Biography:Kim Taylor (entrepreneur)
Kim Taylor | |
---|---|
Born | 1981/1982 (age 41–42)[1] Madison, Wisconsin, US[2] |
Alma mater | Arizona State University |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Kim Taylor is an American entrepreneur.[1] She founded the online college manager company Ranku[3] and the recruitment technology company Cluster, the latter of which she is serving as its CEO.[4]
Career
Taylor attended college at a Marquette University in Wisconsin, during which she spent a year as an NBA dancer with the Milwaukee Bucks which went to the East conference finals.[5][6] She then transferred to Arizona State University to study journalism, during which she covered football games for The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Arizona State in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts,[7][8] and continued working with The Arizona Republic.[5]
In 2008, she was working with an online publisher in Chicago but started having interests in online education.[5] In 2012, she joined the cast of entrepreneurs in the reality television series Start-Ups: Silicon Valley where she worked as an account manager and head of sales for Ampush Media.[9] During the series, she quit Ampush and created a startup business called Shonova which focused on the fashion industry.[10] However, Shonova lasted a few weeks before she gave that up.[5]
In June 2013, Taylor joined Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, a partnership between Kaplan, Inc. and Techstars which hosts, mentors, and funds startup companies in education technology and product innovation for a three-month program in New York City.[11][12] As part of joining EdTech, she co-founded with childhood friend Cecilia Retelle the online degree company Ranku and served as the Chief Executive Officer.[13][14][15] She named it after the Japanese rending of the phrase rank. The goal of the company was to enable non-profit universities that offer online degrees to compete with the larger for-profit online degree companies such as University of Phoenix.[16] Mark Cuban was the lead investor in Ranku.[5][17] Business Insider named Taylor one of “Silicon Alley Top 100 Coolest People In New York Tech” in 2013.[18] In 2016, Ranku was acquired by John Wiley & Sons .[19]
Taylor founded the company Cluster, which aims to help job seekers in the manufacturing industry.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Huspeni, Andrea (October 2, 2013). "How This Young Founder Went From Reality Star to Disruptive Entrepreneur". https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228658.
- ↑ Green, Stanley (November 12, 2013). "Kim Taylor Picks Up A Further $650,000 In Funding For Ranku". https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/11/12/kim-taylor-picks-up-a-further-650000-in-funding-for-ranku/.
- ↑ Newton, Derek (September 26, 2016). "5 Questions with Ranku CEO Kim Taylor". http://edtechchronicle.com/2016/09/5-questions-with-ranku-ceo-kim-taylor/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Newton, Derek (April 19, 2018). "Finding Entrepreneurial Solutions To The Career Education Pipeline Problem". https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereknewton/2018/04/19/finding-entrepreneurial-solutions-to-the-career-education-pipeline-problem/#235a137c1273.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Dickey, Megan Rose (September 27, 2013). "Meet Kim Taylor, The Silicon Alley Star Who Wants To Fix Online Education". https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-kim-taylor-one-of-silicon-alleys-rising-stars-2013-9.
- ↑ Stanger, Melissa (November 2, 2013). "The Sexiest Startup CEOs Alive!". Peoria, Illinois. https://www.pjstar.com/article/20131102/NEWS/311029961.
- ↑ "Kim Taylor". LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimataylor/.
- ↑ Cook, John (April 30, 2014). "This reality TV star and online education expert is moving her Mark Cuban-backed startup from NYC to Seattle". https://www.geekwire.com/2014/reality-tv-star-former-nba-dancer-moving-online-education-company-nyc-seattle/.
- ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (November 16, 2012). "Spoiler Alert: Bravo Reality Star Kim Taylor Quits Her Ampush Media Job To Start A Company". https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-taylor-bravo-startups-silicon-valley-quit-job-to-start-shonova-2012-11.
- ↑ Delevett, Peter (December 24, 2012). "Bravo's 'Start-Ups' gets quiet send-off, but one cast member pronounces it a success.". Bay Area News Group. https://www.mercurynews.com/2012/12/24/bravos-start-ups-gets-quiet-send-off-but-one-cast-member-pronounces-it-a-success/.
- ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (June 18, 2013). "Reality TV Star Kim Taylor Has A New Startup, And It Got Her Into A Top-Notch Accelerator Program". https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-taylor-in-techstars-education-class-2013-6.
- ↑ Messina, Judith (March 10, 2014). "Accelerator's Equity Grab – Pick the Right Platform". Crain's New York Business 30 (10): 16. https://www.crainsnewyork.com/assets/pdf/CN9346438.PDF.
- ↑ "FTC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Upcoming Lead Generation Workshop". Federal Trade Commission (Press release). October 19, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ↑ Wood, Molly (August 27, 2014). "Bringing Tech Culture to the Staid College Quad". https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/technology/personaltech/bringing-tech-culture-to-the-staid-college-quad.html.
- ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose (June 20, 2013). "Ex-NBA Dancer Ditches Fashion Startup And Instead Launches An Online Education Startup". https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-taylors-startup-ranku-2013-6.
- ↑ Delevett, Peter (June 18, 2013). "Kim Taylor of "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley" fame launches new startup - but not in Silicon Valley.". http://www.siliconbeat.com/2013/06/18/kim-taylor-of-start-ups-silicon-valley-fame-launches-new-startup-but-not-in-silicon-valley/.
- ↑ "Mark Cuban's latest venture". September 6, 2013. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2013/09/06/mark-cubans-latest-venture.html.
- ↑ Dickey, Megan Rose; D'Onfro, Jillian (October 24, 2013). "SA 100 2013: The Coolest People In New York Tech". https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-alley-100-2013-2013-10.
- ↑ Costine, Josh (September 15, 2016). "Ranku's eCollege optimizer bought by edtech giant for ~$25 million". https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/15/rankboom/.