Pete Koomen

Pete Koomen is an American businessman, investor, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Optimizely and CarrotSticks, which was an online virtual world for young students to learn math. Koomen is a visiting group partner at Y Combinator, a position he began in April 2022.

Pete Koomen cofounded Optimizely with Dan Siroker in January 2010. Optimizely is a leading experience optimization platform providing A/B testing, targeting, and optimization for websites and mobile apps. Koomen served as CTO of Optimizely. Episerver acquired Optimizely in October 2020 and Koomen exited the company in January 2021.

Pete Koomen Tells Optimizely A/B Testing Story | Udacity (2016)

In 2015, Pete Koomen and Dan Siroker co-wrote the book A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers, which focuses on how companies can influence people’s behavior when they visit their website.

After graduating with his M.S. in computer science, Pete Koomen spent three years as a product manager at Google from 2006 to 2009, where he helped launch and grow Google App Engine. In 2009, he and Dan Siroker started CarrotSticks, an online educational software company that helped young kids learn math.

Pete Koomen earned dual bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and computer science from Case Western Reserve University in 2004. While at Case Western, he was part of the varsity track and cross-country teams and was awarded the Case Trustees Scholarship for four years. In 2006, he earned a master of science in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.