Jason Cohen (entrepreneur)

Jason Cohen (born 27 April 1978) is an American entrepreneur, software developer, author, investor, and public speaker.^[1] He is known as the founder and Chief Innovation Officer of WP Engine, a managed WordPress hosting company based in Austin, TX that he founded in 2010.^[2] Prior to WP Engine, Cohen founded SmartBear Software, a privately funded developer tools company that he founded in 2003 and was acquired by Insight Venture Partners in 2007.^[3][4]

Early life and education

Cohen was born and raised in Austin, Texas.  His mother Leslie Cohen was a teacher and then administrator at AISD, and his father David Cohen was a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin ^[5] where Cohen would later attend as an undergraduate in 1996. In 2000 Jason graduated with a BA in Computer Science.^[6]

Career

Cohen began his career in software engineering and entrepreneurship in the late 1990s. His first venture was Sheer Genius, a consulting firm he founded in 1999 that provided cross-platform C development services for enterprise applications.^[7] The business provided custom software to clients in a variety of industries, while integrated legacy systems with newer software technologies. Cohen ran Sheer Genius for several years while also gaining experience as a software developer.^[8]

In the early 2003, Cohen co-founded IT Watchdogs, a company that developed environmental monitoring for server rooms and data centers.^[9] The company produced both hardware and software products for tracking temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions that are critical to maintaining uptime and preventing hardware failure in IT infrastructure.^[10] IT Watchdogs found a niche within a growing market for data center reliability tools and its customers included small-to-medium businesses as well as enterprise IT teams. Cohen helped lead the company through product development and early growth before its acquisition by American Power Conversion (APC) in 2004.^[11]

Later that same year in 2003, Cohen also founded SmartBear Software a company that develops tools for software development, including code review and quality assurance solutions. He served as the company's Chief Technology Officer and operated without external investment until its sale in 2007 when Cohen sold the company to Insight Venture Partners, which continued operations under new ownership.^[12]

WP Engine

In 2010, Cohen founded WP Engine to provide managed hosting services for WordPress websites.^[13] The company was created to offer managed hosting solutions with a focus on security, and customer support. By 2018 the company reported to have 75,000 customers^[14] and was the most well-funded tech company in Texas^[15] after receiving multiple rounds of venture capital funding.^[16][17]

Personal life

Jason lives in Austin, TX with his wife Darla Cohen and his daughter Abigail.^[18] Outside of his professional endeavors, Cohen writes through his blog "A Smart Bear" and public speaking on topics related to entrepreneurship and startup culture. He also mentors early-stage founders and participates in the Austin startup ecosystem.^[19]