Chandu Thota

Chandu Thota is a software entrepreneur notable for being the first paid employee and CTO of Dealmap (started by Raj Abhyanker, now CEO of Trademarkia.com in August 2005).^{[1] [2] [3]} He worked at Microsoft as a software engineer from 2003 to 2007 where he contributed to development work with various projects.^[4] In February 2007, Chandu left Microsoft for the start-up firm Fatdoor, which later changed names to Center'd in early 2008 before developing the service later sold to Google, Dealmap.^[1][5][6]

Google acquired Dealmap: The Dealmap, a daily deals site that specializes in maps of deals in your local area, announced on Aug 2, 2011 that it had been acquired by Google. Google has gotten increasingly serious about the deal site market in the past year. The company launched its own deal network, Google Offers, earlier this year after a rejected bid to buy Groupon.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} PRNewswire (Dec. 7, 2010). "The Dealmap Launches DealExchange to Help Publishers and Local Businesses Distribute and Promote Local Deals". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20101207-903692.html. Retrieved 2010-03-03. ""The DealExchange is the first platform that empowers all the key constituencies of the local deal ecosystem -- from the local business to the publisher, and ultimately the consumer," said Chandu Thota, co-founder and chief technology officer of The Dealmap. "Adding leading brands like Local.com and Superpages.com to our distribution network brings incredible value to the local businesses and deal providers we work with, and illustrates the benefit we bring to web publishers."" 
2. ^ http://blog.trademarkia.com/2011/08/05/trademarkia-ceo-raj-abhyanker-former-startup-sold-to-google/
3. ^ http://abhyanker.blogspot.com/
4. ^ Annalee Newitz (03.23.06). "Map Mashups Get Personal". Wired Magazine. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/03/70419. Retrieved 2010-03-03. "For now, Platial has begun experimenting with a version of the site based on Microsoft's Virtual Earth, which Eisnor says will allow users to build maps with more markers. Chandu Thota, a Microsoft engineer who works with developers using the company's mapping data, says Platial is exactly the kind of project he'd hoped would grow on top of Microsoft's open interfaces. "I think the idea has a lot of potential," he says. "I'm excited about using maps to combine the social with the local."" 
5. ^ Heather Havenstein (May 31, 2007). "Fatdoor: Social Networking for Real Communities". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/132375/fatdoor_social_networking_for_real_communities.html. Retrieved 2010-03-03. "Fatdoor.com, a Web site that mirrors the real world to let users to connect with their neighbors, launched Tuesday with a new spin on social networking. Instead of anonymous interaction, Fatdoor lets users communicate directly with local neighbors and businesses, said Raj Abhyanker, CEO and co-founder of the company. Abhyanker launched the company with Chandu Thota, who was the lead developer for Microsoft Corp.'s Virtual Earth mapping and location tool. Bill Harris, the former CEO of PayPal Inc. and Intuit Inc., is an investor and chairman of the company." 
6. ^ Matt Rosoff, Business Insider (March 3, 2011). "Microsoft Adds Daily Deals To Bing (MSFT, GOOG)". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/03/03/businessinsider-microsoft-bing-gets-into-daily-deals-game-with-dealmap-2011-3.DTL. Retrieved 2010-03-03. "... But the CTO of Dealmap's parent company Center'd is Chandu Thota, who previously led development for Bing Maps ..." 
7. ^ David Daw (Aug 22,2011). "Google Acquires Deal Site The Dealmap". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/article/237100/google_acquires_deal_site_the_dealmap.html. Retrieved 2011-08-22. "The Dealmap, a daily deals site that specializes in maps of deals in your local area, announced Tuesday that it had been acquired by Google. Google has gotten increasingly serious about the deal site market in the past year. The company launched its own deal network, Google Offers, earlier this year after a rejected bid to buy Groupon. The Dealmap, based out of Menlo Park, California, launched in May of 2010 and has built a massive database of deals over the past year. As the company was quick to point out in a blog post about the deal, the site has already grown to over 2 million unique users. Google is probably more interested however in acquiring Dealmap's DealExchange API, software that helps business large and small integrate Dealmap's database of location information for deals. It's still unclear what exactly this agreement means for the future of The Dealmap--or, indeed--for consumers. The company says that Google will help it "innovate in new and unexplored areas of commerce," which is fairly vague. It seems likely that The Dealmap's various products and services will be integrated into Google Offers. Google's deal network is in a limited beta trial in San Francisco For now, there's appears to be no need to fear that this will turn into another GrandCentral debacle. Google bought that VoIP company in 2007 and then took almost two years before the search giant launched its own version of the service--Google Voice. For now, The Dealmap will continue to support its products as usual, so the many companies that currently depend on DealExchange, including giants like Microsoft, can keep using it." 

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Name	Thota, Chandu
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