The Story of AdMob: How One MBA Dropout Sold His Business to Google for $750 million
Serial entrepreneur Omar Hamoui has spent his career founding and running mobile businesses, some of which have fared better than others. He founded and ran software consulting business Vertical Blue, before mobile photo sharing GoPix Inc., and fotochatter, a mobile photo-sharing social network.
Then came AdMob, one of the first and largest mobile advertising platforms, which Hamoui founded and at which he served as CEO. The company attracted Steve Jobs, who was interested in buying the business in 2009, but Hamoui held out for a better offer which came just a few months later, when he sold AdMob to Google for $750 million. Omar is now Partner at venture capital firm Sequoia Capital in California, where he focuses on mobile investments.
Newnham: What were you like growing up?
Hamoui: I grew up in Central California and was planning on being a doctor. That was the course I was supposed to be taking, but after about sixth grade, my family moved to Southern California and I eventually studied Computer Science at UCLA. I found I really enjoyed both the engineering and business side of the course, and that’s when I started looking at it more as a career path.
