INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pinterest is bringing on a new board member
The company announced today it has appointed Gokul Rajaram, Caviar lead at soon-to-go-public DoorDash, to its board of directors and as a
member of its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The addition signals Pinterest desire to bring more digital advertising expertise to its board, given Rajaram experience as product director
of Ads at Facebook and product management director at Google AdSense.
Gokul brings great experience and innovation to our Board and we look
forward to his many contributions,& said Pinterest CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann, in a statement
&His proven track record in shopping, digital advertising and content will be incredibly beneficial as we continue to bring inspirational
experiences to users and advertisers on Pinterest,& he added.
Currently, Rajaram serves on DoorDash executive team where he leads the
premium food ordering service, Caviar, which DoorDash acquired from Square last year for $410 million
The Caviar deal included Rajaram and team, in addition to the service restaurant partnerships
At Square, Rajaram spent five years heading Caviar and before that, had led several product development teams.
Rajaram background also
includes time at Facebook and Google, where he focused on digital ads
At Facebook, he helped the company transform its ads business to become mobile-first
And at Google, he helped launch the Google AdSense product and grow it into a substantial portion of Google business, Pinterest notes.
Other
relevant experience includes time on RetailMeNot board, as well as an investor and advisor to numerous startups, including those that
intersected retail/e-commerce, analytics and social — like Pinterest-focused Piquora, mobile ad company Vungle, retail advertising startup
PromoteIQ and many others.
Today, Rajaram additionally serves on the boards of The Trade Desk and Course Hero.
Rajaram has a bachelor degree
in Computer Science Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur where he was class valedictorian
He received an MBA from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Master of Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin,
where he received the MCD University Fellowship.
His addition to Pinterest board comes at a time when the company ad business is
growing.
Earlier this month, Pinterest reported revenues for 2019 had topped $1 billion, up 51% over 2018
In the fourth quarter alone, Pinterest saw $400 million in revenue, up 46% year-over-year, and beating analyst forecasts of $371.2 million
Feed-based Shopping Ads contributed heavily to this growth, with the ads more than doubling in the second half of 2019 compared with the
Pinterest also said its investment in measurement tools had been paying off
In Q4, conversion campaigns — which let advertisers track from pin clicks to actions, like adding items to a cart — grew by 150%.
The
company said during earnings that scaling its ads business would continue to be a strategic priority in 2020, as it looks to capture more
mid-size and international advertisers and make the service more shoppable.
Pinterest is a beloved brand that inspires people to create a
life they love,& said Gokul Rajaram, about his board appointment
&I&ve always been excited about Pinterest mission and impact on people everyday lives, and am thrilled to help Ben, Evan, and the team
continue building amazing products that empower people and advertisers around the world,& he said.
Rajaram joins other Pinterest board
members Jeffrey Jordan, GP at Andreessen Horowitz; Leslie Kilgore, previously Netflix CMO; BVP partner Jeremy Levine; Fredric Reynolds,
previously CFO at CBS; Michelle Wilson, previously from Amazon legal; and Pinterest co-founders Evan Sharp and Ben Silbermann.
