Overview

Gender

male

Investor Type

Angel

Investor Stage

Seed

Richard is Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Whipclip, an app that enables users to share their favorite TV moments.

Prior to Whipclip, Richard co-founded Demand Media and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. With an intense focus on the consumer, and recognized as a champion for innovation in the media industry, he led Demand Media in its mission to publish what the world wants to know and share.

Richard holds a unique vision for the future of online media and was featured in Fortune’s “The 50 Smartest People in Tech” as runner-up for “Smartest CEO” behind Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Prior to founding Demand Media, Richard built, operated and sold several high-profile Internet media companies. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Intermix Media, Inc., and Chairman of Myspace.com. He joined Intermix in March 2004, and led a successful turnaround of its existing businesses. Specifically, he helped grow Myspace.com from an unknown web site into one of the most popular properties on the Internet, leading to the acquisition of Intermix by News Corporation in 2005.

Previously, Richard founded iMALL, one of the first Internet companies to recognize the power of user-generated content, offering users a suite of tools that enabled them to build their own e-commerce stores and conduct transactions online. As Chairman and CEO, he helped orchestrate the sale of iMALL to Excite@Home in 1999.

Richard also previously served as chairman of iCrossing, a leading digital marketing firm acquired by Hearst Corporation in 2010.

A Southern California native, Richard holds a B.A. from UCLA, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and a J.D. from USC Law School.

He has co-lectured a course on new media with Peter Guber at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, and was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the USC Marshall School of Business in 2008.