Bill Gross is the founder of more than 150 companies in the last 30 years with more than 50
successful IPOs and acquisitions, and 7 exits at over $1 billion each. He currently serves as the
CEO of Heliogen, a renewable energy technology company he founded to replace fossil fuels
with sunlight and decarbonize heavy industry. In July 2021, Heliogen announced its $2B SPAC
combination with Athena.
Bill also founded and serves as the chairman of Idealab, the longest-running technology startup
incubator. He is considered the inventor of paid search and the cost-per-click business model.
The company he founded, GoTo.com was acquired by Yahoo for $1.6 billion and later became
the foundation of Google’s search advertising business. Bill has a mechanical engineering
degree from the California Institute of Technology, and has served on the Caltech Board of
Trustees for more than 20 years.