Aaron Skonnard is an American businessman and the co-founder and CEO of

Pluralsight Pluralsight, LLC is an American privately held online education company that offers a variety of video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals through its website. Founded in 2004 by Aaron Skonnar ...

. Skonnard founded the company in 2004 with Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, and Bill Williams, to provide online video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals.

Early life

Skonnard says he first began learning to

code In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

as a child, when his father brought home an

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

computer. He later graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

in 1996 with a degree in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

. After college, prior to founding Pluralsight, he worked at 3M,

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

, and Axiom Technologies. During this time, he published three books: ''Essential WinInet'', in 1999; ''Essential XML: Beyond Markup'', which he co-wrote with

Don Box Don Box is a former Microsoft Technical Fellow. Before joining Microsoft in 2002, Box was a contributing editor and columnist at ''Microsoft Systems Journal'', which later became ''MSDN Magazine'', and was one of the founders of DevelopMentor, a ...

and John Lam, and was published in 2000; and ''Essential XML Quick Reference'', co-written with Martin Gudgin, and published in 2002.

Career

Pluralsight

Skonnard, along with Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, and Bill Williams, founded Pluralsight in 2004. Originally, the company focused on classroom training courses for businesses. In 2007, they began to focus exclusively on online video training. As the company grew, they expanded into enterprise subscriptions. Skonnard says that as of 2019, roughly 70% of

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

companies have Pluralsight enterprise licenses. Since 2012, the company has raised over $190 million in

venture funding Venture capital financing is a type of funding by venture capital. It is private equity capital that can be provided at various stages or funding rounds. Common funding rounds include early-stage seed funding in high-potential, growth companies ( ...

, with a

Series A A series A round (also known as series A financing or series A investment) is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchan ...

in 2012–2013, and a

Series B A venture round is a type of funding round used for venture capital financing, by which startup companies obtain investment, generally from venture capitalists and other institutional investors. The availability of venture funding is among the ...

in 2014. Following their Series B, Skonnard announced the company's valuation neared $1 billion, up from less than $100 million in 2012. Pluralsight has been listed as an Inc. 5000 company since 2013, ranking at 1155 in 2017. In 2018, the company held its

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

, opening at a $15 share price, and closed its first day of trading at $20, which carried a

market cap Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

of over $2.5 billion.

Recognition

Skonnard has been recognized for his leadership as Pluralsight's CEO. In 2013, he received an

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2016, he was announced as one of ''Utah Business'''s CEO of the Year honorees. MountainWest Capital Network also named Skonnard their Entrepreneur of the Year for 2016. Skonnard was also awarded Utah CEO of the Year at the inaugural Utah Startup Awards in 2016.

Silicon Slopes

In November 2015, Skonnard helped launch the Start Foundation, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

organization hoping to improve Utah's tech industry. At launch, Skonnard was named the foundation's chairman. In December 2016, the organizations Silicon Slopes and Beehive Startups formed a new

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

together. Skonnard explained on Twitter that this would replace the Start Foundation. Skonnard serves on the organization's board, whose mission statement seeks to increase

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

and provide resources for startups and entrepreneurs in Utah.

Investments

Skonnard has also invested in various tech startups in the Utah area, including Bevy, Divvy, Numetric, and Grow.

Personal life

He lives in Utah with his wife, Monica, and their five children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skonnard, Aaron Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Brigham Young University alumni American company founders Businesspeople from Utah American Latter Day Saints American chief executives of education-related organizations