About Goodreads
What Is Goodreads?
Goodreads is the largest site for readers and book recommendations in the world. We have more than 7,000,000 members who have added more than 250,000,000 books to their shelves. A home for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads users recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they've read and would like to read, find their next favorite book, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in January 2007.Our Mission
Goodreads' mission is to help people find and share books they love. Along the way, we plan to improve the process of reading and learning throughout the world.Why We Do It
Every once in a while you run into a friend who tells you about this "great new book I'm reading." And suddenly you're excited to read it. It's that kind of excitement that Goodreads is all about.How We Do It
Most book recommendation websites work by listing random people’s reviews. On Goodreads, when a person adds a book to the site, all their friends can see what they thought of it. It’s common sense. People are more likely to get excited about a book their friend recommends than a suggestion from a stranger. We even created an amazing algorithm that looks at your books and ratings, and helps you find other books based on what fellow Goodreads members with similar tastes enjoyed. Ultimately, it’s all based on our foundation of true-blue readers. Our members also create trivia about books, lists of the best books, post their own writing and form groups and book clubs.A Letter from Our Founder
When I was in second grade, I discovered the Hardy Boys series. Ever since, I've loved to read — both for fun and to improve my mind. And I'm always looking for the next great book. Reviews on Amazon and other sites are helpful, but I thought there might be a better way.One afternoon while I was scanning a friend's bookshelf for my next great read, it struck me. When I want to know what books to read, I'd rather turn to a friend than any random person or bestseller list. So I thought I'd build a website — a website where I could see my friends' bookshelves and learn about what they thought of all their books.
Goodreads is that site. It is a place where you can see what your friends are reading and vice versa. You can create "bookshelves" to organize what you've read (or want to read). You can comment on each other's reviews. You can find mind-blowing new books. And on this journey with your friends you can explore new territory, gather information, and expand your mind.
Knowledge is power; and power is best shared among readers.
— Otis Y. Chandler
Who Are We?
Otis Chandler
Otis is the Founder & CEO of Goodreads. He is a software engineer at heart and loves tinkering on the site to make it the best product possible. Before founding Goodreads, Otis was a Software Engineer and Product Manager at Tickle.com. Monster Worldwide, the leading purveyor of online jobs, purchased the company in 2004. Otis graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Along with a passion for building websites, he’s also a voracious reader.
Elizabeth Khuri Chandler
Elizabeth is the co-founder of Goodreads and the Editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter, which has an online circulation of 5.95 million. Previously, she worked at the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine and was the managing editor of Soma Magazine. Elizabeth graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in English (with a focus in creative writing) and a Masters from USC Annenberg in journalism. She's a big fan of old, musty fiction and anything with a bit of whimsy such as Calvino, Dahl, Kafka and Wilde.
Michael Economy
Michael Economy is the Director of Engineering. He worked at Tickle with Otis before that. He graduated from Appalachian State University with a BS in computer science. His favorite authors are William Gibson, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Isaac Asimov. He has a cat named Olivia.
Jessica Donaghy
As Features Editor Jessica is responsible for the Goodreads newsletter, where you can find new books to read, author interviews, and more! She double majored in Human Biology and Drama at Stanford University. Since then she has pursued her interests by working in breast cancer research, theater, opera, and film, and as an editor and teacher. Jessica has a weakness for modern playwrights, science nonfiction, and classically romantic literature, and will read absolutely anything by Margaret Atwood or Tom Stoppard.
David Creechan
David is the Director of Advertising and manages everything ad related on Goodreads.com. This includes working with small independent authors, large publishing houses and everyone in between so they can better promote their books to an engaged audience of book lovers. David has been working in the online ad industry for over 10 years and is still very passionate about the ever-changing digital landscape. He has a BA in Political Science (with a minor in Sociology) from the University of Arizona. When he isn't working you can find David playing ice hockey or hanging out with his dog while reading a good book.
Patrick Brown
Patrick is the Community Manager at Goodreads. He's responsible for all sorts of things, including being a head librarian, working with authors to grow the Author Program, answering member questions, and growing the Goodreads community. Before coming to Goodreads, Patrick was an independent bookseller, working at Book Soup and Vroman's Bookstore. He has a B.A. in Cinema & Media Studies from the University of Chicago and an MFA in film production from USC. Go figure. He likes books that challenge his own world view, as well as books that make him laugh.
Louise Yang
Louise went to Berkeley to study Linguistics.
She also studied CS and picked up some tricks.
When she's not coding, she cooks.
Her shelves are overflowing with books.
If you find a bug, it might be something she'll fix.
She also studied CS and picked up some tricks.
When she's not coding, she cooks.
Her shelves are overflowing with books.
If you find a bug, it might be something she'll fix.
Mayanka McCullough
Mayanka spent many formative hours at the public library and in dusty used bookstores. And if little Mayanka thought those chapter books were difficult, she had no idea about the math, physics, and CS textbooks she'd be slogging through during her undergrad at Caltech. But despite growing up to become a web developer and coder extraordinaire, those overflowing stacks of unread novels are always calling.
