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 and has two pending patents from his work at Apple Computer. 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
Can is a Stanford Computer Science PhD student focusing on Operating Systems and Security. He holds both a BS and MS Degree in Computer Science from the University, has published several academic papers, 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.
Beau Vrolyk Executive Chairman
Beau has been building technology products and founding companies in Silicon Valley for over 30 years. He has served as a senior executive and board member of numerous companies including Arete, Zilog, Silicon Graphics, Xerox, OpCode, TogetherSoft, Cassatt, and RMI. He is fanatical about sailing – having once made the passage to New Zealand from San Francisco – and big mountain skiing.
Patrick Technical Advisor and Engineer
Patrick has been a lecturer in the Stanford Computer Science department since 1997. He developed Stanford's Client-Side Internet Technology class. He also serves as a Resident Fellow (a live-in faculty advisor) for one of Stanford's largest dorm complexes. Patrick enjoys classical guitar, piano, and keeping Molly, his Cairn Terrier, out of trouble.
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.
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.
Theresa Developer Advocate and Community Liaison
Theresa has a BS from Stanford in Science, Technology and Society with a focus in Computer Science. With a keen interest in making technology more intuitive and accessible, she ran a technology camp for youngsters in Ghana, installed educational technology in East Palo Alto, and hosted an online video series on innovation. When she's not busy cultivating the Apture User Community, she dreams idly of becoming a NASA Mission Specialist.
Oded Software Engineer
Oded graduated from Stanford with a BS in Biology and an MS in Computer Science. He joined Apture after working for 3 years at NVIDIA. He is also a part-time EMT, and spent 2 summers volunteering for Magen David Adom, the Israeli emergency medical service. In the winter, Oded likes to go to Lake Tahoe to snowboard.
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.