JW

Jonathan Wegener

Product obsessed founder, time traveler, subway rider

Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

Invests in

Stages:

  • Min Investment:

    $5,000.00
  • Max Investment:

    $50,000.00
  • Target Investment:

    $25,000.00

Education

Work Experience

  • Member

    2023

    Experimenting with wild emotional applications of AI -- "Future" Timehop. How can we use AI to help us imagine our futures and reconceive our life story? Also a hardware experiment or two :)

2018 - 2021

  • Founder

    2018 - 2021

    Built the first AirPods entertainment company. Raised $3mm from the founders of Oculus, YouTube, HQ Trivia, Tinder, Google Photos, Tumblr, EventBrite, Venmo, GroupMe, MakeSpace and more. Built an amazing tech team (ex-Google/YouTube/Apple/Snapchat) and content team (an Oscar winner-led creative team, a head of content from Nickelodeon, lots of Broadway/Hollywood talent) Created a new class of experiences that leap off the screen and into the real world. However none gained mass adoption or found sustainable growth/retention. We dissolved the company at the end of 2021. -- Our products * PartnerPlay.com invented interactive erotica -- delightful, joyful, intimate shared experiences. Split the AirPods with a partner and you'll hear opposite sides of the same story that you roleplay together. * PairPlayApp.com focused on kids aged 6-9 — become characters in a narrative game where your home becomes a rich cinematic universe. We saw huge smiles and great feedback, but saw kids struggling to use AirPods * GoGoGames.com similar to PairPlay, but focused on speakerphone audio (instead of AirPods) and iPad instead of iPhone. * MadeWithLumo.com transforms your iPad into a lightbox you draw on with real pen and paper, bringing beautiful audio stories to life.

2017 - 2017

  • Product Designer

    2017 - 2017

    Worked on Evan’s team doing ████████ and ███ with a particular focus on ██████. And don’t forget ███.

2011 - 2017

  • CEO/Co-Founder

    2011 - 2017

    Timehop invented "photos from a year ago today" and became a top iPhone app in the United States with over 25 million registered users. Even a decade later, it continues to have millions of daily users and has inspired copycat products at Facebook, Apple, Google Photos etc As CEO/Co-founder, Led fundraising, product, strategy, support, and ops. I raised $14M in funding (Spark Capital, OATV, and Shasta Ventures), built a ~20 person team, and led the company to profitability.

2008 - 2011

  • Owner

    2008 - 2011

    Holding company for a bunch of stuff: • My Angel investments (MakeSpace, SudoWrite, Capsule Video, Nas Daily / nas.io, Shef, Pachama, Positive Foods, Calixa, Bloomscape, Rebel Foods India, Rolemance/Embrace/Unreal, SecurityPal,Terrible Merch, The Fund LA, The Fund NYC, Vivvi) • Exit Strategy NYC (2009-present) (www.exitstrategynyc.com) - Created beloved iPhone, Android and Blackberry(!!) apps which received coverage from NYTimes, NY Post, NY Magazine, Wired Magazine, NY1 and others. Selected by Apple as a ‘featured’ iPhone app. • FindTheMohel.com - Designed, coded, and SEO-ed a niche lead generation website that helps parents find Mohels - Mentioned in NY Magazine: http://bit.ly/aqEk4y Consulting: • GroupMe (2010) | product design, analytics. • Loosecubes (2010) | iPhone App wireframes. • AppFund (2009) | product design and strategy. Prioritized feature set to define the minimal viable product and created feature roadmap, Defined functional requirements and designed wireframes and mockups, Connected high-level product vision to tangible product. • DenseBrain (2010) | Produced functional specification document and use cases for a large brand's facebook app. • Drop.io (2008) | managed product launch marketing for site redesign. Managed social-media channels, blogger outreach; wrote press releases and marketing materials. • SkillSlate (2008) | SEO strategy and HTML optimization. • MyMohel.com (2009) | Implemented SEM campaign and call tracking solution. • 2010 Designed websites and created SEM/SEO strategies for several local businesses (dvirsalon.com, lenakoro.com, brooklyndogwalk.net, yourbestcollegeessay.com)

  • Founder, CEO

    2010 - 2010

    Not really.

2008 - 2008

  • Business Development Manager

    2008 - 2008

    Marketing, PR, Business Strategy, and Bizdev for a small tech startup in DUMBO building the first open and transparent online lead generation marketplace. https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/11/pontiflex-funding/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/30/pontiflex-raises-25-million-in-series-a-funding/

  • Management Consultant

    2007 - 2008

    Digital media strategy for a large US newswire service

  • Laboratory Research Assistant

    2005 - 2006

    Worked in a biology lab in college performing experiments working on a cure for addiction: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/2000-02/07/007r-020700-idx.html