David Ripert
David Ripert has left a comfortable job heading up YouTube Spaces at Google to launch his own augmented-reality marketplace startup, Poplar. It was a big decision to leave a corporate job to run a startup, and Ripert has bucked the clichéd image of the super-young founder by launching Poplar just before turning 40. Poplar will help brands launch augmented-reality campaigns by matching them up with creators. It’s being launched from Founders Factory, the startup incubator launched by Made.com co-founder Brent Hoberman.
David Ripert was perfectly happy at Google. He saw himself as an “intrepreneur” there, a word used to describe people who lead startup-like innovations inside big companies.
But after six years leading what might be one of the company’s most fun divisions, YouTube Space, he’s given it all up to found an ambitious augmented-reality marketplace startup called Poplar.