BookFresh Company Information

Company History

BookFresh.com got its start in 2007 when Ryan Donahue, a former product designer at PayPal, noticed that there were thousands of software solutions to help a person sell a product from a website, but virtually no solutions existed for those wishing to sell a service. Ryan set out to address this underserved market by developing a user-friendly, online scheduling and lead generation service specifically for the millions of small business owners who provide services for a living. After a period of perfecting the technology, Ryan launched HourTown.com in March 2008. Shortly after launching, Ryan was joined by technologists Scott Edwards and Matt Rowe, completing the founding team and positioning the company for success. In June 2009, the name of the service was changed to BookFresh.com.

Founders

Ryan Donahue, Founder and CEO
As a founding member of the PayPal design and user research group, Ryan played a key role in defining the customer experience for many of PayPal's most successful products. His accomplishments included the design of PayPal's Merchant Services, a product suite which today accounts for more than one billion dollars in annual revenue. He has more than 10 years of experience in the design of consumer Internet applications and a strong track record in developing tools that help to bridge the gap between technology and small business owners. Ryan grew up in Northern California and graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon in 1997.

Scott Edwards, Co-Founder
Scott is a seasoned startup veteran who has worked continuously with Silicon Valley startups since 1995. Over the course of his career, Scott has served a variety of roles including: Senior Professional Services Consultant, Product Manager, Senior Engineer, Architect, and Director of Engineering. Scott has worked with Calico Commerce, On-Link Technologies, Mambo.com, ITM Software, and Teneros. He has a solid track record running engineering teams while staying hands on, and delivering new products and applications. Scott graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of the Pacific with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Matt Rowe, Co-Founder
Technologist and LAMP evangelist; Matt was an early member of Slide.com’s engineering team. He managed the engineering team that built and maintained the functionality for Slide's core applications, which eventually scaled to millions of daily page views. Matt has previous experience building large social networks with Care2.com and custom business-critical software. Before his experience as a web engineer, Matt specialized in bomb-proofing embassies, consulates, and courthouses for the federal government. Matt has three college degrees, including a Master of Science in Structural Engineering.

Investors, Advisors and Confidantes

BookFresh.com is backed by a team of winning investors including: NBC Universal, Baseline Ventures and Hatch Ventures respectively. In addition, BookFresh.com is also fortunate to be aligned with several of Silicon Valley’s most prominent advisors, angel investors and entrepreneurs including:

Ron Conway, SV Angel
Mark Goines, Serial Entrepreneur, Investor
Chad Hurley, YouTube
Jack Selby, Clarium Capital
Claudio Chiuchiarelli, Banyan Securities
Aydin Senkut, Felicis Ventures
Maurice Werdegar, WTI, Serial Entrepreneur and Investor
Katie Burke Mitic, Palm
Scott Mitic, TrustedID
BJ Fogg, Phd., Stanford University
Scott Loftesness, Glenbrook
Michael Dearing, Stanford University
Ann Crady, BabyCenter