Jonathan Kaplan
| Jonathan Kaplan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
| 🏳️ Nationality | American |
| 💼 Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | the Flip Video camera |
| Twitter= | |
Jonathan Kaplan (born 1968) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairperson and CEO of Pure Digital Technologies and the developer of its Flip video camera. In 2009, Kaplan sold Pure Digital Technologies to Cisco for $590 million in stock. He became Cisco's senior vice president and general manager of consumer products and then launched a new company based in San Francisco; a grilled cheese sandwich chain called The Melt.
Kaplan grew up in Long Island, New York, and has a Bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a co-founder and chairperson of EducationSuperHighway, and created a fund at the college to help graduates succeed as entrepreneurs.
Early life and education[edit]
Kaplan was born in 1968[1][2] and grew up in Long Island, New York.[3][4][5] He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 1990. During his senior year at CMU he launched a technology consulting company for magazine publishers.[3][6][7]
Career[edit]
He began his career after college working for Condé Nast Publications in New York City.[3] After moving to San Francisco in 1998, Kaplan built an online entertainment and e-commerce company called KidFlix.com,[8] which was later renamed Family Wonder.[9][3] In 2000 SEGA Corporation purchased the company and Kaplan became president and CEO of Sega.com.[10][7]
Two years later Kaplan founded and became the chairperson and CEO of the consumer electronics company Pure Digital Technologies.[3][1][11] In 2006 the company introduced the Flip Video camcorder, which was successful with sales of over 7 million units.[4]
In 2009 Kaplan sold Pure Digital Technologies to Cisco in an all-stock deal valued at $590 million.[12][6][1] As part of the acquisition, he became senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's consumer products from 2009 until February 2011.[7]
In 2011 Kaplan launched a fast casual restaurant chain called The Melt.[13][5][14] He considered creating a "better food for our kids" grilled cheese restaurant[12][15]even before he developed the flip video camcorder, but put the plan on hold to work out some of the problems involved in creating the business. Finally, after leaving Cisco, he was able to create The Melt. He solicited chef and restaurateur Michael Mina as his business partner, and partnered with the Swedish home-appliance maker Electrolux to create a machine that could produce uniform grilled cheese sandwiches.[16] Although Kaplan had hoped to have hundreds of stores within five years, by 2017 The Melt had 18 outlets.[12][17] In 2016 he stepped down as CEO to focus on philanthropy.[3]
Philanthropy and boards[edit]
Kaplan is the co-founder and the chairperson of EducationSuperHighway, a non-profit organization bringing high-speed Internet to every public school in America.[18] He created Carnegie Mellon's Open Field Entrepreneur Fund to help recent CMU graduates become entrepreneurs.[19] He is a trustee of the board at the Culinary Institute of America where he gave the commencement address in 2016.[20]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Summers, Nick (2010-09-20). "How the Flip Camera Changed Video". Newsweek. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "Flip camera founder's next act: cheeseburgers?". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Jonathan Kaplan". Tepper Magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Entrepreneur Bets On Happiness With Grilled Cheese". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Tech's next industry trend: Grilled cheese?". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Vance, Ashlee (2009-03-20). "A Tiny Camcorder Has a Big Payday". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Tuna, Cari (2011-02-11). "Head of Cisco's Consumer Business to Depart". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "MovieStreet Launches KidFlix.com - InternetNews". www.internetnews.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Company, Tampa Publishing. "Venture capital exodus speeds Internet failures". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Hong, Quang. "Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Enzer, Georgina (28 November 2020). "Flip Video creator inspires Dubai Women's College". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "How the Trendiest Grilled-Cheese Venture Got Burnt". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Poletti, Therese. "Tech's next new new thing: grilled cheese". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "The Melt Storms Back with New Menu, Mantra". QSR magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Carr, Austin (2011-06-02). "Will Flip Cam Founder's New Restaurant The Melt Survive The Cutthroat Grilled Cheese Industry?". Fast Company. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ Metz, Rachel (2011-08-29). "Tech veteran flips focus to grilled cheese". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ PYMNTS (2017-06-01). "ResTech Was No Recipe For Success At The Melt". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "Mayor London Breed Announces Partnership to Increase Free Internet Access to Support Distance Learning | Office of the Mayor". sfmayor.org. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "Investing in Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University | CMU". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
- ↑ "The Melt CEO Jonathan Kaplan Tells Graduates at The Culinary Institute of America to "Dream Big"". www.ciachef.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
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