# Allan Grant

> Allan Grant is a Ukrainian-American software entrepreneur, the founder, CEO and chairman of referral-marketing platform Talkable, and a co-founder and former CTO of Hired. Born Mikhail Sapov in Mykolaiv, he moved to the United States at 10, began coding as a child, built a 50-person web-development company while at Georgia Tech, endured its collapse and years of debt, then turned a series of hard-won operating lessons into two durable technology companies.

- **Role:** Founder, CEO & Chairman at Talkable
- **Organizations:** Talkable, Hired, Webmasters International, 3L Systems, Mailytics, Introduction Agent
- **From:** Mykolaiv, Ukraine
- **Nationality:** Ukrainian-American
- **Education:** Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Talkable, an active Y Combinator Winter 2011 company serving e-commerce referral programs., Co-founded Hired and served as its CTO and product leader through December 2016., Bootstrapped Webmasters International to more than 50 employees while attending college.

## Career timeline

- **1983** — Born Mikhail Sapov in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
- **1994** — Moved to the United States with his family at age 10 and adopted the name Allan Grant.
- **c. 2003** — Started Webmasters International while at Georgia Tech, building a web-development outsourcing firm with teams in Atlanta and Mykolaiv.
- **2006** — Completed his Georgia Tech studies; by graduation, Webmasters International had reached 50 employees. Its later collapse left him with about $500,000 in debt.
- **2010** — Co-founded Curebit, later renamed Talkable, to bring referral programs and optimization software to e-commerce companies.
- **2011** — Joined Y Combinator's Winter 2011 batch and launched Curebit's Social Referral Optimizer.
- **2012** — Co-founded DeveloperAuction, later Hired, and served as CTO after building its first working site in a 36-hour sprint.
- **2016** — Stepped away from Hired's day-to-day product management after a management team was installed.
- **2018** — Returned to more active day-to-day work at Talkable as executive chairman, contributing to strategy, business development and product.
- **2021** — Moved to Kyiv after years of building Talkable's engineering and product organization in Ukraine.
- **2022** — Led Talkable's support for its Ukrainian workforce through salary advances, bonuses, protected jobs, relocation assistance and direct-aid fundraising.
- **2026** — Listed by Talkable as founder, CEO and chairman, 16 years into the company.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Talkable, an active Y Combinator Winter 2011 company serving e-commerce referral programs.
- Co-founded Hired and served as its CTO and product leader through December 2016.
- Bootstrapped Webmasters International to more than 50 employees while attending college.
- Built Hired's first website in a 36-hour coding sprint after recruiting 88 developers and 120 companies for the initial marketplace.
- Established a product and engineering organization in Ukraine with product vision originating from the Kyiv office.
- Helped Talkable protect and support its Ukrainian workforce after Russia's 2022 invasion, including pay advances, bonuses, job guarantees and direct aid.
- Invested in Octane AI's 2016 seed round.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Talkable's current leadership page lists Grant as founder, CEO and chairman, with 16 years at the company.
- **2025-07** — A California corporate-record aggregation based on the Secretary of State registry listed Curebit, Inc. as active and Grant as CEO, secretary and CFO.
- **2024-03** — Talkable published an updated leadership profile and portrait identifying Grant as founder, CEO and chairman.
- **2022-04** — Grant described Talkable's continued support for its Ukrainian team and recruitment of displaced Ukrainian talent.

## Links

- Website: https://talkable.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allangrant
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/allangrant
- GitHub: https://github.com/allangrant
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allangrant

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/allan-grant
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-17