Duck Duck Moose Names Alan Shusterman Chief Executive Officer

SAN MATEO (July 24, 2013) – Duck Duck Moose, award-winning creator of educational mobile apps for children, announced today the appointment of Alan Shusterman as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors effective immediately. Alan brings more than 20 years of experience developing, building and managing profitable start-ups and businesses including Edusoft, LinkExchange, Inc. and Jobnob, Inc.

“I joined Duck Duck Moose because I believe I can help further the mission to create high-quality products for children that are educationally-rich and offer a fun learning experience that children love and parents can trust,” said Alan Shusterman, CEO, Duck Duck Moose. “It’s an honor to be a part of this amazingly talented team that has achieved much success thus far. I am excited for the future and look forward to leading the company through its next chapter.”

“We are thrilled to have Alan leading Duck Duck Moose,” said Caroline Hu Flexer, Co-Founder, Duck Duck Moose. “It was important to us to find someone who shares our passion for children, education and play. Alan not only exudes this passion, he brings the business expertise we need to build our brand and expand our offerings.”

Through various endeavors, Alan has gained impressive business management, online product development and team leadership experience. As an early investor and Vice President of Client Services at Edusoft, an assessment management tool used by school districts to manage students’ performance, Alan was instrumental in helping more than one hundred California school districts re-tool their education practices and assisting teachers with curriculum development. In two years, Alan helped grow the business by 20x, leading to a purchase by Houghton Mifflin Corp. His experience collaborating with teachers, principals and superintendents complements the educational mission of Duck Duck Moose. As a founding member, Alan led LinkExchange to become a full-scale online marketing solution provider and a pioneer in web advertising and search, email and affiliate marketing. He helped grow the company to more than 100 employees and executed a sale to Microsoft for $265M.

“Alan is a true professional with extensive experience in building companies and leading teams to success,” said Aaref Hilaly, Partner, Sequoia Capital. “His business expertise is the perfect complement to the Co-Founders’ passion for creating the best educational products for children.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to have Alan on board,” said Justin Caldbeck, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners. “His extensive leadership experience, passion for the education space and great intuition in the kids market make him an ideal person to lead Duck Duck Moose through its next phase of growth.”

In just five years, Duck Duck Moose has established itself as a leader in the children’s educational mobile app industry. With 16 educational titles ranging from classic nursery rhymes like Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider to creative-play apps such as Draw & Tell and Trucks to early learning and curriculum-based games like Park Math and Duck Duck Moose Reading, Duck Duck Moose has achieved millions of paid downloads and has won more than 30 industry awards. In September 2012, the Company received $7M in its first round of Series A funding from two leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners. To date, the company has 20 full-time employees in the U.S. and a team of four engineers based in Shanghai. Duck Duck Moose will release its 17th app for iOS in August and is focused on expanding its offerings to the Android market.

Co-Founders, Caroline Hu Flexer and Michael Flexer will work alongside Alan and remain involved in the day-to-day business and operations of Duck Duck Moose. Caroline will continue leading the Product Management team as Chief Product Officer and Michael will maintain his role as Chief Technology Officer leading the U.S. and Shanghai-based engineering efforts.

About Duck Duck Moose
Duck Duck Moose, an award-winning creator of educational mobile apps for children, was founded in 2008 by three parents who share a passion for children, education, music, design and play. Following the launch of its first app, Wheels on the Bus, Duck Duck Moose quickly became a leader in the industry by creating fun, engaging and educational apps that are loved by children and trusted by parents. To date, the company has created seventeen top-selling titles and has received 15 Parents’ Choice Awards, 15 Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice Awards and a KAPi Award for the “Best Children’s App” at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show. Duck Duck Moose is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

Additional information can be found online at Duck Duck Moose, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. Duck Duck Moose is headquartered in San Mateo, California. Copyright © 2008-2013 Duck Duck Moose. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.