Adam Lyons

Adam Lyons is an American entrepreneur and businessman. He is the founder of The Zebra, an insurance comparison website.

Adam Lyons
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFounder, The Zebra[1]
Years active2012-present
Home townPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US

Education

Lyons grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School.[2] He dropped out of high school when he was 15 years old and had odd jobs until he became an insurance underwriter.[3] Lyons was taking classes at a local community college when he was recruited by the Risk Management & Insurance Department at Temple University.[4] He graduated from Temple University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Fox School of Business.[5]

Career

Lyons worked in the insurance industry, starting at Lloyd's of London as a broker and underwriter.[6] Later, he worked as an underwriter for All Risks Insurance, one of the largest US insurance wholesalers.[7][8]

In 2012, Lyons founded The Zebra.[9] Lyons began to look for investors for the new business venture and partnered with Mark Cuban, after pitching the startup over a cold email.[6][3] Later, Cuban noted he liked the concept of The Zebra and commented on Lyons' succinct writing style.[9] Adam also partnered with Mike Maples, Jr., an early investor in Twitter and Lyft[10] of Floodgate Fund, UK billionaire Simon Nixon of Moneysupermarket.com.[11] and Silverton Partners based in Austin, Texas.[9] After securing $4.5 million in seed funding in 2013, Lyons relocated the company to Austin, TX.[12]

In 2015, Lyons was named to Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30 list.[13] He was recognized as a finalist for the 2016 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award[14] and also made Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2017.[15]

In 2018, Lyons left The Zebra to explore other ventures including the development of a reality TV show with the Pilgrim Media Group in Los Angeles.[16][17]

References
  1. "9 extremely clever startup funding stories". fortune.com. Fortune. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  2. Smit, Deb (February 29, 2012). "InsuranceZebra wants to be the Kayak of the online insurance search". PopCity News. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  3. Erin Griffith (January 26, 2016). "High School Dropout Raises $17 Million After Cold Emailing Mark Cuban". Fortune. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  4. Cooke, Lacy (June 4, 2015). "Compare Car Insurance Companies Quickly And Easily Through The Zebra". ThriveWire. Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  5. "Office Hours: Adam Lyons". Fox Focus. Temple University. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  6. Zoe Henry (January 26, 2016). "How Mark Cuban's Advice Led to One Startup's Major Growth, and $21 Million in Funding". Inc. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  7. Hawkins, Lori (January 31, 2013). "Insurance Zebra raises $1.5 million and moves headquarters from Pittsburgh to Austin". Austin Statesman. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  8. Perez, Sarah (January 31, 2013). "Insurance Zebra Raises $1.5 Million From Mark Cuban, Floodgate, Silverton & Birchmere To Be The Kayak For Auto Insurance". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  9. Lapowsky, Issie (December 10, 2013). "How a 26-Year-Old Founder Landed Mark Cuban's Money". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  10. Perez, Sarah (December 10, 2013). "Kayak For Auto Insurance Site The Zebra Grabs Another $3M, Launches Nationwide". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  11. Patterson, Te-Erika (January 8, 2015). "9 Extremely Clever Startup Funding Stories". Entrepreneur magazine. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  13. Winfrey, Graham (April 22, 2015). "How This Young Founder Landed Big Fish Investor Mark Cuban". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  14. "Meet the 2016 finalists". EY.com. Ernst & Young. 2016.
  15. "Six Austin Entrepreneurs Make the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 List". Silicon Hills. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  16. "Adam Lyons leaves The Zebra, hints at something new up his sleeve". Biz Journals. Biz Journals. August 3, 2018. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  17. "How Adam Lyons, a former CEO, is prepping for a career in TV; Coaching entrepreneurs is the goal". Biz Journals. Biz Journals. March 10, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
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