And as Webjam grows so does the team. Watch out for opportunities in Europe, the US and future plans for Asia.
Yann Motte, co-founder and CEO
Yann has a passion for stretching his horizons. In his youth, this led him backpacking, particularly in Asia. After sharing some of the most basic and cheap accommodation in the world with some of the biggest bugs in existence, he upgraded his wanderlust by working around the world: he lived in Japan, the US, the UK and, his native France.
Before Webjam, he spent eight years with Yahoo!, overseeing various teams and business units, and most recently as VP of Product Management for the Yahoo! Group in Europe as it was merging with Kelkoo and Overture. While at Yahoo! he experienced first-hand all the highs and lows of the boom, bust and recovery of the early 21st century internet economy. In the days before the internet and email existed (yes, there was such a time) Yann was an investment banker in Tokyo and Paris. Yann is a graduate from French school of management ESSEC and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
All of this makes Yann well-qualified to look after the business side of Webjam, while the others get to focus on the sexier bits. On those rare occasions when he is not living, breathing and eating Webjam, Yann likes to create and relive more life-affirming moments, like being with a friend on a catamaran on the verge of capsizing, putting to win a golf match play, or discovering the sunset in a romantic city with his wife. Nowadays, Yann likes to see the world through the curious, candid and prejudice-free eyes of his kids.
Marcus Greenwood, co-founder and VP Product Engineering
Marcus cannot claim that his life story involves as many air miles as his Webjam co-founders but growing up in the heart of Essex and moving to Reading before settling in Southwark in London has involved encountering just as many strange and interesting people and customs.
Marcus is a serial entrepreneur. He started his own web agency at the tender age of 18 rather than going to university to get a degree (we will not mention the influence of his A Level results on this decision…) and has been involved in a large variety of website and software projects for clients ranging from government to dotcoms and hedge fund portfolio management systems. Yes, Marcus once had a brief fling with the world of finance but that is a part of his life he would rather not talk about since he returned to his first love, the Internet.
Marcus has a worrying obsession with chickens but fortunately not any other farmyard animals (or so he claims).
Marcus leads the technical development of Webjam.
Alberto Barreiro, co-founder and Chief Product Officer
Born and raised in the wetest part of Europe, Galicia, the green Atlantic corner of Spain, Alberto landed in London in 1999 to continue his almost-successful career as a digital artist. Finding somewhere to work for Alberto was easy, since a digital artist’s studio fits in a laptop and renting in Hackney, back then, was still cheap.
Alberto found in the Web the perfect environment to explore and build new creative ideas. His expertise as a visual communicator, working on 'conceptual-digital-art-web-based' projects opened many doors in the Internet industry and in 2000 Yahoo! Europe took Alberto on as a product designer. He spent six years at Yahoo! working on every aspect of the user experience until he finally managed to get a fancy job title as 'Internet Strategist for Global Mobile Portals'. Alberto holds an MA in Fine Arts from Vigo University and a post-graduate diploma from Central Saint Martins University in London.
When not dreaming about designs for Webjam, Alberto enjoys dreaming that he has a life away from his computer. He enjoys art, cooking, surfing, skiing, playing the guitar and all those things that everyone likes but never have the time to do properly.
Alberto leads the creative product direction of Webjam.
John Eikenberry, Chief Technology Officer
John was always an engineer at heart – learning to take apart and repair things from childhood. Growing up during the birth of personal computers, it was only natural that he fell in love with this new technology. With a background in software engineering, he rode the first internet wave as Chief Technolgy Officer (CTO) in charge of technology at Lycos-Europe as it grew from an idea into Europe’s #1 search engine. Following Lycos-Europe, he was the CTO for be2 GmbH which was the #1 matchmaking site in the world at the end of 2007. Recently, he decided to brush up his knowledge of business and completed an MBA program at London Business School and Columbia Business School.
Like many of the Webjam team, John loves to travel and take pictures. Not only has John travelled extensively in the US and in Europe, he has also travelled briefly in Africa and Asia. When not out looking at the world through his viewfinder, John enjoys films, reading, playing games, and puzzles.
John leads the technical team of Webjam.
Lexie Mendelson, Business Development Director
A native New Yorker with an undergraduate degree in Art History, Lexie spent her early career at The Museum of Modern Art in New York flying around the world collecting art works. This travel inspired her decision to move to Europe, but not before the requisite couple of years spent working on a trading floor (in her case in Fixed Income Sales for CSFB). Lexie lived in France and Monaco before moving to London in 2000. Since arriving she has focused her attention on developing successful partnerships for innovative internet and mobile companies with leading brand names such as: MSN, AOL, Ask, Wannado, Nestle, O2, Sony&BMG, T-Mobile, Cartoon Network, Age Concern, Cable & Wireless, American Greetings and Domino’s Pizza.
When she isn’t networking and downloading online you can find Lexie and her Venezuelan husband travelling, visiting museums and the theatre and watching every genre of film.
Lexie leads Webjam’s efforts to find the best business development partnerships.
Webjam strives to keep an open, enthusiastic and cosmopolitan feel for its growing team.