John-Simon Purcell on Startup Counterculture, Career Breaks & Standardizing Fundraising - E61

John-Simon Purcell (‘JSP’) is Senior Director, Product & Technical Strategy at Prosus Group/Naspers where he advises on new venture investments and provides operating guidance to Prosus’ worldwide portfolio in the areas of product, growth, and technology.

Prior to Prosus, JSP was Technical Director at Medialets, where he scaled systems to collect & analyze data for a product that was at one point on 85%+ of all iOS and Android devices. JSP had also guided Nokia’s Ovi Store, a B2C mobile experience with on-device and web based storefronts for billions of customers in every corner of the globe. He also held several technology leadership roles at MTV Networks and Sun Microsystems.

JSP started his career at Cambridge, MA startup Vermeer Technologies which was acquired by the Microsoft Corporation. He holds a B.A. from Boston University and a M.S. from Columbia University, in Computer Science respectively.

Shownotes at https://www.jeremyau.com/blog/john-simon-purcell