Jawed Karim is a German-American software engineer and Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder of YouTube and the first person to upload a video to the platform. Born in Merseburg, East Germany, Karim moved with his family to Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1992. He studied computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before leaving campus in 2000 to become an early engineer at PayPal, where he designed core components including its real-time anti-fraud system. At PayPal, Karim met fellow co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, with whom he launched YouTube in February 2005. Karim uploaded the platform's inaugural video, 'Me at the zoo', on April 23, 2005. Choosing to act as an informal advisor rather than an employee so he could pursue a master's degree in computer science at Stanford University, Karim held a smaller stake when Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. In 2008, he co-founded Youniversity Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to helping student and alumni entrepreneurs launch startups.

Russel Simmons is an American software engineer and technology entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of Yelp. Simmons attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy before studying computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he befriended fellow technology entrepreneur Jeremy Stoppelman. In late 1998, he left graduate studies to join PayPal as an early engineer and lead software architect, contributing to the foundational design of its online payment infrastructure and earning recognition as a member of the PayPal Mafia. Following PayPal's acquisition by eBay in 2002, Simmons joined MRL Ventures, an incubator created by former PayPal CTO Max Levchin. In 2004, Simmons and Stoppelman co-founded Yelp, where Simmons served as Chief Technology Officer and oversaw the development of the platform's social networking and local review engine until 2010. After leaving Yelp, Simmons turned his focus toward educational technology, founding Learnirvana and developing digital learning platforms including Delvin Language.