Jeremy Stoppelman is an American Internet entrepreneur and executive best known as the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yelp, a widely used local search and crowdsourced review platform. Born in Arlington, Virginia, Stoppelman developed an early interest in computer programming and business. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1999. After working briefly at @Home Network, he joined X.com as an engineer before the company renamed itself PayPal. Stoppelman rapidly rose through the ranks at PayPal to become Vice President of Engineering, establishing himself as a key member of the executive group known as the PayPal Mafia. Following PayPal's acquisition by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, Stoppelman left the company to attend Harvard Business School. In 2004, during a summer internship at MRL Ventures—an incubator started by former PayPal colleague Max Levchin—Stoppelman partnered with engineer Russel Simmons to co-found Yelp. Starting as an email-based recommendation network, Yelp quickly pivoted into a public review platform that transformed how local businesses connect with consumers. As CEO, Stoppelman led the company through significant growth, rejecting major acquisition bids from tech leaders such as Google and taking Yelp public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012. Beyond managing Yelp's global operations, Stoppelman has emerged as a prominent voice on digital antitrust issues and technology policy in Silicon Valley.

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.