EY Announces Naveen Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Birdeye, as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Southwest Award Finalist

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) recently announced that Naveen Gupta, co-founder and CEO of Birdeye, the all-in-one Experience Marketing platform, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Southwest Award finalist. 

Now in its 35th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors unstoppable business leaders whose ambition, ingenuity and courage in the face of adversity help catapult us from the now to next and beyond. Gupta was selected by a panel of independent judges. Award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on August 4, 2021 and will become lifetime members of an esteemed community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world.

Birdeye has more than 70,000 businesses, including Titlemax, BMW, David’s Bridal and Buffalo Wild Wings. Through Birdeye’s all-in-one platform, businesses can attract new customers using Reviews and Referrals, connect with leads and customers using Webchat and Inbox, and delight customers using Surveys, Ticketing and Insights. Birdeye’s patent-pending tools like Experience Score, Athena AI and Robin Automation enable businesses to deliver great experiences at every customer interaction.

“Being recognized as a finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year award is a testament to the tireless efforts of our employees globally who are driven by a shared passion to build great products that change the world,” said Gupta. “We are creating a new category, Experience Marketing. Today, customers choose businesses based on shared experiences, not ads. We’re reinventing marketing around customer happiness. It’s not a revolution, it’s a revelation.”

Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated based on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Since its launch, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries around the world.

 Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, to be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum®, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June 2022.