Spencer Rascoff (born October 24, 1975) is an entrepreneur and businessman. He was the co-founder and former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Zillow Group Zillow Group, Inc., or simply Zillow, is an American tech real-estate marketplace company that was founded in 2006, and was created by Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink, former Microsoft executives and founders of Microsoft spin-off Expedia; Spencer R ...

, and one of the co-founders of

Hotwire.com Hotwire is a travel website that offers airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and vacation packages. It operates by selling off unsold travel inventory at discounted prices. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Hotwire, Inc. is ...

. Rascoff is on the board of directors of Palantir. Rascoff was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-created and co-taught the “Managing Tech Ventures” course.

Early life and education

Rascoff was born to Jane and Joseph Rascoff. His father was a business manager and tour producer for numerous well known musicians including

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

, U2, and Paul Simon. Rascoff grew up in New York and then Los Angeles, where he attended Harvard-Westlake. He received a degree in 1997 from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Career

After graduating from college, Rascoff worked as a private equity investor at

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth c ...

and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Hotwire.com

In 1999, at the age of 24, Rascoff co-founded

, a leading Internet travel company, which a few years later was sold to

InterActiveCorp IAC Inc. is an American holding company that owns brands across 100 countries, mostly in media and Internet. The company is incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and headquartered in New York City. Joey Levin, who previously led t ...

for $685 million. Rascoff then served as vice president of lodging for Expedia before leaving to co-found Zillow.

Zillow

Rascoff served various roles through the years including

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...

, chief financial officer, and VP of Marketing until his appointment to CEO in 2010. As CEO, Rascoff led Zillow through its 2011 IPO and 15 acquisitions. In 2017, Rascoff was named "The Most Powerful Person in Residential Real Estate" by the Swanepoel Power 200. Rascoff stepped down as CEO in February 2019. In April 2020, Rascoff resigned from Zillow's board of directors.

dot.la

In January 2020, Rascoff co-founded ''dot.la'', a news site for the California tech startup industry.

Pacaso

In October 2020, Rascoff co-founded Pacaso with Austin Allison. Pacaso labels itself as a real estate platform that makes second home ownership more accessible through shared ownership. Pacaso has been described by some as an alternative take on the

timeshare A timeshare (sometimes called vacation ownership) is a property with a divided form of ownership or use rights. These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each owne ...

model of property ownership.

Other projects

In 2015, he co-wrote and published his first book, “Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate.”

References

American technology company founders Living people Harvard University alumni American chief executives Harvard-Westlake School alumni 1975 births {{Business-bio-stub