# Larry Kim

> Larry Kim is the founder and CEO of CustomersAI and the founder of WordStream. An electrical engineering graduate of the University of Waterloo, he built advertising software out of his consulting work, then started MobileMonkey, which became Customers.ai in 2023. His public work spans marketing writing, conference speaking and software entrepreneurship.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at CustomersAI
- **Organizations:** CustomersAI, MobileMonkey, WordStream
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** Honors degree in Electrical Engineering; final-year specialization in software engineering, University of Waterloo
- **Known for:** Founded WordStream, which was acquired by Gannett in 2018., Received the 2019 Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award in the High-Tech Business category., Received 2015 search marketing awards from Search Engine Land and the US Search Awards.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Completed his Waterloo studies; his account describes moving to the United States after his final college exam to work at Allaire.
- **2007** — Founded WordStream, developing software from his search marketing consulting work.
- **2008** — WordStream secured a $4 million Series A investment; Kim shifted toward product and marketing responsibilities.
- **2017** — Announced his departure from WordStream to build a mobile and AI startup; founded MobileMonkey.
- **2018** — Gannett completed the WordStream acquisition on July 2 for $130 million cash, net of cash acquired, plus up to $20 million in contingent earnouts.
- **2019** — Won the Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award for High-Tech Business.
- **2023** — MobileMonkey rebranded as Customers.ai following a pivot to outreach automation and data.

## Achievements

- Founded WordStream, which was acquired by Gannett in 2018.
- Received the 2019 Barry M. Portnoy Immigrant Entrepreneur Award in the High-Tech Business category.
- Received 2015 search marketing awards from Search Engine Land and the US Search Awards.
- Published marketing and entrepreneurship writing at Inc., Medium and industry publications.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Announced a February 12 Litmus Live panel appearance on AI for email campaigns.
- **2026-07** — Promoted a July 14 agentic AI event and described an internal competition for departments to build AI projects that save time or improve products and services.

## Links

- Website: https://customers.ai/larry-kim
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrykim/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/larrykim
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kim_larry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ws.larry.kim

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/larry-kim
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26