Ep.565 | A $3.9B Exit with HomeAway & His Next Billion-Dollar Venture | Ross Buhrdorf

2025-04-18

Listeners, today’s episode is a masterclass in innovation, tech leadership, and entrepreneurship from someone who’s seen it all. We’re joined by Ross Buhrdorf, one of the foundational figures in the rise of the internet. As the founding CTO of HomeAway, Ross helped scale the company to a $3.9 billion acquisition by Expedia. But that’s only part of the story. Before that, he was at the heart of one of the internet’s earliest search engines—Excite.com—which at one point was bigger than Google. ...

Listeners, today’s episode is a masterclass in innovation, tech leadership, and entrepreneurship from someone who’s seen it all.

We’re joined by Ross Buhrdorf, one of the foundational figures in the rise of the internet. As the founding CTO of HomeAway, Ross helped scale the company to a $3.9 billion acquisition by Expedia. But that’s only part of the story. Before that, he was at the heart of one of the internet’s earliest search engines—Excite.com—which at one point was bigger than Google.

Now, Ross is back in the arena with his latest venture: ZenBusiness, a mission-driven company helping millions of entrepreneurs start and grow their own businesses with confidence and ease.

In this conversation, we go deep on:

What it was like building Excite.com in the early days of the web
How HomeAway scaled into a global platform with billions in valuation
The emotional and mental shifts after a billion-dollar exit
Why Ross believes every human should have access to entrepreneurship
How ZenBusiness is leveling the playing field for small business owners
The tools Ross uses—like NLP and visualization—to set big goals
What he looks for in a winning startup idea and founding team
The most important leadership lessons he’s learned across 3 decades
How to build companies that align with your values, not just your wallet

Whether you’re a founder, a tech enthusiast, or someone dreaming of launching your own business, this episode is packed with powerful takeaways and firsthand wisdom from a true digital pioneer.

Contact Info:

https://www.zenbusiness.com/

ross@zenbusiness.com

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