Idealab
Bill Gross started Idealab in 1996 to create and operate pioneering technology companies. The structure of Idealab has allowed us to test many ideas at once and turn the best of them into companies, attracting the human and financial capital necessary to bring them to market. Many of these companies were among the first to introduce new business ideas to the market. CitySearch, now a part of IAC, established the category of local online community directories. eToys demonstrated the tremendous potential for online consumer retail and became one of the most recognized brands during the early days of e-commerce. Overture Services, which began life as GoTo.com, was the first company to introduce the concept of paid search — the business model that powers the multibillion-dollar online search market. Idealab continues to explore a range of technology frontiers. New models for improving the search experience are at the core of several companies currently growing inside of Idealab. Moving beyond the Internet, we have spawned companies with breakthrough technologies in robotics, renewable energy and automotive design and production among others. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies. In addition to capital, Idealab provides a full range of resources to infuse start-ups with the support they need to rapidly introduce innovative products and services. Resources include office space and the accompanying office services, development and technology, product and graphic design, marketing, financial advice, human resources, competitive research, legal, accounting and business development support and services. In addition, Idealab provides advice on strategy, branding and corporate structure.www.idealab.com
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Search complete. 22 mentions across 7 episodes found for "Idealab".
Oct 22, 2026
Jason HowellHOST
The
Jeff JarvisHOST
other thing to mention real quickly, if we can go to line 120, my friend Bill Gross is the creator of Idealab, which is an amazing company.
Jeff JarvisHOST
I should have given you a guess, like, oh, good, you got it.
Jeff JarvisHOST
You can see it.
Jeff JarvisHOST
So Bill Gross' Idealab, he has started more than 150 companies.
Jeff JarvisHOST
And Bill called me a few weeks ago and he said, you wouldn't think that mathematicians would be on the firing line of AI.
Jeff JarvisHOST
You wouldn't think that an entrepreneur like Bill would be.
Jeff JarvisHOST
He gives that entity angel funding, 50,000, 100,000, you know, minor funding.
Louis MarescaHOST
I'm not sure if Leo dropped it in here.
Louis MarescaHOST
Idealab.ai?
Jeff JarvisHOST
I did put that in there.
Jeff JarvisHOST
It's a friend of mine, Bill Gross.
Jeff JarvisHOST
really interesting.
Jeff JarvisHOST
So Bill Gross is a phenomenal entrepreneur.
Jeff JarvisHOST
He started Idealab, where he has created more than 175 companies.
Jeff JarvisHOST
Wow.
Louis MarescaHOST
I'm not sure if Leo dropped it in here.
Louis MarescaHOST
Idealab.ai?
Jeff JarvisHOST
I did put that in there.
Jeff JarvisHOST
It's a friend of mine, Bill Gross.
Jeff JarvisHOST
really interesting.
Jeff JarvisHOST
So Bill Gross is a phenomenal entrepreneur.
Jeff JarvisHOST
He started Idealab, where he has created more than 175 companies.
Jeff JarvisHOST
Wow.
Andrew KeenHOST
So, Bill, what's happening today? Well, today we're launching
Bill GrossGUEST
Idealab.ai, and we've come up with a way to develop 1.2 million and growing really powerful business ideas, and we're giving them away to the world because we think this can have the biggest positive impact.
Bill GrossGUEST
And it's using AI to create jobs, not destroy jobs, and it's also giving a lot of people hope because I'm really hopeful myself that this can lower the bar for entrepreneurship and give a lot of people a chance to take their passion, find their purpose, and really build something fantastic.
Andrew KeenHOST
So tell me the story of this.
8 MINS LATER
Bill GrossGUEST
And I also think this can help in a lot of regions in the world, Global South, Africa, Middle East, where there's a lot of youth, a lot of energy, but not quite the organizational structure to help them figure out exactly what problem should I be working on and how can I solve something maybe for my region or for the cohort of people that I really care about.
Bill GrossGUEST
So I really think this can play in democracy and in really helping the economy everywhere.
Andrew KeenHOST
You founded Idealab in the 90s during the dot-com boom.
Andrew KeenHOST
We're in a, some people think at least an equivalent AI boom.
Zibby OwensHOST
I launched the Vera Wang fragrance at Unilever.
Zibby OwensHOST
I worked in marketing at Idealab in Pasadena.
Zibby OwensHOST
None of those things were your
Maria ShriverGUEST
dreams.
Andrew AllemannHOST
What was the one back in the...
Andrew AllemannHOST
Idealab back in the day that had GoTo, they started the whole pay-per-click market, and a bunch of others.
Andrew AllemannHOST
You're doing this by seeding it with these fantastic domain names.
Rick SchwartzGUEST
Well, yeah.
Zibby OwensGUEST
Then the internet exploded.
Zibby OwensGUEST
Next thing I knew, I was launching all these different companies from inside an internet incubator called Idealab, which was so much fun because every month it felt like we launched a new business and I was a marketing resource for everybody launching, which was really like a dream job for me.
Zibby OwensGUEST
I worked at Unilever launching the Vera Wang fragrance after that.
Zibby OwensGUEST
And then I went to business school because I kept coming up with these ideas to do everything.