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Kyle Vogt

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Kyle Vogt
Kyle Vogt at TechCrunch Disrupt
Kyle Vogt at TechCrunch Disrupt
Born1984 or 1985[1]
Kansas City, Kansas
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupation(s)Businessman
Tech Entrepreneur
Known forFounder and former Chief Executive Officer, Cruise
Co-founder, Twitch
Co-founder, The Bot Company
Board member ofUpside

Kyle Vogt (born 1984 or 1985) is an American technology entrepreneur known for his contributions to autonomous vehicle technology and live-streaming platform technologies.

Vogt is a co-founder of Cruise Automation, a developer of self-driving car technology, which was acquired by General Motors in 2016. Prior to that, he was instrumental in the creation of Justin.tv, which evolved into the popular streaming platform Twitch.

In 2024, Vogt established The Bot Company, a startup focused on developing consumer-oriented robots for household tasks.

Early life and education

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Vogt was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. From a young age, he demonstrated an interest in autonomous driving technology. [2] Vogt attended public schools in the Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts, graduating from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in 2004. [2]

Vogt pursued undergraduate studies in computer science and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While there, he participated in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge, a pivotal event in the development of autonomous vehicle technology.[3] Vogt also interned at iRobot, the company known for creating the Roomba and competed in two seasons of BattleBots.[4]

Career

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Justin.tv

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In his junior year, Vogt left MIT to join the team that would create Justin.tv and later Twitch.[2][5] As a co-founder of Justin.tv, Vogt was noted for his technical proficiency, often solving complex coding challenges and designing camera systems crucial for live streaming.[6]

In June 2011, Vogt co-founded two spin-off companies: Socialcam (later acquired by Autodesk in 2012 for $60 million) and Twitch (subsequently acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014).[7][8][9]

Cruise Automation

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In October 2013, Vogt founded Cruise Automation, serving as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer.[10][11] The company, which develops self-driving car technology, participated in Y Combinator, a startup accelerator. In March 2016, General Motors acquired Cruise Automation for over $1 billion, with Cruise continuing to operate as an independent subsidiary.[12] Following the acquisition, Vogt and Cruise Co-Founder Dan Kan became the youngest senior directors at GM. Vogt and Kan were listed as number 7 on Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40 List.[6][13]

In December 2021, after Cruise CEO Dan Ammann left the company, Vogt became interim CEO until February 2022 when he became CEO, maintaining his CTO and President titles.[14]

In November 2023, Vogt resigned as CEO following the California DMV's suspension of Cruise's autonomous operations in the state.[15] A subsequent internal investigation by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm identified leadership deficiencies at Cruise and instances where Vogt withheld information from media.[16] However, the firm concluded that "no Cruise executives or employees intentionally deceived regulators," according to the Wall Street Journal.[17]

The Bot Company

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In 2024, Vogt launched The Bot Company, a robotics startup aimed at developing household task-oriented robots.[18] The company launched with $150 million in seed funding from investors such as Spark Capital and Nat Friedman among others.[19] The Bot Company was valued at $550 million as of May 2024.[18]

Animal advocacy and philanthropy

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Vogt co-founded Charlie's Acres, a farm animal sanctuary in Sonoma California, in 2016.[20] This inspired Vogt to pursue a vegan lifestyle and related advocacy ventures.[20] Through his charitable organization, the Vogt Foundation, Vogt helps fund academic research related to nutrition and veganism, such as the Stanford study, Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins: A Randomized Clinical Trial.[21][22] This study was the subject of the Netflix documentary You Are What You Eat, where Vogt was a co-producer.[23] He was also an executive producer for The Game Changers, a 2018 documentary about vegan athletes.[20]

Vogt launched Baia, a plant-based Italian restaurant in San Francisco, with chef Matthew Kenney in 2020.[24] He also serves on the board of Upside Foods, a sustainable cultured meat production company.[25]

In 2020, while adhering to a vegan diet, Vogt completed the World Marathon Challenge.[26] According to several sources, he set a world record in the Men's category for Shortest Duration, completing the challenge in 3 days, 9 hours, and 38 minutes.[27]

