As the second lecture this fall in the Keller Center's Princeton-Jumpstart Lecture Series on Technology Entrepreneurship, Brian O’Kelley '99, CEO of AppNexus, gave a lecture titled “"Three Failures and a (Big) Success: The Evolution of a Startup CEO" at Princeton University in the Friend Center Convocation Room at 5:30 p.m. on December 9, 2009. A reception and recruiting networking session for Princeton University students followed.
O'Kelley, who also co-founded AppNexus, will talk about the failures of his first three companies (one based on a business plan written in Princeton University Professor Ed Zschau's High-Tech Entrepreneurship class) and how the lessons he learned fueled the success of Right Media. In July 2007, Yahoo! acquired Right Media for $850MM. O'Kelley will also discuss some of the challenges he faces in his latest venture, AppNexus, and talk about what it's like to work with Internet luminaries like Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Ron Conway, and Josh Kopelman. After the talk, Brian and a few other Princeton Tigers from AppNexus will be available to discuss career opportunities for Princeton students at AppNexus and other New York area startups.