Overview

Gender

male

John Roa is a lifelong entrepreneur, technologist, philanthropist, business investor, and writer. He has founded and managed six technology companies since learning to program at age 11. His largest company, ÄKTA, went on to be one of the fastest growing companies in America in both 2013 and 2014, and was fully acquired by Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM) in September 2015.

“A Practical Way to Get Rich, and Die Trying”, Roa’s memoir on his meteoric rise, and subsequent crash, as the CEO of ÄKTA was released in September 2020 (Viking / Penguin Random House).