Bill Nguyen
Encyclopedia
Bill Nguyen is a technology entrepreneur who founded Lala.com
, Color, and Onebox.
Mr. Nguyen founded Seven Networks Inc. in May 2000 and served as its co-Chief Executive Officer until April 2005.
Before founding SEVEN, Mr. Nguyen founded Onebox.com in 1999. It was acquired for $850 million in 1999 by Phone.com (now part of Openwave). Nguyen sold his stake quickly and started Seven, a wireless e-mail firm that claims 1.4 billion accounts
He also co-founded La La Media Inc. in 2005. Apple acquired LaLa in December 2009 for around $80 million (he remains CEO). Lala lets users upload their music collections into the Cloud and stream them anywhere in the world. The service shut down in April 2010 with users getting credits on the Apple iTunes Store. Prior to starting Onebox, Mr. Nguyen served as Vice President of Products at Tioga Systems (now Support.com). He served as Vice President of Products of FreeLoader and headed Business Development and Product Management at the ForeFront Group.
In 2002, he was named to the MIT
Technology Review
TR100
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.
Lala (website)
Lala was an online music store created by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Bill Nguyen. The service allowed members to legally create online shareable "playlists" of their own uploaded music which could play full length songs for other registered Lala members, purchase MP3s, stream music on a one-time...
, Color, and Onebox.
Life
He grew up in Houston, the son of Vietnamese immigrants whom he says he consistently disappointed. They wanted him to score A's. Instead, he scored an unpredictable mix of A's and F's, and earned a 1.4 grade point average in his senior year. He was easily distracted and confused. In middle school, not content to earn money doing the occasional lawn, he had a business renting out his lawn mower to other kids for a cut of their pay. At 16 he moved out of his parents' house to sell cars. He later took classes at Houston Baptist University but never graduated.Career
Mr. Bill Nguyen is a co-founder of Color Labs, Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer.Mr. Nguyen founded Seven Networks Inc. in May 2000 and served as its co-Chief Executive Officer until April 2005.
Before founding SEVEN, Mr. Nguyen founded Onebox.com in 1999. It was acquired for $850 million in 1999 by Phone.com (now part of Openwave). Nguyen sold his stake quickly and started Seven, a wireless e-mail firm that claims 1.4 billion accounts
He also co-founded La La Media Inc. in 2005. Apple acquired LaLa in December 2009 for around $80 million (he remains CEO). Lala lets users upload their music collections into the Cloud and stream them anywhere in the world. The service shut down in April 2010 with users getting credits on the Apple iTunes Store. Prior to starting Onebox, Mr. Nguyen served as Vice President of Products at Tioga Systems (now Support.com). He served as Vice President of Products of FreeLoader and headed Business Development and Product Management at the ForeFront Group.
In 2002, he was named to the MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology Review
Technology Review
Technology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR100
TR35
The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.