About Us

MindBites is your place on the web to find, publish and sell valuable video instructional content. A full publishing and commerce platform, MindBites enables everyone from individuals to content sites and publishing companies to publish, sell and distribute video tutorials and how-to lessons in the MindBites marketplace, on their own site, and across the web. The resulting on-demand knowledge library (which covers everything from English Grammar & Composition video lessons to Adobe CS4 Photoshop video tutorials and screencasts to Physics video lectures and lessons to Painting videos and instructional lessons) simply can't be found anywhere else and offers individuals and organizations a unique monetization platform for their instructional video content. MindBites promises to revolutionize the way the world publishes and shares knowledge. MindBites – What do you know?

Our belief is that the world is at the dawn of a new era in the publishing and sharing of knowledge. Led by the ubiquity of the high-speed, wireless and real-time web, advancements in digital media technology, and the evolution of publishing models, we are experiencing the largest period of change in how the world shares knowledge since Gutenberg invented moveable type. The bottom line is that today we can learn, from one mind to another, like never before in the history of the world (please speak in your best James Earl Jones voice).

We also believe in the power of markets and commerce. We enjoy and utilize free stuff from across the web as much as anyone, but we also feel that it’s not a bad thing for people to earn money or make a living by teaching/instructing others in a more traditional manner (classes, tutoring, apprenticeships) or by accomplishing these same ends through the creation and sale of high-quality instructional content. And, just like we don’t think twice about paying for a good book or a great class, paying for valuable, high-quality and effective video instruction will be a normal act on the web. We are inspired to be living in such an exciting time and playing a part in these historic trends.

The MindBites team is lead by CEO and founder, Jason Reneau. Jason's entire career has been focused on the intersection of technology, economics and business.  Jason founded MindBites in 2007 with a vision for paid content models on the web.  Prior to MindBites, Jason was one of the early founding group at FreeMarkets Online, the pioneering b2b e-commerce company, helping them grow from a 17-person startup through their record breaking IPO in December 1999 into a 1200 person global technology company.  Jason was also one of the early executive group at Kiva Systems, the learning robotics and software for fulfillment company based in Boston, MA.  Previously, Jason worked at the consulting firm McKinsey and Company.  Jason holds an Economics degree from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Assisting him on the business side is MindBites' Chief Operating Officer, Huntley Tarrant. Huntley joined MindBites in 2008 bringing a passion for business, economics and education. Before MindBites, Huntley worked at Dell, in the Office of the CEO working on corporate strategy, and in business unit marketing and strategy for Dell's US Federal and Americas businesses.  Prior to Dell, Huntley worked in the Dallas office of Bain & Company, an international management consulting firm. Huntley is also active with Hexco Academic, an educational publishing company that her family operates.  It produces software and written products for students looking to prepare for academic competitions, including the National Spelling Bee and the National Geography Bee.  Huntley has an Economics degree from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

The MindBites team also includes: Jeff Kramer, who oversees our technology and infrastructure; Nathan Ladd, our lead engineer; and Ethan Burrow, our resident Rails badass. Judd Lyon tends to our usability, findability and front end. Ellen Ambrose focuses on author recruitment, and our intern core, along with Chelsea, help out with support and marketing. In addition to our current folks, there is a whole list of people who have left their indelible fingerprints on MindBites. This cast of characters includes: the team at squeejee.com (led by Wynn Netherland), Matt "MattDaddyC" Chapman (responsible for the direction of our funky web design), Keith Fraase (who can be seen in many early videos and is now editing future blockbuster movies), and our ex lead-deveoper-turned doctor, Matt Sanders.

MindBites is proud to be a portfolio company of True Ventures of Palo Alto, CA, who led the Series A investment round. John Burke, from True, serves on the MindBites Board of Directors. MindBites is humbled and excited to thus be a part of the True portfolio of companies that includes: Meebo, Brightroll, GigaOm, Automattic (WordPress), GoodReads, KISSMetrics and WeGame among others.

MindBites is built with Ruby on Rails and oodles of CSS goodness, with light sprinkles of Flash and AJAX thrown in for good measure. We serve our media in Flash and Quicktime (for the most part). MindBites simply wouldn't have been possible without a bevy of fantastic open-source software developers that make our lives so much happier – thanks guys! We've built additional super-secret technology to keep the ship sailing smoothly even through troubled waters. We could tell you about it, but of course then we'd have to kill you...