DALLAS — Nextdoor's co-founder recently reclaimed his position as CEO of the company he created more than a decade ago alongside other social media veterans who were wanting to make an impact.
San Francisco-based Nextdoor Holdings Inc. is an online platform that was created for people to tap into their local area and communicate with their neighbors. Many members of the app use it to alert their neighbors about any criminal or suspicious activity, inform people about lost pets or sell home items.
Co-founder Nirav Tolia first stepped down from the role as CEO in 2018 after serving as its chief officer for eight years. The company announced Tolia’s return in February, saying its current CEO at the time, Sarah Friar, was planning to step down and transition out of the role in the second quarter of 2024. Tolia assumed his new role on Mar. 18, taking over as CEO, president and chairperson of the board of directors.
Under Friar’s leadership, Nextdoor nearly tripled its membership, with more than 330,000 people using the platform, per findings from quarter 4 of 2023. However, 2023 proved challenging for the company which was suffering from a shaky stock price and reported an adjusted earnings loss of $74.1 million.
Now, the company has a market cap of nearly $906.4 million and is traded on the NYSE as KIND. Its net worth has grown over the last few years.
On May 8, the entrepreneur and returning CEO took to LinkedIn outlining his vision for Nextdoor. He wrote the company reported a productive quarter 1.
“Today, I have the same feelings of excitement and possibility as I did when we created this company fourteen years ago,” Tolia wrote. “Nextdoor has grown tremendously since then, but I believe our best times clearly are still ahead.”
In his post, Tolia also announced additions to Nextdoor’s board of directors, including Marissa Mayer, former CEO of Yahoo and current CEO of Sunshine; Niraj Shah, CEO of Wayfair; and Robert Hohman, co-founder of Glassdoor.
Half of the dynamic duo
Additionally, Tolia represents one-half of a Dallas power couple that have made their mark in their respective spaces. An article from D Magazine listed the Tolias as one of the city's five influential duos last year.
Nirav Tolia’s wife, Megha Tolia, once handled brand management at Johnson & Johnson and Neutrogena. She now works as president and COO of Shondaland, a television company founded by writer and producer Shonda Rhimes — infamous for her long-running show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Nirav has also had a few appearances on Shark Tank.
After a brief stint abroad in Italy, the Tolias, along with their three sons, returned to Dallas in 2021, where they now continue to work with many companies that have their bases elsewhere in the United States.
The couple recently became directors of the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Southern Methodist University’s business school. The institute was founded in 2022 as a way to encourage and inspire budding entrepreneurs.
