year later was named Founder of the Year at the 2010 ceremony. Zynga is considered to be the pioneer of the social gaming industry. In 2011, Zynga went public with a $1 billion initial public offering. Pincus co-founded Reinvent Capital in 2018, an investment firm, with Reid Hoffman and hedge fund manager Michael Thompson. He co-created the Stanford Graduate School of Business course on Product Management with Professor Amir Goldberg.
Pincus' family lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. He is the son of Donna (née Forman) and Theodore Pincus, and is Jewish. His father was a business columnist and public relations adviser to CEOs and politicians, and his mother was an artist and architect.
Pincus attended Francis W. Parker School from kindergarten through 12th grade and graduated in 1984. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania earned in 1988 and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he founded the Communications Club with Sherry Coutu.
Before he became an entrepreneur, Pincus worked in venture capital and financial services for six years. After graduating from Wharton, Pincus spent two years working as an analyst in the New Media Group at Lazard Freres & Co. After that time, he moved to Hong Kong, where he was a Vice President for Asian Capital Partners for two years.
He returned to the United States in order to attend Harvard Business School (HBS) where he was a contemporary of Chris Hohn, Guy Spier and Chris Shumway. He graduated in 1993 and also spent a summer as an associate for Bain & Co. in 1992.
After Pincus graduated from Harvard Business School, he took a job as a manager of corporate development at Tele-Communications, Inc., which is now AT&T Cable. A year later, he joined Columbia Capital as vice president, where he led investments in new media and software startups in Washington, D.C. for a year.
In 1995, Pincus founded his first startup, Freeloader, Inc. Freeloader was backed by Fred Wilson and Softbank. The company was acquired seven months after its launch by Individual, Inc., for $38 million. Sean Parker worked as a summer intern at Freeloader when he was 14 years old. He later went on to co-found Napster, and Pincus became Napster's first investor with an investment of $100,000.
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Mark Pincus
Mark Jonathan Pincus (born February 13, 1966) is an American Internet entrepreneur known as the founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company. Pincus also founded the startups Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and Support.com. Pincus was the CEO of Zynga until July 2013, then again from 2015 to 2016.
Pincus was named 2009 "CEO of the Year" at The Crunchies technology awards and a year later was named Founder of the Year at the 2010 ceremony. Zynga is considered to be the pioneer of the social gaming industry. In 2011, Zynga went public with a $1 billion initial public offering. Pincus co-founded Reinvent Capital in 2018, an investment firm, with Reid Hoffman and hedge fund manager Michael Thompson. He co-created the Stanford Graduate School of Business course on Product Management with Professor Amir Goldberg.
Pincus' family lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. He is the son of Donna (née Forman) and Theodore Pincus, and is Jewish. His father was a business columnist and public relations adviser to CEOs and politicians, and his mother was an artist and architect.
Pincus attended Francis W. Parker School from kindergarten through 12th grade and graduated in 1984. He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania earned in 1988 and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he founded the Communications Club with Sherry Coutu.
Before he became an entrepreneur, Pincus worked in venture capital and financial services for six years. After graduating from Wharton, Pincus spent two years working as an analyst in the New Media Group at Lazard Freres & Co. After that time, he moved to Hong Kong, where he was a Vice President for Asian Capital Partners for two years.
He returned to the United States in order to attend Harvard Business School (HBS) where he was a contemporary of Chris Hohn, Guy Spier and Chris Shumway. He graduated in 1993 and also spent a summer as an associate for Bain & Co. in 1992.
After Pincus graduated from Harvard Business School, he took a job as a manager of corporate development at Tele-Communications, Inc., which is now AT&T Cable. A year later, he joined Columbia Capital as vice president, where he led investments in new media and software startups in Washington, D.C. for a year.
In 1995, Pincus founded his first startup, Freeloader, Inc. Freeloader was backed by Fred Wilson and Softbank. The company was acquired seven months after its launch by Individual, Inc., for $38 million. Sean Parker worked as a summer intern at Freeloader when he was 14 years old. He later went on to co-found Napster, and Pincus became Napster's first investor with an investment of $100,000.
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