Prerna Gupta
Headshot of Prerna Gupta
Born1981 or 1982 (age 41–42)
Shawnee, Oklahoma
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materStanford
OccupationBusinesswoman
SpouseParag Chordia
Websiteprernagupta.com

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 in 2004, earning the Phi Beta Kappa honor.[9]

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[10][11][12] 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.[13] Khush was acquired by Smule in December 2011.[11][14] After the acquisition, Gupta became the Chief Product Officer at Smule,[15] 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,[16] a fiction piece that took place in a futuristic Silicon Valley.[17] 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][16] 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.[18]

Personal life

Gupta married to her husband Parag Chordia on March 16, 2009.[5] She lives in San Francisco, California.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Meacham, Scott (October 31, 2017). "Oklahoma is fine place to launch tech startup, entrepreneur says". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Ha, Anthony (September 17, 2015). "Hooked Is An App For Readers Who Think Fiction Should Be More Like Text Messaging – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Dannen, Chris (January 10, 2011). "The Most Influential Women in Technology 2011 – Prerna Gupta". Fast Company. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Wang, Jennifer (September 5, 2011). "Khu.sh's Prerna Gupta Pioneers High-Tech Music for the Masses". Entrepreneur. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "Chordia Wedding". The Shawnee News-Star. April 12, 2009. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ O’Brien, Sara (June 24, 2015). "15 questions with Prerna Gupta". CNNMoney. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  7. 1 2 Brinkman, Lillie-Beth (November 1, 2011). "Top-ranking social music making app developer Smule acquires Khush". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 Brinkman, Lillie-Beth (April 26, 2010). "LaDIDa, LaDIDa". Oklahoman.com. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  9. 1 2 Chang, Angie. "This Is What An Angel Investor Looks Like – Prerna Gupta". women 2.0. Archived from the original on May 27, 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "Khu.sh's Prerna Gupta Pioneers High-Tech Music for the Masses". NBC News. 2011-09-08. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
  11. 1 2 Graham, Jefferson (December 1, 2011). "Smule snags Songify app creator". Tech. USA Today. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  12. ↑ Anders, George (March 10, 2012). "11 Secrets of Viral Videos". Tech. Forbes. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Eördögh, Fruzsina (9 March 2012). "Prerna Gupta shares her secret viral-video sauce". Daily Dot. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  14. ↑ Samuels, Diana. "Smule to acquire friendly competitor Khush". BizBlog. San Jose Business Journal. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  15. ↑ Craggs, Ryan; Sargent, Joshua (May 9, 2013). "'CineBeat' app by Smule makes music videos". SFGate. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  16. 1 2 Meacham, Scott (November 12, 2017). "Oklahoma entrepreneurs advised to 'follow curiosity'". Tulsa World.
  17. ↑ Fortson, Danny (February 11, 2018). "The app that has younger readers Hooked". Sunday Times.
  18. ↑ Ha, Anthony (October 26, 2018). "Chat fiction startup Hooked unveils Dark Matter, its first feature-length thriller". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  19. ↑ Khanna, Priyanka (October 14, 2020). "Meet the Indian-origin women entrepreneurs laying the foundation of the brands of the future". Vogue India. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
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