Name: Chinedu Echeruo
Twitter: @cuecheruo
App: HopStop
The New York City subway system can be a maze of transit delays, re-routes and complexities that would throw off even the most seasoned New Yorker. When Chinedu Echeruo first moved to the concrete jungle, he had trouble navigating the hectic city and grew frustrated with the lack of an easy, on-demand guide. Thus sparked the idea to create HopStop, a website and mobile app that provides door-to-door subway, bus and walking directions. What began as a website focused on getting around New York has now expanded to a mobile app that provides guides in over 140 cities worldwide and was acquired by Apple in 2013 for a reported $1 billion.
Chinedu, who grew up in Eastern Nigeria and holds a BS from Syracuse and MBA from Harvard, spent years on wall street with J.P Morgan Chase and hedge fund AM Investment Partners before going the entrepreneurial route. After founding HopStop in 2005 and after years of grinding and refining the product, HopStop was named one of the top 100 fastest growing software companies in the United States in 2011.
Want to hear more about HopStop from Chinedu himself? Check out his interview with Inc.