Gokul Rajaram is currently serving as the Product and Business Helper at DoorDash in the San Francisco Bay Area, a role he has held since November 2019. Additionally, Gokul is a Board Member at Coinbase, starting in August 2020, where he is a member of the Compensation Committee and Nomination/Governance Committee. He is also a Board Member at Pinterest, commencing in February 2020, where he serves on the Compensation Committee.
EDUCATION
His professional journey began at Juno, where he was a Technical Lead for Advertising Systems from January 1997 to August 1999. Gokul Rajaram holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, an MS in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His achievements include receiving the President of India’s Gold Medal in 1995 and being honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2020.
CAREER
Furthermore, Gokul Rajaram is a Board Member at The Trade Desk since May 2018, where he is a part of the Compensation Committee, Nomination/Governance Committee, and Audit Committee. He also has a long history as an Investor and Advisor, dating back to January 2008. Gokul has played an instrumental role in several successful exits, including companies like Valtix, Troops, Truebill, Taboola, Digital Ocean, Doximity, Bouncer, DocSend, Poshmark, Pipedrive, EmailAge, PassageAI, Shape Security, PromoteIQ, Vungle, Origami Logic, Strikedeck, Laserlike, Netsil, Mezi, Outward, Neumob, Apteligent, World Golf Tour, MarketShare, AlphaDraft, Hall.com, Freecharge, Spotzot, Songza, Spotsetter, Blink, Opower, Coupons, Inc., and Astrid.
Gokul Rajaram also served as a Board Member at Course Hero from June 2008 to December 2020, where he was a part of the Compensation Committee. He held various roles at Square, including Caviar Lead from November 2014 to October 2019 and Register Lead from July 2013 to November 2014. He also served as a Board Member at RetailMeNot, Inc. from September 2013 to May 2017, and during his tenure, RetailMeNot was acquired by Harland Clarke in May 2017.
Earlier in his career, Gokul Rajaram gained significant experience at Facebook, serving as Product Director for Ads from August 2010 to July 2013. He also co-founded Chai Labs and served as its CEO from January 2008 to August 2010, a company that was acquired by Facebook and provided NLP/summarization technology to publishers.
Gokul Rajaram served as a Board Member at Associated Content from November 2009 to May 2010, and Associated Content was subsequently acquired by Yahoo in May 2010. He also had a notable tenure at Google, where he held various roles in product management from January 2003 to November 2007.
MORE INFORMATION
In the past year, Square has witnessed the departure of several high-ranking executives, but it is also actively compensating for these losses with significant new hires.
One notable addition to the Square team is Gokul Rajaram, widely recognized as the “Godfather of AdSense,” who is making the transition from Facebook. At Facebook, he held the position of product director of ads and was responsible for driving the company’s aggressive efforts in monetization, particularly through the enhancement of mobile ad units.
In his new role at Square, Gokul Rajaram will oversee Square Register, the company’s point-of-sale system designed to empower small and medium-sized businesses through the use of tablets and smartphones. In a statement, he expressed his enthusiasm for Square’s mission-driven approach and dedication to helping businesses thrive.
Gokul Rajaram’s association with Facebook began when his startup, Chai Labs, was acquired by the social media giant in August 2010. Prior to this, he played a pivotal role in the development of Google’s AdSense network, showcasing his extensive experience in the tech industry.
While Square has experienced recent departures of key figures, such as COO Keith Rabois and other senior personnel like Jared Fliesler, who have ventured into the world of venture capital, Gokul Rajaram’s addition represents a significant win for the company. Square has been actively shaping its strategy for the future and has made other strategic hires, including Francoise Brougher from Google as Business Lead in April, as well as the appointment of former U.S. trade representative Demetrios J. Marantis to lead international government, regulatory, and policy work.
It’s worth noting that Gokul Rajaram is not the only core member of Facebook’s Ads team to depart recently. Antonio Garcia-Martinez, who served as the product director of Facebook’s retargeted ads program FBX, left in April and has since announced his move to join Facebook adtech partner Nanigans.
