Kargman grew up in the greater Boston area and graduated from the private all-boys school, Belmont Hill School, in 1992. In 1997, Kargman graduated with honors from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Government. He has two sisters, Bess, a filmmaker and director of 2011 film First Position, and Sophie Kargman, an actress. Before starting his own company, he worked at Intel and Intertainer, a broadband content provider.
Kargo
Kargo Inc.
Kargman initially founded Kargo Inc. in 1999, hoping to build software that would serve as the mobile web's foundation. Mobile carriers, to whom he offered his services, insisted on many rounds of vetting and trial periods before they would purchase his software. At this stage, his company had much venture capital funding but little revenue and the company went through all of its money in 2001. That year, Kargo lost its office and staff dropped from 35 to just Kargman and two engineers. However, because the company was Tribeca-based and within the 9/11 impact zone, Kargo received approximately $70,000 from New York City's World Trade Center Business Recovery Grant Program, which kept it afloat. With this grant, Kargman aimed to rebuild the company - but this time without venture capital funds.
Kargo Global, Inc.
In 2003, Kargman created Kargo Inc.'s successor: Kargo Global, Inc., and he transferred Kargo Inc.'s trademark to it. While rebuilding Kargo, he pivoted the role of the company's relationship with mobile carriers. Instead of creating software for mobile carriers for single payments, he created sites where carriers could sell products - such as ringtones - and Kargo could share the revenue from every sale. As the Internet shifted, Kargo shifted again, now building websites for media companies rather than just their portals. However, Kargo found media companies to be reluctant because they were not sure they would be able to monetize the sites. So, after watching media companies be unable to sell mobile adds for several years, Kargman decided to move Kargo into the ad business. Kargo began contracting with networks such as AdMob and Millennial Media, placing ads on sites rather than merely relying on sites' publishers to do so. Kargo's annual revenue in 2015 was $100 million. Kargo has locations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Dallas, Sydney, and Auckland.
Kargo awards
Kargo has received several awards, including:
Mobile Marketing Association Smarties Gold Medal, Cross-Mobile Integration, Lyft - 2018
Kargman married author, writer, and actress Jill Kargman, star of Odd Mom Out, in 2002. The two were set up by their grandmothers. The couple has three children: Sadie, Ivy, and Fletch. He is the son-in-law of Arie L. Kopelman, former president of Chanel, and the brother-in-law of Will Kopelman.
