Jonathan Eppers

Jonathan has a diverse background in technology start-ups that include everything from MySpace and FirstString to Facebook and Apple iPhone applications. Eppers launched FirstString.com – an elite online social community for high school athletes and coaches in the Spring of 2008 through a funding source of nearly $500,000. His athletic background and innate knowledge and passion for sports coupled with his close ties to collegiate and professional coaches and recruiters has helped him turn FirstString in one of the top online destinations for high school athletics.

Jonathan’s experience working for the largest (until recently) and most visited social platform, MySpace gave him great exposure to both the product and revenue sides of a social network. Eppers reported directly to Tom Anderson, former Founder and President, MySpace and learned a great deal about the effects of releasing features to hundreds of millions of users.

Eppers recently consulted for ESPN and former Pro Football player Marcellus Wiley’s newest venture, Prolebrity: a social platform for professional athletes that utilizes the power of the iPhone and Blackberry. Jonathan is also currently working with one of Hollywood’s Elite Entertainment companies at creating applications that harness the phenomenon of the Facebook platform.

He also has experience working in the pharmaceutical sector, having served as a consultant for the Global eMarketing team at the world headquarters of Merck (WhiteHouse Station, NJ). There he focused on utilizing existing social media tools and applying them in a way that provided creative outlets for branded research content and promotional materials to the world’s top scientific and medical leaders.

Eppers graduated in 2005 from Purdue University’s College of Technology having won the coveted senior design project which focused on creating RFID technology that could be used by the Department of Defense and Homeland Security. The venture created out of the project, Vidation, later went on to receive funding that allowed the project additional scope and resources.

Jonathan is passionate about online technology but applies this same passion in to building close relationships with people that help foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and knowledge that help to make the world a better place.