Fundraising Fox

Ross Buhrdorf

Unicorn founder

CEO at Zenbusiness

Austin, Texas, United States

FoundedZenbusiness$1.7B

About

Ross Buhrdorf is the CEO and co-founder of ZenBusiness, a public benefit corporation focused on small business formation. He was previously the founding CTO of HomeAway (NASDAQ: AWAY), which he helped guide from startup through its IPO and a $3.9 billion acquisition by Expedia, overseeing more than 25 acquisitions; he received the Austin Technology Council's CTO of the Year award in 2011 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Gulf South) in 2023. He is a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute and the author of a forthcoming book, Fear Is a Liar.

CEO at Zenbusiness

Intro paths

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In turn, Ross can intro founders to Zenbusiness's investors below.

Zenbusiness's investors · 19

Amplify.LALos Angeles · $500K – $5M checks · since 2020ATX Venture PartnersAustin · $250K – $5M checksBreyer CapitalAustin · $500K – $10M checksCathay InnovationParis · $5M – $40M checks · since 2022Cleveland AvenueChicago · $1M – $10M checksFlucas VenturesJupiter · $100K – $5M checksFluent VenturesMill Valley · $250K – $2M checksGeekdomSan Antonio · $50K – $500K checksGreatPoint VenturesSan Francisco · $250K – $20M checksGreycroftNew York · $100K – $5M checks · since 2021Gutbrain VenturesBostonInterlock PartnersDallas · $1M – $5M checksLerer HippeauNew York · $500K – $2M checksmark vcAustinOak HC/FTStamford · since 2022Omega Venture PartnersSilicon ValleyPTB VenturesNew YorkRosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checksSoftBank Vision FundLondon

Co-founders at Zenbusiness

SHShanaz Hemmati
Shanaz HemmatiFounder

Experience

  1. ZenBusiness Inc.CEOcurrent2016 — presentAustin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  2. American National Bank of TexasBoard Membercurrent2015 — presentDallas-Fort Worth Metroplex
  3. Santa Fe InstituteMember of the Board of Trusteescurrent2012 — presentAlbuquerque-Santa Fe Metropolitan Area
  4. Capital FactoryPartner / Mentor / Investorcurrent2012 — presentAustin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  5. BookabachMember Board of Directors2013 — 2015New Zealand
  6. HomeAway.comChief Technology Officer2005 — 2015Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  7. Nuve,IncBoard Member2013 — 2015Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  8. Between Markets IncVP Development2004 — 2005
  9. SalionCTO / VP Development at Salion, Inc2000 — 2004Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  10. ExciteVP of Engineering at Excite@Home1997 — 2000
  11. Hal Computers (purchased by Fujitsu)Software Engineering Manager1991 — 1996Austin, Texas Metropolitan Area
  12. Tandem ComputersSoftware Engineer1987 — 1991
  13. Data General (bought by EMC)Software Engineer1985 — 1987

Skills & more

Team Leadership2Management19Technical Leadership7Team Building13Agile Methodologies28Enterprise Software60Web Applications16Software Development82Start-ups66E-commerce23Product Management36REST7
+12 moreSoftware EngineeringScalabilityCloud ComputingWeb DevelopmentIntegrationArchitecturesCRMSaaSArchitectureLinuxSubversionApache

Languages Java, python, C, C++, Fortran, Pascal, Lisp...

From Ross's professional profile.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Ross Buhrdorf?
Ross Buhrdorf is the CEO and co-founder of ZenBusiness, a public benefit corporation focused on small business formation. He was previously the founding CTO of HomeAway (NASDAQ: AWAY), which he helped guide from startup through its IPO and a $3.9 billion acquisition by Expedia, overseeing more than 25 acquisitions; he received the Austin Technology Council's CTO of the Year award in 2011 and EY Entrepreneur of the Year (Gulf South) in 2023. He is a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute and the author of a forthcoming book, Fear Is a Liar.
Where does Ross Buhrdorf work?
Ross Buhrdorf is CEO of Zenbusiness.
What companies did Ross Buhrdorf found?
Ross Buhrdorf founded Zenbusiness.
Where did Ross Buhrdorf go to school?
Ross Buhrdorf studied at The University of Texas at Austin (Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science).

Same school

Also attended The University of Texas at Austin558

Michael DellFounder & CEO of Dell TechnologiesViswa SankaranarayananVenture Partner at Monta Vista CapitalTodd KleinManaging Partner, Revolution Growth at RevolutionSapna MehtaInvestor at RevolutionAnish AggarwalInvestor at LightbankAndrew ScottSenior Finance Manager at Greycroft

+ 552 more

Shared employers

Also worked at ZenBusiness Inc.9

Matt StreisfeldGeneral Partner at Oak HC/FTChris ShonkPartner and Co-Founder at ATX Venture PartnersJeff WilliamsManaging Partner at Interlock PartnersSimon WuPartner at Cathay InnovationAlexandre LazarowManaging Partner at Fluent VenturesMikeVenture Advisor at Ranch Ventures

+ 3 more

Also worked at Excite3

George BellPartner at Archer Capital GroupThijn van HelvoirtPartner at No Such VenturesLawrence KosickExecutive Officer, Director at GetSetUp

Also worked at Hal Computers (purchased by Fujitsu)34

Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at GreylockVaibhav NadgaudaManaging Partner at Moneta VenturesAasim HasanManaging Partner at Moneta VenturesDenise FerrePartner & CFO at Moneta VenturesBrent KeltonPartner & Texas Leader at Moneta VenturesAshu BhallaPartner at Moneta Ventures

+ 28 more

Also worked at Tandem Computers353

Ben HorowitzCo-founder & General Partner at Andreessen HorowitzBill GurleyGeneral Partner Emeritus at BenchmarkSteve JurvetsonCo-founder of Future VenturesAna AndreescuInvestor at Index VenturesMike VolpiInvestor at Index VenturesZhenyu TangInvestment Director at Intel Capital

+ 347 more