Parker Conrad

Parker Conrad (born 1980) was the CEO of Zenefits, a cloud-based human resources platform designed to assist with onboarding, payroll, benefits, and vacation tracking.

Early life

Conrad was born in New York City to Ellen Rouse Conrad, a president and founder of the non-profit environmental group the Bedford 2020 Coalition, and Winthrop B. Conrad, Jr., a now retired senior partner at the New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.[1] He attended the prestigious Upper West Side preparatory school The Collegiate School, and spent nearly two years during high school studying the neurobiology of sea snails. This research ultimately won him $20,000 and third place nationally in the Westinghouse Talent Search.[2] Despite this early display of an evident talent for science, Parker admits that his high school grades were generally mediocre.[3]

In the fall of 1998 Conrad began studying at Harvard University, where he served as managing editor of The Harvard Crimson.[4] Conrad cites his time at the paper as an incredibly stressful period that ultimately led to his taking a leave of absence from school. "I was spending all my time at the Crimson, like 70 hours a week and I didn’t go to class for like a year," he told Business Insider in February 2015. "But then I failed out of school. I had to leave Harvard, really halfway through my tenure as the Crimson managing editor. It was this incredibly humiliating and shocking experience." However, Conrad returned to finish his studies one year later, and graduated in 2003 with an AB degree in Chemistry.[5]

Conrad was diagnosed, treated and cleared of testicular cancer at the age of 24.[6]

Career

Conrad's first job out of college was working as a Product Manager for the biotechnology firm Amgen.[7] While at Amgen, Conrad also co-founded a portfolio management startup called Wikinvest (now SigFig) with a friend from college, Mike Sha. However, after a falling out with Sha in 2012, Conrad was forced to leave the company.[8]

Inspired by the recent launch of President Obama's Affordable Care Act and his own experience as a cancer patient, Conrad proceeded to launch his next startup, Zenefits, in September of 2012. The company quickly took off, receiving millions in early funding rounds from top tier venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Institutional Venture Partners.[9] In 2014 Zenefits was named the fastest-growing startup of the year, and its annual recurring revenues continued to grow, from $20 million in 2014 to $100 million in 2015.[10] After only two years of existence, the company had 1,600 employees, 10,000 customers, and a $4.5 billion valuation.[11]

In May 2015, Conrad received notoriety for revoking the job offer of a potential engineer who asked for advice on the question-and-answer website Quora about whether he should accept a job offer from Zenefits or Uber.[12]

In the fall of 2015, Zenefits came under widespread scrutiny for allegedly failing to comply with state health insurance regulations, and was subject to an investigation by the popular media website Buzzfeed.[13] On February 8, 2016, Conrad resigned from Zenefits after revelations that the company used unlicensed brokers to sell health insurance in multiple states.[14]

Recognition

In 2015, Conrad was listed as Number 20 on Fortune's 40 Under Forty list.[15]

Lars Dalgaard, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has said of Conrad: "It’s very compelling to me that someone is that humble...I just loved that personality. It’s a very simpatico attitude."[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Weddings: Alexandra MacRae, Parker Conrad". The New York Times. June 24, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  2. ↑ Somini Sengupta (March 9, 1998). "3 New Yorkers Make Top 10 in Science Competition". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  3. ↑ Julie Bort (February 22, 2015). "The incredible story of Zenefits founder Parker Conrad". Business Insider. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  4. ↑ Farhad Manjoo (February 17, 2016). "Zenefits Scandal Highlights Perils of Hypergrowth at Start-Ups". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  5. ↑ Julie Bort (February 22, 2015). "How a series of humiliating events led to one of the fastest-growing startups EVER". Business Insider. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  6. ↑ Julie Bort (February 22, 2015). "How a series of humiliating events led to one of the fastest-growing startups EVER". Business Insider. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Parker Conrad bio". Crunch Base. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  8. ↑ Farhad Manjoo (September 20, 2014). ""Zenefits’ Leader Is Rattling an Industry, So Why Is He Stressed Out?"". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  9. ↑ Farhad Manjoo (September 20, 2014). ""Zenefits’ Leader Is Rattling an Industry, So Why Is He Stressed Out?"". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ Brian Solomon (December 17, 2014). "How Zenefits Beat Out Uber, Airbnb To Become 2014's Hottest Startup". Forbes. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Parker Conrad, 35". Fortune. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Julie Bort. "The CEO of Zenefits told a prospective employee not to take his job offer — and his reasoning is brilliant". Business Insider. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  13. ↑ William Alden (November 25, 2015). "Startup Zenefits Under Scrutiny For Flouting Insurance Laws". Buzzfeed. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  14. ↑ William Alden (February 8, 2016). "Zenefits CEO resigns after compliance failures". Buzzfeed. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Oh Baby! See ur new 40 Under 40 when they were (reallky) young". Fortune. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Sipek, Sarah. "Parker Conrad's New Zen-sation". Workforce. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
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