Meet the Team
Tristan Harris Co-Founder and CEO
Tristan stopped out of the Stanford Computer Science Masters program to start Apture. A Mayfield Fellow with the Stanford Technology Ventures Program in entrepreneurship, Tristan is an alumnus of Wikia. When not evangelizing Apture, he spends his time playing Yann Tiersen music on the piano and dancing Argentine Tango in San Francisco. Tristan holds a BS in Computer Science from Stanford, with a focus in Human Computer Interaction.
Can Sar Co-Founder and CTO
Can stopped out of the Stanford Computer Science PhD program to start Apture. He holds both a BS and MS Degree in Computer Science from the University, has published several academic papers in Operating Systems and Security, and is a Stanford Graduate Fellow. He is from Vienna, Austria and spends his free-time skiing, sailing, traveling, and reading. After a recent trip to India he’d love to travel to Africa next.
Jesse Young Co-Founder and Chief Engineer
Jesse holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Computer Science from Stanford. Before Apture he worked at Microsoft and VMware, and managed the section leading programs for Stanford’s Introductory Computer Science program. In his free time, Jesse is often found planning or playing The Game, a non-stop puzzlehunt around the Bay Area. He’s also known for playing a mean game of four-square.
Brian Monnin VP of Business Development
Brian has over fifteen years experience in digital media and technology. Most recently he was VP Publishing Products for Brightcove. Previously Brian was CEO and co-founder of MetaStories, a rich media editing platform used by Discovery Channel, MSN, Yahoo!, Scripps Networks and National Geographic. Brightcove acquired MetaStories in 2006. Brian is a former MSNBC.com Senior Interactive Producer responsible for interactive content, broadband and ITV. Prior to MSNBC.com, he spent 3 years at Microsoft as Program Manager creating multimedia programming and also developing the small business channel on MSN. He is a graduate of Brown University and spends his free time skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and exploring the Pacific Northwest with his family.
Joshua Software Engineer
Josh hails from midcoast Maine. After getting his BS in Computer Science at Stanford, he braved malaria, voodoo masters, and machete-wielding bandits as a Peace Corps volunteer in Pemba, Tanzania. He helped build ICT departments for the region’s schools, and taught math, computers, and science in Kiswahili. Josh now lives in San Francisco and is excited about Apture’s potential to revolutionize the way the web educates and informs.
Ubi Software Engineer
Ubi is the original developer behind MIT's scratch web application. He graduated from MIT with a BS in Computer Science. Before joining Apture, he was an engineer with Bebo’s Applications group. Prior to college, Ubi spent most of his time going back and forth between Atlanta and Nigeria, where his parents and extended family live respectively.
Andrew Software Engineer
Andrew hails from New York City and studied math and computer science at McGill. Prior to joining Apture, he was working solo on a computation-intensive startup. While he will always miss Montréal's spectacular winters, he is excited to have finally joined the valley. He likes table tennis, espresso, computational linguistics, massive datasets, and wearing many hats.
Drew Community Advocate
Drew holds a degree in Marketing from Santa Clara University. Before Apture he had worked eBay and Yardbarker. He's originally from Santa Cruz, California and spends his free time exploring San Francisco, drinking espresso and listening to music. He also known for having an obsession with sports statistics.
Paul Designer Extraordinaire
Paul is a graphic designer from Walsall, England with over five years experience in website design and development. He is a keen advocate of web standards and best practices, and actively follows the latest discussions in this area. Paul recently moved back to Britain to run his own design studio. When not in front of a computer, Paul is likely to be sitting in an airport departure lounge.
Edward Software Engineering Intern
Edward is from San Jose, CA and is a masters student in Computer Science at Stanford. His favorite classes are in computer graphics and he is a huge fan of Pixar. He is a long time section leader for Stanford’s Introductory Computer Science program and also helps teach math at his high school. In his free time, he likes to boulder, read, and play piano. In addition to improving Apture this summer, he looks forward to attending SIGGRAPH 2008.