Osman Rashid

Osman Rashid (born 1970) is a Pakistani-American entrepreneur and businessman based in Silicon Valley, California. He is known for founding and leading multiple ventures in education, enterprise software, and consumer technology.

Osman Rashid
Rashid in 2019 (or earlier)
Born	1970 (age 54–55) London, UK
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Known for	SOAR, Chegg, Convo

Rashid was the co-founder and CEO of Chegg, an online textbook rental and student hub, from its inception in 2005 until early 2010.^[1] He later co-founded and was CEO of Kno, Inc, a digital education platform company, which was acquired by Intel in 2013.^[2][3] He subsequently founded Galxyz Inc.,^[4] in 2014, an educational software company focused on language arts and science programs for primary and middle school students.^[5]

He is currently the CEO of Convo Corp,^[6] an enterprise collaboration software company, and the co-founder & chairman of SOAR Education, an initiative aimed at expanding access to affordable STEM education in Pakistan.^[7][8] Rashid is also the co-founder and CEO of Khoj Resorts, a hospitality company developing eco-conscious resorts in Pakistan,^[9] chairman of Khan Academy Pakistan, the local initiative of the U.S.-based nonprofit education platform,^[10] and chairman of Jaglot Gathering, a strategic forum focused on technology, education, and policy innovation in Pakistan.

Personal life

Rashid was born in London,^[11] did his early schooling in Ghana and finished middle and high school from Islamabad, Pakistan. He later moved to the United States where he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1993.^[12]

Career

Before founding Galxyz, Chegg and Kno, Rashid also started Gravitywell, an ASP based customer service company, and worked at Venturian, a subsidiary of ATIO Corporation, where Osman was VP of Business Development and Marketing. Between start-ups, Osman was Director of Business Development at Chordiant Software, Inc.^[13]

Awards

He was awarded Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award in 2009 for Consumer Products in Northern CA.^[14]

He has also been recognized as Forbes Impact 15 for 2012^[15] and in Inc.’s Immigrant Edge: 9 Wildly Successful Entrepreneurs.^[16]

Philanthropy

Osman helped spearhead Chegg for Good program which plants a tree for every rental made, and to date has helped plant over 6 million trees. At Kno he developed a partnership with DonorsChoose.org to donate $1 of every sale made to help classrooms get school supplies. Osman is actively involved as a board member at ChildLife Foundation Pakistan which is bringing critical care and prevention of diseases to millions of young and needy children in Pakistan through a network of Urgent Care Clinics.^[17]

He plans to set up an Endowment Fund to provide quality education to the financially disadvantaged, of which the platform is SOAR STEM Schools.^[18]