Nationality American Known for CEO of
Apartment List | Occupation Entrepreneur Name John Kobs | |
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Residence San Francisco, California, United States Education Case Western Reserve University Website www.twitter.com/johnkobs | ||
John D. Kobs (born October 24, 1980) is the CEO and co-founder of Apartment List.
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Early life
Kobs was raised in Granger Township, Ohio, and attended Highland Local Schools and graduated in 1999. In high school, Kobs was elected student council president, senior class president and was chosen the Medina County student of the year as a senior by the Medina County Gazette. Kobs was a captain on the football team and suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on October 16, 1998. Kobs also earned the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
Education
Kobs graduated from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH in 2003, earning a bachelor of science in Business Management with a concentration in Finance. Kobs played football and ran indoor and outdoor track for the CWRU Spartans. He was all conference football player in 2000 and 2001. He was awarded the John Anderson award for most valuable underclassman in 2000. In Kobs’ final football game as a Spartan in November 2001, he tied the then school record for points in a game with 24, scoring four touchdowns in a CWRU victory over the University of Rochester. Kobs would miss his entire senior season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, suffered while practicing on June 2, 2002.
Early career
From 2003 to 2005, Kobs worked as an investment banking analyst for KeyBanc Capital Markets in its Equity Services group. From 2005 until 2006, Kobs served as an investment banking analyst in both the technology and healthcare teams in the New York office of Thomas Weisel Partners. From 2006 to 2008, Kobs worked as an associate at TICC Capital Corp., a Greenwich, CT based investment firm specializing in middle market Internet companies and other technology-related businesses.
Apartment List
Kobs left TICC Capital in 2008 to invest in real estate and started his own business, an internal incubator designed to create new concepts and technologies across a range of consumer verticals. Apartment List launched on September 12, 2011 at Techcrunch Disrupt. ApartmentList.com is the fastest growing search engine in the United States. Advisory board members include Scott Ingraham (founder of Rent.com), Simon Rothman (founder of eBay Motors), Brad Stroh (founder of Bills.com), Lee Linden (founder of Karma which was sold to Facebook), Ariel Poler and Denis Grosz. Apartment List has been featured in CBS News, Chicago Sun Times, Curbed Boston, Huffington Post, Inc Magazine, LA Times, Mashable, Mixergy, NBC Bay Area, New York Observer, Pando Daily, SF Chronicle, TechCrunch, The Next Web, Vator News, Venture Beat, Washington Post. Apartment List was named the #108 fastest growing company in 2013 by Inc Magazine. Kobs appeared on CNBC on August 26, 2013.
Community involvement
Kobs sat on the Board of Directors of the Alumni Association of his alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, from 2005 to 2011. Kobs is the co-chairman of the Leadership Council of the Year Up chapter in the San Francisco Bay area.