James Ide

Fam, let me put you on to James Ide, the guy’s legit the real deal in the dev world. So, he’s a YC alum from S16, which means he’s been in the game a minute, and not just messing around, he’s built something that actually matters. He’s the co-founder and CTO of Expo, this open-source platform that’s changing how devs build apps. Basically, it lets you make native apps with JavaScript and React, but like, super smoothly and universally. No bullshit, it’s a big change for mobile devs.

Now, here’s the kicker: James jumped into tech early, with a solid background in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley, no surprise he’s sharp. Before Expo, he cut his teeth at the big leagues: Facebook, where he worked on site performance and product infrastructure, so he knows how to scale and improve at the highest levels. He’s also done stints at Google and Microsoft Research, where he was developing a domain-specific language and a program synthesizer, basically, he was messing with some advanced AI and coding tools before it was trendy.

What this tells you? James isn’t just some guy who got lucky. He’s obsessed with making developer tools better, more open, more accessible. He’s driven by a passion to enable other developers, to build stuff faster and smarter. That’s why Expo is his baby, it’s not just a product, it’s a movement. And he’s been doing this since 2016, jumping into YC right out of the gate, which shows he’s not afraid to go all-in on his ideas.

His story screams one thing: he’s all about building cool shit that actually changes the game. He’s someone who’s been deep in the trenches of big tech and then decided, “You know what? Let’s build something for the community, for developers who wanna ship apps fast but don’t wanna deal with the bullshit of native development.” That’s why Expo is so important, it’s the intersection of web and native, the “dev-first” approach that’s making waves.

Bottom line: James is a technologist who’s cracked the code on making development easier, faster, and more open. His process from UC Berkeley to Facebook, Microsoft, and now leading Expo, that’s not just career moves, that’s a mindset. He’s the guy who saw a problem, jumped into the trenches, and built a solution that’s actually helping thousands of devs do their thing without the bullshit.

No cap, he’s the kind of founder who’s here to stay, pushing tech forward, and changing what’s possible.