Julie Gomoll, CEO of LaunchPad Coworking, is a seasoned entrepreneur with proven ability to jumpstart businesses and bring innovative ideas to profitable reality. She has been a leader and a visionary in the fields of new media and community building for over two decades.From her early days as an internet pioneer to her current status as a sought-after independent strategist and consultant, Gomoll has fearlessly adopted and mastered each new wave of media technology. From the desktop publishing revolution of the 80s to today’s expansion into open source community, her leadership and experience have been invaluable assets.
In 1987 she started Go Media, Inc. offering the first Mac-based production services in Austin. She transformed Go Media from a one-person operation in her garage into an award-winning web design and development agency. She sold Go Media to Excite, Inc. in 1996.
As Co-founder, President and Board Member of Austin Free-Net from the late nineties to the early aughts, Gomoll defined new visions and goals for supporting Internet use and education in traditionally underserved markets in Austin, creating a model that is recognized internationally as a blueprint for success in community computing.
As Director of Product Development for Excite and Excite@Home, she was responsible for their entire online community strategy, growing what had been a vague notion of needing users to “participate on the site” into the highest traffic-generating suite in Excite’s product line, pioneering protocols and positioning for the then unheard-of applications instant messaging, chat, message boards, groups and web-based email.
Most recently, as Co-founder and General Manager of Halsoft.com, Inc., she was able to capitalize on her Excite experience to create an innovative, profitable and sustainable subscription-based chat community, as well as the successful Halsoft Online Subscription Service and Halsoft Leagues.
Indeed, Gomoll’s heart, her passion, is in creating and serving community through innovative strategies, the latest of which is building LaunchPad Coworking, where technology, ideas, and people can meet. “I love what I’ve learned about community and collaboration in my career as an entrepreneur,” she says. “Most importantly, that we’re smarter and stronger when we work together and share knowledge than when we work alone. That applies online and offline.”
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