EY Announces Naveen Gupta of Birdeye as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Southwest Award Winner
Birdeye’s CEO recognized as unstoppable entrepreneur reimagining the way businesses grow through customer happiness
Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Naveen Gupta, CEO and co-founder of Birdeye, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2021 Southwest Award winner. The Entrepreneur Of The Year® Awards program is one of the preeminent competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The award recognizes unstoppable entrepreneurial leaders excelling in talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; originality; and innovation.
“Winning the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year award is a direct result of the efforts of our employees globally. We’re driven by a shared passion to build great products that help businesses grow better,” said Gupta. “We are challenging the status quo that says, to win, businesses must be ruthless. I disagree: I believe that businesses grow better through happy customers. It’s a more sustainable and scalable approach and everybody wins. 70,000+ businesses now trust Birdeye to power their growth by providing great customer experiences to 100M+ customers.”
For 35 years, EY US has honored entrepreneurs whose ambition, courage and ingenuity have driven their companies’ success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Naveen will go on to become a lifetime member of the esteemed multi-industry community of award winners, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of fellow alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries — all supported by vast EY resources.
As a Southwest award winner, Naveen will be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2021 National Awards. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will 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 program has honored the inspirational leadership of many well-known entrepreneurs including
- Brian Niccol of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
- Saeju Jeong of Noom
- Joe DeSimone of Carbon, Inc.
- Howard Schultz of Starbucks Corporation
- Jodi Berg of Vitamix
- Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn
- Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani
- Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC
- Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks
- James Park of Fitbit
- Daymond John of Fubu
"Winning the Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year award is a direct result of the efforts of our employees globally. We’re driven by a shared passion to build great products that help businesses grow better" Naveen Gupta, Birdeye Co-Founder and CEO