Entrepreneur of the Year Nominee
Alex Algard
Founder and CEO, WhitePages.com
Seattle - WA US
Alex Algard is a true entrepreneur. His companies – WhitePages.com and CarDomain.com – are born from his passions. Both are thriving businesses in Seattle. Both survived the dotcom bust – no small feat!
As a Stanford University graduate student, Algard was frustrated by his inability to track down an old friend: he wasted time on Internet searches and wasted money calling 411. He created a better, less costly way to access directory assistance information.
WhitePages.com began as a dorm-room hobby. In 1997 he purchased the domain name and went live as online phone directory. It caught on like wildfire. By the end of 2000 more than one million people used WhitePages.com each month, prompting Algard to incorporate it and sell online advertising.
Under his leadership, the company has been profitable since 2000, and earned more than $52 million in 2006. Today it is the 41st most trafficked Website used by more than 23 million people each month. It powers 150 million searches monthly!
Algard founded CarDomain in 1998 as an online destination for automotive enthusiasts. It’s one of the earliest Web 2.0 companies, with a focus around online communities. Alex has served as chairman and CEO at CarDomain; today he’s Chief Car Enthusiast.
Comments
Alex is an energizing force to work with. His energy and passion challenge me to step up, think out of the box, challenge the status quo and voice my opinions and ideas. I feel empowered to create and execute on my vision for my department and for the organization.
Deborah Huyer - Seattle, WashingtonAlex is very passionate about products and the user experience. He has good intuition about what customers want and is not afraid to make big bets in order to provide it to them.
Henry - Seattle, WALove WhitePages.com and use is regularly for personal and business use. I find it to be much more accurate than some of the smaller competitiors.
David Salamoan - New YorkIn the dictionary the definition of entrepreneur should include Alex Algard as an example. He is passionate about building meaningful and sustainable businesses that bring value to people's lives. He loves challenges and attacks them with vigor.
Derek Netelenbos - Medina, WAGreat example of an internet pioneer!
Jason, Zoomingo.com - IndianaWhitePages.com offers an excellent service to millions of users!
S.S. - Seattle, WAI use WhitePages.com everyday. It's amazingly helpful!
Amanda Chagoya - North Reading, MAI can certainly appreciate a founder who builds a company based on a market need he personally encountered. Kudos on keeping it thriving!
K.A. - San Francisco, CAAlex is the perfect example of how to be a successful entrepreneur .
M. Reingold - San Francisco, CAWho are the other nominees, again?
-A very user-friendly site...you can find results easily and its free too!
Jenn Appel - CanadaExcellent! I use it all the time and it's very accurate.
DOC - MAAn extraordinary entrepreneur!!
C.Y. - Seattle, WAWhitepages has some of the brightest and most motivated employees around.
Neil Dahmen - Seattle, WAI have worked with Alex for many years at WP and can say he is the epitome of an entrepreneur. Passionate, resourceful, "scrappy" and extremely customer oriented.
Max Bardon - Seattle, WAI know Alex and have seen him grow this business over the past 10 years. He is brilliant, tenacious, and has boundless integrity.
Geoffrey Arone - Menlo Park, CAAlex is a visionary pioneer. He is consistently ahead of his competitors and I'm eager to see what he does next.
James C. - Palo Alto, CAAmazing to have thrived throughout and after the dotcom bust - well done!
Greg Nerpouni - San Francisco, CAHelpful and always my first choice for info but sometimes it just doesn't give enough...Thanks.
Rob Parrish - San Diego, CA
