Marco Zappacosta was born in Stanford, California, in 1985 and grew up in Atherton. His father, Pierluigi Zappacosta, is the engineer who co-founded Logitech after moving from Italy to the US in the 1970s.
At Columbia University he studied political science and graduated in 2007. With Jonathan Swanson and Jeremy Tunnell he directed Students for Saving Social Security, a group with more than 10,000 student members on over 300 campuses.
In 2008 the three, with Sander Daniels, started Thumbtack in San Francisco. Hiring a mover or an electrician on Craigslist meant guessing who was real. Thumbtack added photos, licences and reviews, and charged professionals only when they quoted on a job.
Funding grew in steps: $1.2 million in 2010, a $4.5 million Series A in 2012, and $100 million from Google Capital in 2014. A $275 million round in July 2021 valued the company at $3.2 billion. Fast Company reported $400 million in revenue for fiscal 2024.