The marketing company, Spot Runner, Inc., was cofounded by Nick Grouf in 2005. Prior to working on this endeavor, Nick Grouf successfully developed several other entrepreneurial projects.
Nick Grouf graduated with honors from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later completed a Master of Business Administration at Harvard University. Currently, Mr. Grouf contributes to scholarship funds at both schools to assist students who are interested in Social Entrepreneurship and Public Health.
Nick Grouf held his first post-collegiate job at the preeminent consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he served as a Business Analyst. During his time there, Mr. Grouf worked with some of the largest consumer brands in the world. He also advised clients on Mergers and Acquisitions at Goldman Sachs.
Since 1995, Mr. Grouf has focused his career to Internet technology. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Grouf served as the cofounder, CEO, and Chairman of the Firefly Network. This Internet pioneer helped inspire much of the personalization technology that is available today, such as collaborative filtering. Microsoft later bought the Firefly Network and Firefly’s passport product was integrated into the technology .NET and renamed Microsoft Passport. After the sale of Firefly, he helped oversee privacy at Microsoft.
Mr. Grouf later founded PeoplePC, an Internet service and computer provider that assisted numerous large businesses, such as Ford, Delta Airlines and The New York Times. In 2002, the company was sold to Earthlink, Inc. After the sale, he served as an Executive Vice President for Earthlink prior to working on John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
