# Eric Rea

> Eric Rea is the Calgary-raised, Lehi-based co-founder and CEO of Podium. He turned a problem at his father's tire shop into a customer-communications company by selling door to door, working from a spare bedroom and then an unheated bike-shop attic, and staying close to local-business owners. Podium reached $60 million in annual recurring revenue within four years, joined Y Combinator, and raised a $201 million Series D at a valuation above $3 billion in 2021. After a painful 2022 workforce reduction, Rea pushed the company toward AI agents; by January 2026 he said that business had passed $100 million in ARR in under two years.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Podium
- **Organizations:** Podium, Y Combinator, International Atomic Energy Agency, Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Information Systems, Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded Podium and grew it from two founders' $1,500 combined investment to $60 million in annual recurring revenue within four years., Led Podium through Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch., Raised a $201 million Series D in 2021 at a valuation above $3 billion.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Worked as an enterprise product intern at OrangeSoda.
- **2011** — Completed a software engineering internship at Walmart and co-founded Finegrain in Provo.
- **2012-2013** — Worked as a software engineer at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna after graduating from BYU.
- **2014** — Co-founded Podium with Dennis Steele, funding the business with $750 apiece and building first in a spare bedroom.
- **2016** — Podium joined Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch.
- **2018** — Podium reached roughly $60 million in annual recurring revenue within four years and appeared on the Forbes Cloud 100.
- **2019** — Utah Business named Rea among its CEO of the Year honorees; he presented Podium's growth story at SaaStr Europa.
- **2021** — Podium raised $201 million in Series D funding at a valuation above $3 billion.
- **2022** — Podium reduced its workforce by 12%; Rea and Steele publicly accepted responsibility for the decisions that led to the cuts.
- **2023** — Podium made a company-wide bet on AI agents and began launching production agents for car dealerships.
- **2026** — Rea said Podium passed $100 million in AI-agent ARR in under 24 months; the company launched an AI operating system for home services.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Podium and grew it from two founders' $1,500 combined investment to $60 million in annual recurring revenue within four years.
- Led Podium through Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch.
- Raised a $201 million Series D in 2021 at a valuation above $3 billion.
- Led Podium's expansion from review collection into messaging, payments and AI agents.
- Reported more than $100 million in AI-agent annual recurring revenue in under 24 months by January 2026.
- Named a 2018 Utah Business Forty Under 40 honoree and a 2019 Utah Business CEO of the Year honoree.
- Has made multiple disclosed angel investments, including Zonos, Postscript, Plerk and Nexu.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Rea said he had taken direct product leadership alongside the CEO role and described building Podium Operator, an orchestrating agent for local-business workflows.
- **2026-08** — Podium formally launched its AI Operating System for home services; Rea framed it as software built around agents that complete work across calls, scheduling, jobs and invoices.
- **2026-01** — Rea reported that Podium had crossed $100 million in AI-agent ARR in under 24 months, with more than 10,000 agents in production and AI revenue growing 300% year over year.
- **2025-12** — Podium highlighted Jerry 2.0, a customizable AI employee powered by GPT-5.1 for automotive, home-services and medspa businesses.

## Links

- Website: https://www.podium.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericrea
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ericwilliamrea

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/eric-rea
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28