# Ethan Aaron

> Ethan Aaron is the founder and CEO of Portable, a New York based ETL/ELT company that builds the data connectors nobody else wants to build. Where the rest of the data-pipeline industry chases the same handful of popular sources, Portable went after the long tail - thousands of niche, bespoke business applications - with no-code connectors and flat, no-volume pricing. A Penn-trained mechanical engineer and Wharton economist who passed through Goldman Sachs and LiveRamp before founding the company, Aaron is one of the data world's most prolific public voices, posting daily on LinkedIn and pushing a blunt thesis: data teams exist to make money, not to collect tools.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Portable
- **Organizations:** Portable, LiveRamp, Arbor, Goldman Sachs, State Street
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, B.S. in Economics, concentration in Management, The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania)
- **Known for:** Founded and leads Portable, a no-code ETL/ELT platform focused on the long tail of business applications, Raised roughly $3.2M in seed funding, Built 300+ (targeting 10,000) data-warehouse connectors for niche sources major vendors ignore

## Career timeline

- **2009-2013** — Studies mechanical engineering at Penn and economics at Wharton, earning dual degrees
- **2013** — Joins Goldman Sachs as a real estate private equity analyst
- **mid-2010s** — Moves to Arbor as product manager and business development manager; Arbor is later acquired by LiveRamp
- **late 2010s** — At LiveRamp, holds roles including Product Manager, Head of Business Intelligence, Director of Operations & BI, and Director of Strategy & Corporate Development
- **2020** — Founds Portable in New York to build long-tail ETL connectors
- **2022-08** — Portable raises a $3.2M seed round
- **2023** — Featured on the Category Visionaries podcast; Portable surpasses 300+ connectors on the path to 10,000

## Achievements

- Founded and leads Portable, a no-code ETL/ELT platform focused on the long tail of business applications
- Raised roughly $3.2M in seed funding
- Built 300+ (targeting 10,000) data-warehouse connectors for niche sources major vendors ignore
- Pioneered a flat, no-volume pricing model in an industry dominated by usage-based billing
- Earned Google Cloud Ready - BigQuery designation for Portable
- Became one of the most active and recognizable founder voices in the modern data stack community

## Latest updates

- **2022-08** — Closed a $3.2M seed round to accelerate connector development
- **2023** — Featured on Category Visionaries; Portable crosses 300+ connectors en route to its 10,000 goal

## Links

- Website: https://portable.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanaaron/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ethan-aaron
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24