References

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  1. ^ Mickle, Tripp; Metz, Cade; Lu, Yiwen (November 3, 2023). "Cruise Grew Fast and Angered Regulators. Now It's Dealing With the Fallout". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c "Shawnee Mission Northwest grad played key role in online startup Twitch". kansascity.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  3. ^ "How the Bay Area took over the self-driving car business". sfchronicle.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  4. ^ Bergen, Mark (11 March 2016). "Meet Kyle Vogt, the 'Robot Guru' Who Just Sold His Second Billion-Dollar Startup in Two Years". Vox. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  5. ^ Clifford, Catherine (26 April 2016). "This 29-Year-Old Entrepreneur Was Rejected by 35 Potential Employers. Now, He's the Co-Founder of a $1 Billion Startup. Here's How". entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  6. ^ a b "Driven In The Valley: The Startup Founders Fueling GM's Future". fortune.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  7. ^ "Twitch: A global community creating the future of live entertainment". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  8. ^ "Mobile Video Sharing App Socialcam Acquired By Autodesk For $60 Million – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Meet Kyle Vogt, the 'Robot Guru' Who Just Sold His Second Billion-Dollar Startup in Two Years". recode.net. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  10. ^ Bensinger, Greg (20 November 2023). "GM's Cruise robo-taxi CEO resigns from company". Reuters. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Cruise". getcruise.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  12. ^ "GM Buying Self-Driving Tech Startup for More Than $1 Billion". fortune.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  13. ^ "40 Under 40: The Most Influential Young People in Business 2017". 17 August 2017.
  14. ^ Korosec, Kirsten (28 February 2022). "Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt retakes CEO spot after GM exec's sudden departure". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  15. ^ Lu, Yiwen; Mickle, Tripp (19 November 2023). "Cruise's C.E.O. Quits as the Driverless Carmaker Aims to Rebuild Trust". Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  16. ^ Field, Hayden; Wayland, Michael (25 January 2024). "Probe into GM's Cruise finds poor leadership, culture issues at center of accident response". CNBC. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  17. ^ Bobrowsky, Meghan. "GM's Cruise Says U.S. Is Investigating Driverless Car's Collision With Pedestrian". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  18. ^ a b Cai, Kenrick (13 May 2024). "Cruise Cofounder Kyle Vogt Raised $150 Million For Household Robot Startup". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2024-05-13.
  19. ^ Welch, David (13 May 2024). "Cruise Founder Kyle Vogt Starts VC-Funded Robotics Startup". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 2024-05-13.
  20. ^ a b c DeBord, Matthew (2020-02-28). "The cofounder and CTO of the $20 billion self-driving car company Cruise just ran 7 marathons on 7 continents. Here's exactly how he did it". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2023-01-05.
  21. ^ "Vogt Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica.
  22. ^ Landry, Matthew J.; Ward, Catherine P.; Cunanan, Kristen M.; Durand, Lindsay R.; Perelman, Dalia; Robinson, Jennifer L.; Hennings, Tayler; Koh, Linda; Dant, Christopher; Zeitlin, Amanda; Ebel, Emily R.; Sonnenburg, Erica D.; Sonnenburg, Justin L.; Gardner, Christopher D. (2023-11-30). "Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins: A Randomized Clinical Trial". JAMA Network Open. 6 (11): e2344457. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.44457. ISSN 2574-3805.
  23. ^ Roberts, Ian (2024-01-04). "Netflix feeds viewers with vegan propaganda in 'biased' new series". Sea West News.
  24. ^ Batey, Eve (2020-07-30). "Vegan Italian Spot Baia Opens in the Former Jardiniere Space". Eater SF.
  25. ^ "UPSIDE Foods Appoints Kyle Vogt, President and Co-Founder of Cruise, to its Board of Directors". www.prnewswire.com.
  26. ^ Darling, Mike (2020-02-14). "Kyle Vogt Just Set a World Record for Running 7 Marathons on 7 Continents in Less Than 4 Days". Men's Health. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03.
  27. ^ "Summary facts about the world marathon challenge". www.worldmarathonchallenge.com. Archived from the original on 2024-09-03.
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