Gokul Rajaram

Rajaram graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering, receiving the President’s Gold Medal as class valedictorian. He then earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin, where he received the MCD University Fellowship, and later an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.⁠[1][2][3][2]

From January 2003 to November 2007, Rajaram was Product Management Director for Google AdSense. He helped conceive and crystallize the advertising product in early 2003 and played a key role in its launch and subsequent growth, helping build the first version of AdSense and growing it from zero to over $1 billion in revenue, eventually into a multi-billion-dollar product line. He was also product lead for a number of Google acquisitions, including DoubleClick (display advertising and ad serving), AdScape (in-game advertising), and dMarc (radio advertising).⁠[4][2][1][2]

In December 2007, Rajaram co-founded the semantic technology startup Chai Labs, based in Mountain View, California, and served as its chief executive. In October 2009 he signed, as president, the company’s Form D financing notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Chai Labs became profitable with a multi-million-dollar annual revenue run rate and was acquired by Facebook in September 2010.⁠[4][5][5][2]

From August 2010 to June 2013, Rajaram was Product Director of Ads at Facebook, driving the product roadmap and execution for its advertising products and helping Facebook transition its advertising business to become mobile-first. While he led the ads product team, Facebook’s advertising revenue grew from $0.75 billion to $6.5 billion.⁠[4][2][6][1]

In July 2013, Rajaram joined the payments company Square (later renamed Block), serving on its executive team and leading several product development teams. As Product Engineering Lead, he oversaw software development for Square Register, a full point-of-sale system for local businesses, and other products.⁠[4][7][2]

After the digital coupon marketplace RetailMeNot went public in July 2013, it appointed Rajaram to its board, effective October 15, 2013; he served until the company was acquired by Harland Clarke Holdings in May 2017.⁠[2][2][4]

In May 2018, the advertising technology company The Trade Desk announced that Rajaram had joined its board; at the time he led Square’s food ordering service Caviar and was a director of the online learning platform Course Hero. Jeff Green, founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, said Rajaram’s computer science experience and deep understanding of digital advertising would add a valuable perspective to the board.⁠[6][6][6]

On August 1, 2019, DoorDash announced it would acquire Caviar from Square for $410 million in cash and DoorDash preferred stock, with the Caviar team, including Caviar Lead Rajaram, joining DoorDash once the deal closed. From November 2019 to April 2024, he held various leadership roles at DoorDash, most recently as Corporate Development and Strategy Lead.⁠[8][8][4][7]

On February 27, 2020, Pinterest appointed Rajaram to its board and to its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. CEO Ben Silbermann said Rajaram’s track record in shopping, digital advertising, and content would help the company bring inspirational experiences to users and advertisers. That same year, his alma mater IIT Kanpur conferred on him its Distinguished Alumnus Award.⁠[3][3][1]

In August 2020, Rajaram became a director of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. On August 13 of that month, when the special purpose acquisition company Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. held its initial public offering, he was appointed a director and chair of its audit committee.⁠[4][9][9]

In 2024, Rajaram and a partner founded the investment firm Marathon Management Partners (formerly MGR Capital Management); the two are its principal owners and control the firm, and he has been a managing member since July 2024. The firm provides investment advisory services primarily to private equity and venture capital funds and special purpose vehicles offered to qualified investors, describes itself as partnering with founders “obsessed with defining their categories,” and has offices in New York, Menlo Park, and Los Angeles.⁠[10][10][11][12][10][10][13][13]

In September 2024, MGR-Cloudwalk LLC, an investment vehicle whose managing member is MGR Capital Management, filed a notice with the SEC reporting about $26.22 million of interests sold, signed by Rajaram as managing member.⁠[14][14][14]

Rajaram has been a partner of Marathon Management Partners since January 2025. On April 24, 2025, Marathon Management Partners Fund I filed a Form D with the SEC for a planned $400 million offering; an amended filing in April 2026 revised the total offering to $250 million, with about $206 million sold to 143 investors and a first sale date of April 25, 2025.⁠[7][15][15][16][16][16]

On March 3, 2026, Rajaram informed The Trade Desk of his resignation from its board, effective April 3; the resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the company on its operations, policies, or practices. He had served as a director since May 2018.⁠[17][17][17]

On May 21, 2026, Pinterest stockholders re-elected Rajaram as a Class I director to serve until the 2029 annual meeting; he is a member of Pinterest’s compensation committee. On June 16, Coinbase shareholders re-elected him as a director to serve until the 2027 annual meeting; at Coinbase he chairs the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and sits on the Compensation Committee.⁠[18][18][7][19][19][4][4]

On June 29, 2026, Marathon Management Partners withdrew its status as an exempt reporting adviser, and on August 5 it was approved for registration with the SEC as an investment adviser.⁠[11][11]

Rajaram says he invests in early-stage technology startups and that, as a product leader, operator, or board member, he has helped build seven companies: Alphabet, Block, Coinbase, DoorDash, Meta, Pinterest, and The Trade Desk. The early investments he lists include Airtable, Cockroach Labs, Coda, Deel, Faire, Figma, Groq, Pigment, PoshmarkPoshmarkPoshmark is a social secondhand fashion marketplace headquartered in Redwood City, California, United States, founded in 2011 by Manish Chandra and others, where users buy and sell clothing and other goods by following, liking, commenting, and joining online “Posh Parties”; it listed on Nasdaq in January 2021 and in January 2023 was acquired by the South Korean internet company Naver at an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion and delisted.Open the full entry, Postman, Rubrik, RunwayRunwayRunway (Runway AI, Inc.) is a New York–based artificial intelligence company that grew out of the ITP program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2018. It develops video generation models and tools for the film, advertising and creative industries, has released the Gen-1 through Gen-4.5 series of models, and has extended its research to “general world models” that simulate the world in real time.Open the full entry, Supabase, and Vercel.⁠[20][20][20][20]

He describes his way of working in three parts: one-on-one meetings every few weeks to tackle founders’ toughest problems; on-demand counsel via messaging; and introductions to executives in his network as customers, partners, advisers, or full-time hires. He shares lessons on product development, company culture, hiring, strategy, and fundraising on X, LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry, and Medium.⁠[20][20][20][20]

As of October 2026, Rajaram describes himself on X as an “investor and builder,” listing projects including Signalful, a subscription site that curates ideas from interviews with business and technology leaders; ProductSpec.io, a product specification editor for AI coding agents whose open-source spec standard is hosted in his GitHub repository; and transcribe, a site that turns podcasts and videos into transcripts and summaries, whose footer credits him as its builder.⁠[21][22][23][23][24][24]

Personal website: https://www.gokulrajaram.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[24]

X: Public account: https://x.com/gokulr (opens in a new window)⁠[20]

LinkedIn: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gokulrajaram1/ (opens in a new window)⁠[20]

Marathon Management Partners: Official website: https://marathonmp.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

Signalful: Official link: https://www.signalful.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]

ProductSpec.io: Official link: https://productspec.io/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]

transcribe: Official link: https://www.usetranscribe.io/ (opens in a new window)⁠[21]

Delphi (personal Q&A page): Official link: https://www.delphi.ai/gokul (opens in a new window)⁠[25]