Ettore Pasquini
Ettore spends most of his time improving the iPhone app and extending the Goodreads API. He holds a Master's degree in Electronic Engineering from Università Statale of Bologna, Italy. When not coding, Ettore plays keyboards and drums in a very non-virtuosic way, and occasionally thinks about designing the perfect programming language. His favorite authors are James Ballard, P.K. Dick, Indro Montanelli and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Daniel Rekshan
Daniel is a Software Engineer. He studied philosophy through the Great Books curriculum at St. John's college. He then pursued art as the manager of Fire House Gallery, while practicing landscape painting and illustration, see his online portfolio. He jumped into Software Engineering in order to build a website with his brother, a neuroscience researcher. The website lets you document your daily and dream experiences, find connections between them and other users, while contributing to science. Daniel's favorite authors are William Blake, P.K. Dick, and Plato
Kyusik Chung
Kyusik is the VP of Business Development at Goodreads. Prior to joining Goodreads, Kyusik was a co-founder and the CEO of Discovereads, which provided Netflix-like book recommendations based on your personal tastes. Providing those recommendations to the Goodreads community made so much sense, so Goodreads and Discovereads decided to team up. Prior to founding Discovereads, Kyusik was a Product Manager at Zillow.com where he helped create the "Zestimate" valuation engine that predicts over 45 million individual home prices every day. Prior to Zillow, Kyusik was a Lead Program Manager at Expedia. Kyusik likes non-fiction books that investigate the economics behind how our world works and books about crazy mountaineering adventures.
Brian Percival
Brian is Goodreads' Senior Software Architect. In 2009, he took a one-year leave from a PhD program in Electrical Engineering at Stanford to become CTO of Discovereads...a leave that has become permanent now that Discovereads and Goodreads have joined forces. Brian is passionate about using technology to help bibliophiles find books and authors they'll love, whether through algorithms or great social interaction. Before Stanford, Brian worked at Sapient Corporation for 7 years after earning an S.B. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard. For fiction, he prefers literature and humor, while his non-fiction tastes vary widely--though geekana, popular science and Wall Street are a few threads that run through his reading resume. He owes his love of reading to his high school English teacher, Mrs. Gregory, and friend, Sarah F., who both helped him 'snap out of it.'
Misty Gallardo
Misty is the Office Manager for both the San Francisco and Santa Monica offices. She is responsible for human resources, accounting and recruiting. She has had a passion for books since she first learned to read. From middle school through college, Misty has taught hundreds of elementary children the joys of reading. Misty graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education from Occidental College. In her free time she enjoys good movies, hot tea, knitting, and bacon.
Kara Erickson
Kara Erickson is the Customer Care Manager. She has been a bookworm and a fantasy enthusiast since forever, and her favorite authors include Juliet Marillier, Robert Jordan, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Robin Hobb, Elizabeth Peters, and Margaret Mitchell. She spends her free time trying to pull off Food Network recipes, singing in the shower, playing video games, and of course reading! She recently graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in English.
Dan
Dan is the Ad Operations Manager. He's a voracious reader and when he isn't helping to optimize ad buys and inventory he can probably be found working his way through a perpetual stack of must-reads. He's a graduate of the University of Central Florida, and he puts his creative writing degree to use from time-to-time writing stories and novels.
Virgilio Pigliucci
Virgilio is a Software Engineer with a passion for any sport that seems to require a lot of pain and much less glory. In between swimming, biking, running, racing and eating, he tries to keep up with the astonishing number of books that his colleagues seem to voraciously devour. Graduated in Computer Science from the University of Rome La Sapienza and having spent the past few years at Logitech, he is now excited to be part of the Goodreads family.
William Cline
William is a software engineer, new to both Goodreads and San Francisco. Before joining the Goodreads team, his career included four years with the Peace Operations Training Institute working to train United Nations peacekeeping soldiers and staff. He has a B.S. in computer science from the College of William and Mary. William will read just about anything, as evidenced by his hopelessly long “to read” list. His favorite books include Dracula, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, The Lord of the Rings, and A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Abenet Hagos
Abenet is the Account Manager. She is not as voracious of a reader as her colleagues; however, she hopes their love of reading will reconnect her with her favorite past time. With a BA in Marketing from California State University, Northridge she has a peculiar appreciation for infomercials. In her spare time, she likes to watch the Food Network in hopes to hone her nonexistent cooking skills.
Margo Parker
Margo handles Client Services for the Advertising Department at Goodreads. Her love of reading started early. As a kid her mother would take away “reading time” instead of “TV time.” Margo attended San Diego State University where she earned her degree in Communication and a minor in Spanish. Margo loves to travel, read, and most importantly her dog Luna.
Investors
Our investors are a tightly knit group of Internet entrepreneurs with vast experience running successful Web sites:
- True Ventures
- James Currier, founder of Ooga Labs and Tickle.com
- Michael Birch, founder of Bebo.com
- Stan Chudnovsky, cofounder of Ooga Labs and former General Manager & SVP of Tickle.com
- Mike Jones, President of MySpace and founder of Tsavo.com and Userplane
- Chris Michel, founder of Military.com and Affinity labs
- Gil Elbaz, founder of Factual, and Applied Semantics
- John Hering, founder & CEO of Lookout
