December 2004

Congratulations to ZipRealty

The Lester Center extends its hearty congratulations to the ZipRealty team on their successful Initial Public Offering last month (NASDAQ: ZIPR). We take great pride in ZipRealty, which was founded by two graduates of our entrepreneurship program: Scott Kucirek and Juan Mini. In fact, Scott and Juan founded ZipRealty even before they received their MBAs in Spring 1999, earning the distinction of being the first Berkeley MBAs to get venture capital funding for their firm while still in school.

They had spent the previous year developing their business plan within the nurturing confines of the Berkeley Business Incubator, which was founded to help young firms just like Scott and Juan’s. Taking every opportunity that the Center’s entrepreneurship program offers, they then entered their business plan in the inaugural UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, where they were among the six finalists. This exposure helped them land that all important funding.

Five years later ZipRealty has over 700 employees and is active in 12 metropolitan real estate markets. And now they’re publicly traded.

Way to go, guys!

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