James Ruben
Founder of Hellosaurus
James Ruben
Founder of Hellosaurus
San Francisco Bay Area
Overview
Work Experience
Founder, CEO (acquired by Brilliant.org; YC S20)
2019 - Current
Ranking as high as the #3 App For Kids across the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Hellosaurus is an award-winning interactive video platform where kids ages 2 to 8 learn by doing, not just watching. • As solo founder and CEO, led Hellosaurus from inception through successful acquisition by Brilliant.org, a leader in interactive digital education. Together, Hellosaurus and Brilliant continue to deliver best-in-class interactive learning and play experiences to 10+ million users. • Concieved of and led development of the Hellosaurus mobile apps and the Hellosaurus Creator Studio -- a suite of proprietary no-code interactive video creation tools used by many of the world’s top kids content creators -- which have pioneered a new form of participatory entertainment and education as the first end-to-end platform to develop and distribute mobile interactive experiences at scale. • Hired and grew team from 1 person to 30+ people and led day-to-day operations across entire company (engineering, product, design, marketing, content, operations, finance, and educational research) • Raised millions of dollars in venture capital over multiple rounds from top tier investors such as Y Combinator, General Catalyst, GSV Ventures, BDMI, and the founders of Warby Parker, Allbirds, Harrys, Vimeo, Skillshare, and YouTube • Awards include: 2022 Kidscreen Winner for “Best Kids Streaming Service,” Apple “App Of The Day” and “Must Have Kids App,” 2021 GSV Cup Winner, 2021 Fast Company “World Changing Idea”, 2021 Kidscreen Winner for “Best Original Web/App Series,” Named "Mister Rogers for the iPhone Generation" by Forbes and “Favorite companies from Y Combinator’s S20” by TechCrunch
Angel Investor
2018
Active angel investor in 15+ companies, investing in pre-seed to Series C in a variety of industries (consumer, education, fintech, media/creator economy, healthcare, AI, B2B SaaS/prosumer, VC funds).
Head of Product
2017 - 2019
Ranking as high as #1 Game and the #4 Overall App across the App Store and Google Play, HQ was a worldwide phenomenon of live, interactive game shows played by tens of millions of people. • Led all product management, ideation, and development for entire Intermedia Labs Inc. international network of live, mobile, interactive shows (including HQ Trivia, HQ Sports, and HQ Words) • Managed day-to-day operations of not only the engineering, data and product teams but also the company as a whole; direct reports include all product managers, data scientists, and customer experience representatives • Helped manage the growth of HQ from prototypes all the way to worldwide phenomena played by tens of millions and revered by many more • Led development of In App Purchase products as well as product partnership experiences with brands such as Nike, NBC, Target, and Warner Brothers that generated 20M+ in revenue for the HQ network • Product work pioneered an innovative blend of social, interactive mobile gaming and live video streaming; it has created an entirely new category of mobile consumer tech, which now includes dozens of copycat products by companies like Facebook, FOX, and Disney • Awards include: Time magazine’s “App of the Year,” 2018 Emmy Award Finalist for Innovation in Interactive Media, AdWeek Hot List 2018 “Hottest App” Winner, Fast Company World’s Most Innovative Companies 2018, 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30
Product Manager
2016 - 2017
Alumni of Associate Product Management (APM) Rotational Program and led product teams that reached billions of users. • As Product Manager on the Geo Data Platform team, led 10+ person engineering team building the infrastructure and data quality systems necessary to ingest, process, and store third party data feeds used to populate POIs in Google Maps and Google Search in more than 80 countries • As Product Manager on the Supply Chain Intelligence and Innovation team, led cross-functional team building the platform used across Alphabet to improve development of internal supply chain applications; team also built multiple applications on the platform, including one for SOX compliance • PM responsibilities included: managing product execution cycle from ideation to iterative development to testing to launch, leading team’s agile development processes, writing and presenting product requirement documents and quarterly strategy documents to senior leadership, creating high fidelity design mockups, securing/negotiating data partnerships, and conducting extensive user research.
Investment Partner
2015 - 2016
Sourced, evaluated, and invested in student-run companies for a $XXM fund backed by First Round Capital
Co-Founder (While In College)
2012 - 2016
• Co-founded and led a variety of startup projects while a student at Harvard. My roles ranged from engineering to design to product management. Startups won various grants and awards--including participating in the Summer@Highland accelerator program and my being named a Thiel Fellowship finalist--and raised some venture funding from Rough Draft Ventures. • 2014 - 2016, Wizzy: iOS application for making and sharing automatic music video clips. Launched on the App Store with thousands of active users and beta testers. • 2013 - 2014, Side: Side was the first mobile recommendation engine that uses your friends' thoughts about you to help you discover products, services, and experiences that match your personality. • 2012 - 2013, Butucu: Co-Founder of a mobile web platform that allows businesses to push custom content to their in-store customers while providing high-level analytics. Works on product design, business development, customer relations, and marketing.
Associate Product Manager Intern
2015 - 2015
• Led team of engineers and designers in projects that enabled wrist-gesture interaction with Android Wear watches. • Managed feature execution cycle from ideation to iterative development to product testing; readied product for next public release. • Wrote and presented product requirement documents (PRDs) and comprehensive test plans for Android Wear features; coordinated creation of prototypes and design mockups and oversaw transition into final product.
Program Manager (PM) Intern
2014 - 2014
• Led technical vision, design, and implementation of new proprietary mobile application for the Sway platform. • Managed a team of full time employees in both the United States and Japan. • Received offer to return for Summer 2015.
Entrepreneur in Residence
2013 - 2013
Member of the Summer@Highland student entrepreneur accelerator program. Founded and built Side during time there.
Teacher
2011 - 2011
Taught computer literacy, math, and tennis
Education
Bachelor of Arts - BA
2012 - 2016
Master of Business Administration - MBA
2022 - 2024
High School
2000 - 2012