Chris Hulls
| Chris Hulls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Education |
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration[1] |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley[2] |
| Occupation | Business Executive, Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder and CEO, Life360[3] |
| Website |
twitter |
Chris Hulls is an American entrepreneur and business executive, best known for being the founder of the family networking app Life360. He has also been attributed with coining the phrase app store optimization.[4]
Early life and education
Hulls grew up in Point Reyes, a popular cape in northern California and began early as an entrepreneur.[5] At the age of 12, he purchased suitcases full of African crafts while on a trip with his family to Kenya.[6] He later sold the crafts when he returned to school. The following year, he used AOL classifieds to sell over $10,000 worth of Beanie Babies.[6] Hulls attended Tomales High School where he graduated a year early, subsequently taking classes at the College of Marin.[5]
Hulls joined the United States Air Force and served out of Qatar. He was a loadmaster on C-130 planes, conducting missions in Pakistan and Afghanistan for delivery of cargo.[5] When his service time was up, Hulls enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley and also became a summer intern with Goldman Sachs.[6] He turned down an offer to work for them full-time, instead enrolling in Harvard Business School and spending his last free summer traveling.[6]
Career
Hulls decided to forgo completing his degree at Harvard to launch Life360, a mobile family networking application that allows families to see each others' locations through password protected networks.[6][7] He came up with the idea during his time as an undergraduate. After seeing the United States Government's Ready.gov initiative that allowed people to find family members in a disaster, Hulls decided to create an easier platform for mobile users.[6] Ready.gov used a system of pre-printed forms that families could print and fill out with a pen, while Hulls decided to make the app a location-based service that worked in real time.[6] Hulls entered the Life360 app into the Android Developer Challenge and won over 3,000 other entries.[6] He received a $275,000 award that he used to pay back prior investments from friends and family as well as hire developers for the app.[8]
Outside of Life360, Hulls has been involved in public speaking and been quoted in numerous publications on various topics.[9][10] He is also widely credited with coining the term App Store Optimization.[4]
References
- ↑ Spangenthal, Jason (22 March 2012). "Chris Hulls". Venture Beat. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ↑ Roush, Wade (28 April 2011). "Life360's Family Safety App RIdes the Wave of Smartphone Adoption - and Parental Fear". Xconomy. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
- ↑ Riddell, Lindsay (5 July 2013). "Making tracks with location-based apps". San Francisco Business Journals. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- 1 2 "Episode 93: This Week In Statups #93 with Chris Hulls". TWIST - This Week In Startups. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- 1 2 3 "COM Alumnus and Entrepreneur Chris Hulls Talks About Life360". College of Marin. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Morell, Katie (28 March 2013). "Chris Hulls of Life360: You Will Never Regret Trying". Open Forum. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ↑ Zimmerman, Eilene (8 February 2012). "Business Owners Adjusting to Overhaul of Patent System". New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ↑ Siegler, MG (28 August 2008). "Android Developer Challenge I winners - nary a big name in sight". Venture Beat. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
- ↑ "Life360 CEO Chris Hulls On How To Win Family On Social". Huffington Post. 8 March 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ↑ DeCanio, Lisa (16 September 2011). "Secret's Out: Boston's Most Successful Startups Share Their Marketing Strategies at #FutureM". Street Wise BostInno. Retrieved 10 July 2014.