Sergey Petrossov
Sergey Petrossov is a successful businessman and entrepreneur with experience in founding several tech startups. He is most notably linked to the evolution and modernization of the private jet travel industry. Upon founding JetSmarter, he revolutionized the private jet booking process through a mobile app, making it easier for customers and private jet operators to communicate and connect. Furthermore, it brought efficiency and superior utilization to the industry. JetSmarter was acquired by Vista Global in 2019, and has flown over 200,000 passengers since inception in 2012.
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| Native name | Sergey Petrossov |
| Born | Moscow, Russia |
| 🏡 Residence | Fort Lauderdale, FL |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Russian |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Florida |
| 💼 Occupation | Founder and CEO, JetSmarter |
| 📆 Years active | 2011-Present |
| 🌐 Website | https://jetsmarter.com/about/sergey-petrossov/ |
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Early Life[edit]
Born in Moscow, Petrossov relocated to the United States with his family at the age of four. He initially resided in California and later moved to Florida, where he continues to live today.
Education
After graduating from high school, Petrossov studied finance at the University of Florida. He graduated in 2009. While working toward his degree, he co-founded his first tech company.
Career[edit]
Early Professional Life
Petrossov's entrepreneurial endeavors began during college when he co-founded a professional chat service known as LiveChat. LiveChat integrated audio and video features for enhanced customer support. This initial venture provided him with technology experience, which inspired him to explore other tech business opportunities.
His second startup business, S21, later know as the Federal System of Distance Education, provided a cloud based distance learning software for schools and universities and saught to launch it in Eastern Europe. It was deployed in a number of Russian higher education institutions.
In 2009 Petrossov came in contact with private aviation and served as a board advisor to a private jet operator based in South Florida who at the time had the world’s largest on-demand Gulfstream charter fleet. He hated the brick and mortar approach to booking charter and saw the industry as the last multi-billion-dollar travel frontier that has not gone online.
JetSmarter
In 2012, Petrossov founded JetSmarter, his most successful entrepreneurial endeavor to date, which is often called the Uber of private jet travel. His experience as a passenger on private jets inspired him to innovate a change to what he viewed as an archaic industry. Petrossov noticed that many private jets were not fully utilized, which created inefficiency and underutilized resources. He also realized that the booking process was frustratingly outdated. He applied his entrepreneurial and technological expertise to create a mobile platform for private jet booking, which became JetSmarter. This mobile platform brought much-needed modernization that benefited passengers and operators alike.
Petrossov connected with numerous experts, developers, and vendors with whom he had worked at his previous tech startups as he created a beta version of the JetSmarter app. He released the beta version in August 2012 to a select group of frequent private jet flyers. By March 2013, the app was available and in high demand in markets around the world.
JetSmarter has been used by over 200,000 passengers and was backed by numerous strategic and institutional investors. Its mission was to make private air travel more accessible and convenient to all travelers. In 2019 it was successfully acquired by Vista Global, the world leader in private aviation solutions.
Today, JetSmarter is apart of the Vista Global family and its technology and products are incorporated throughout the group. In the years to come millions of flyers will experience private aviation due to JetSmarter’s technology, making its initial vision a reality.
Honors and Achievements
In 2016, Petrossov was named in the Forbes "30 Under 30: Consumer Tech" list. The Sun-Sentinel also honored him as South Florida's "Top Working Professional."
