This article was published on April 8, 2013

LA tech studio Science hires former IAC corp and Mahalo exec Jason Rapp as its Managing Director


LA tech studio Science hires former IAC corp and Mahalo exec Jason Rapp as its Managing Director

Los Angeles-based tech studio and incubator Science, Inc. has hired former IAC corporation senior executive Jason Rapp as its Managing Director. In this capacity, he will aid in researching new opportunities for the firm’s portfolio companies while also helping everyone with strategic direction as counsel.

Science, a firm founded by Mike Jones, a successful serial entrepreneur and former CEO of MySpace, back in 2011, aims to not only create companies, but also acquire and help scale them by bringing together “the best ideas, talent, resources, and financing through a centralized platform.” It has created numerous companies like Wittlebee, DollarShaveClub, Uncovet, HelloSociety, TopFloor, and others.

Jones says that Rapp is an accomplished digital media executive who is “known and respected in Silicon Valley, New York, and here in Los Angeles. He’s a great example of the caliber of talent we want at Science. He is ideally experienced to help us build our existing businesses and to launch and acquire new ones.”

Before joining up with Science, Rapp had been the president and a member of Mahalo.com’s board of directors. Prior to that, for three years, he served as a senior executive at Barry Diller’s IAC corporation, a publicly-traded Internet conglomerate with more than 50 brands in 40 countries. Among its holdings are About.com, which it acquired last summer, Internet television service Aereo, OkCupid, Vimeo, CollegeHumor, and dozens more.

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Rapp certainly has extensive experience when it comes to the media space, including his time as an executive at the New York Times. This skill set is something that Science could be looking to bring internally. The hope may be that he’ll be able to help reach out to more agencies and media organizations to encourage use of Science’s companies. Of course, Rapp’s expertise when it comes to working with startups will be invaluable to the firm.

Photo credit:  David McNew/Getty Images

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