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.
Steven Kan VP of Operations and Marketing
Steven has worked with almost a dozen early-stage companies as an executive, advisor, and investor. Prior to Apture, Steven was with venture firms Clearstone and Redpoint where he helped incubate multiple companies including the online video technology company Nokeena Networks. Steven began in online media at Overture (acquired by Yahoo) where he helped start the contextual advertising business - growing Content Match to a $100MM run rate through deals with ESPN.com, WSJ.com, MSN.com and others. Steven studied Applied Physics at Yale and has an MBA from UCLA Anderson. He lives in Palo Alto and can be found exploring museums around the Bay Area and sailing with his wife and son.
Joshua Stern 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.
R. Tyler Ballance Software Engineer
Tyler has been developing software professionally since the age of 18, when he founded a Mac software and consulting company named bleep. He dropped out of Texas A&M University, where he studied computer engineering, to satisfy his entrepreneurial spirit. Just before Apture, Tyler made a name for himself as the developer of Slide's Top Friends Facebook application, the most popular app on Facebook with millions of loyal daily users. When he's not writing code, Tyler actively contributes to the open source community and his own blog, the Unethical Blogger. Plus, he has a killer virtual backhand with a Wii Tennis score of over 2300.
Rob Brown Software Engineer
Rob has a long history of creating innovative and useful things. While in college for industrial design, he made a name for himself in 3d CAD, making models and images that were circulated widely (including an "ergoman" model that was used in the design of the International Space Station) and later developed 3d modeling tools, for which he has two patents. Following this, he applied his knack for interactive user interfaces to the web, developing such things as the popular Firefox extension "Aardvark". He was one of the early Ajax developers, and later pushed Javascript's limits further with such things as cross-domain Ajax widgets.
When not hacking Javascript Rob can be seen on the streets of San Franciso on his vintage Vespa scooter, or sometimes on the sidewalks with his English Shepherd dog.
Jason Rubenstein Software Engineer
Jason started an IBM-systems consultancy in his 20s, writing software for Fortune-500 companies. He then moved to Los Angeles and started a music and audio production company, placing his work on NBC and in the mysterious howl sound from ABC's "Lost". In 2007 Jason left all of that behind to create consumer web products. He eventually sold a Facebook application to Slide and moved to San Francisco to work on their "Top Friends" product. Jason has a B S in Computer Science and Music, and is an avid pianist and reader of history.
Andrew Machado Community Advocate
Andrew 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.