As a founder of these three major businesses, Rich Barton believes bringing the power of information and transparency to the people.

 

“All of my companies are about what I call ‘power to the people,’ bringing the power of information and transparency to regular folks so that they can take control of big decisions in their lives,” Barton said.

 

While working at Microsoft as a product manager in the 1990s, Barton felt frustrated every time he had to talk to somebody on the phone to book a flight or plan a business trip. He wanted to jump through the phone, grab the computer screen, and make the decisions himself. That’s when he decided to channel his frustration into a solution.

 

Barton directly pitched his bosses at the time – Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates – on the idea that Expedia could become the largest seller of travel in the world. They bit. He assembled a great team from across Microsoft and began to build Expedia inside the company. Expedia grew quickly and in 1999, Barton persuaded Microsoft’s leadership to spin out Expedia into an independent company.

 

In 2005, Barton co-founded real estate company Zillow with his friend and former Expedia exceutive Lloyd Frink. Now, Zillow is the largest real estate site in the United States, with a record of 89 million monthly unique visitors. In addition to its trademark Zestimate, Zillow provides tools and services to help people shop for a home or rental, find a mortgage, and get valuable inspiration for home improvement.

Shortly after Zillow, Barton joined with other former Expedia executives Robert Hohman and Tim Besse to start Glassdoor, a jobs and career community where people write about job experiences, salaries and the pros and cons of working for a certain company. Today, Glassdoor offers access to data from 325,000 companies to their 26 million members from 190 countries.

 

Barton’s desire and motivation to open up access to data through innovation led him to be named an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE).

 

As part of his role in PAGE and to kick start 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Week, Barton joined the State Department’s Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) program last week for a webinar to discuss disruptive innovation. GIST empowers young science and technology entrepreneurs through networking, skills building, mentoring, and access to financing to advance their startups. In the one-hour conversation that attracted thousands of people from more than 40 countries, Barton discussed innovation that helps create a new market and value network, ultimately displacing incumbents and earlier technology. He also stressed that being transparent and empowering others is crucial to successful entrepreneurship.

 

For this entrepreneur, the key for a successful business is giving people the power to make better-informed decisions. Ultimately, he believes that “capitalism and company creation can help bring people more freedom and improve their lifestyles and bring more and more people out of poverty.” 

 

You can follow Barton at @Rich_Barton, or visit his blog www.hopperanddropper.com.

 

 

Established by the Department of Commerce, the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) is a group of successful American businesspeople eager to share their knowledge and experience to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs at home and abroad.  Members have agreed to participate in an ongoing dialogue with policy makers globally, acting as goodwill ambassadors in discussions about how to create an environment where creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship can grow and thrive.  They will also participate in outreach and mentorship activities to help promote start-up culture, and energize their own personal and professional networks to challenge and inspire budding entrepreneurs and raise awareness of the many resources available to them.