Doug Dohring

Doug Dohring, former CEO of Neopets, Inc., is the founder and CEO of Age of Learning, Inc., the edtech company that created and runs ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy.

Dohring formed The Dohring Company in 1986, where he served as Chairman and CEO, with his wife originally serving as president. Customers for the company's market research services have included retail chains including Baskin-Robbins and House of Fabrics, and entertainment firms including Capitol Records, as well as automotive, financial services, and health care companies. However, automotive surveys comprised up to 80% of the firm's business in 1995. At that time, the company was ranked 55th on the Advertising Age list of the nation's largest market research firms. It was 92nd on the Los Angeles Business Journal 's 1995 List of fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles County.

Dohring formed Neopets, Inc. after being introduced to the Neopets.com site by a mutual friend upon its December, 1999 launch by two British college students, Adam Powell and Donna Williams. According to BusinessWeek, Dohring bought the site immediately thereafter, and in April, 2000, he brought in his first paying customers for a concept that he trademarked as immersive advertising.

According to a Harvard Business School case study, Neopets, Inc. had reached profitability four months after launching operations, "largely due to the fact that it spends nothing for customer acquisition, relying strictly on word-of-mouth," and as of July 2001, the site was ranked #4 in "stickiness".

...
Wikipedia