Noah Kagan

Noah Kagan is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of AppSumo, a marketplace for software deals that has grown from a weekend experiment into a business generating over $80 million in annual revenue. Kagan began his career at several Silicon Valley technology companies. After earning a degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, he joined Facebook as its 30th employee, contributing to early product development, including status updates, the Facebook ads platform, and the first version of Facebook's mobile app. He was let go after nine months, missing out on significant stock options, and has since described this experience as a defining lesson in his entrepreneurial journey.

After Facebook, Kagan joined Mint.com as its fourth employee and served as marketing director, helping the personal finance platform grow from zero to one million users before its acquisition by Intuit. Drawing on his experience in growth marketing and product development, Kagan launched AppSumo, initially described as a "Groupon for software," with minimal startup costs. The platform quickly gained traction, generating $300,000 in its first year and $3 million in its second. AppSumo has since launched more than 1,000 products and helped over 1.5 million entrepreneurs save more than $550 million on software. Kagan has also founded several other businesses, including Sumo.com, SendFox, KingSumo, and TidyCal, collectively building eight companies that have each reached at least $1 million in revenue.

Kagan is a New York Times bestselling author. His book, "Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way To Launch a Seven-figure Business in a Single Weekend," outlines his approach to rapid experimentation and action-oriented entrepreneurship. He shares business strategies and startup advice through his blog OKDork.com, a weekly newsletter with more than 350,000 subscribers, and the podcast "Noah Kagan Presents," where he interviews entrepreneurs, CEOs, athletes, and public figures. His YouTube channel, with over one million subscribers, provides practical business guidance for startups and solopreneurs.

Kagan is known for his transparency about both successes and failures in the startup world. He has discussed being rejected by Google, fired from Facebook, and building more than 10 startups that did not succeed, framing each experience as valuable data for growth. His philosophy centers on testing ideas quickly, validating before building, and prioritizing decisive action. Through conference appearances, podcast interviews, and digital content, Kagan shares data-driven insights and practical advice with entrepreneurs and business leaders.