Jeremy Stoppelman

Jeremy Stoppelman
Born	10 11, 1977
Birthplace	Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Chief Executive Officer of Yelp
Known for	Co-founding Yelp

Jeremy Stoppelman (born November 10, 1977) is an American business executive and entrepreneur who co-founded Yelp, the consumer review platform, and has served as its chief executive officer since the company's inception in 2004. Born in Arlington, Virginia, Stoppelman studied computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign before entering the technology industry during the late 1990s dot-com era. He worked at X.com, the online financial services company that became PayPal, where he rose to the position of Vice President of Engineering. After PayPal's acquisition by eBay, Stoppelman enrolled at Harvard Business School, and it was during an internship between his first and second years that the idea for Yelp took shape. He co-founded the company with fellow PayPal alumnus Russel Simmons and guided it through its early growth, an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012, and its expansion into an internationally recognized platform for local business reviews. Stoppelman is regarded as a member of the so-called "PayPal Mafia," a group of former PayPal employees who went on to found or lead prominent technology companies in Silicon Valley.

Early Life

Jeremy Stoppelman was born on November 10, 1977, in Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. He grew up in the Washington metropolitan area and displayed an early interest in technology and computers. Stoppelman attended the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth program as a young student, an experience that exposed him to advanced academic enrichment during his formative years.

His interest in technology deepened throughout his adolescence, and he gravitated toward computer engineering as a discipline. Growing up during the emergence of the personal computer revolution and the early days of the Internet, Stoppelman was part of a generation that witnessed the transformation of computing from a niche hobby into a central feature of modern life. This environment shaped his decision to pursue a technical education and ultimately a career in the technology sector.

Stoppelman's upbringing in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., placed him in proximity to a region that, while not yet the technology hub it would later become, had a significant concentration of government and defense-related technology companies. However, it was the allure of Silicon Valley and the booming internet economy of the late 1990s that would draw him westward after completing his undergraduate education.

Education

Stoppelman enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, one of the leading engineering programs in the United States, where he studied computer engineering. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1999. The University of Illinois had a strong reputation in computer science and engineering, and its alumni have included numerous figures prominent in the technology industry.

After several years working in the technology sector, including his tenure at PayPal, Stoppelman sought to broaden his skill set beyond engineering. He enrolled at Harvard Business School, pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA). It was during his time at Harvard that the concept for Yelp first emerged, ultimately leading Stoppelman to leave the MBA program before completing his degree in order to pursue the startup full-time.

Career

Early Career and PayPal

After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1999, Stoppelman moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and took a position at @Home Network, a broadband internet service provider that was one of the prominent technology companies of the late 1990s. His tenure at @Home was brief, as the company was among the many technology firms affected by the dot-com bubble bust.

Stoppelman subsequently joined X.com, an online financial services company founded by Elon Musk. X.com merged with Confinity, a company founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, and the combined entity was eventually renamed PayPal. At PayPal, Stoppelman rose through the engineering ranks and attained the title of Vice President of Engineering, a senior technical leadership role at one of the most consequential financial technology startups of the early 2000s.

PayPal's trajectory during this period was marked by rapid growth, intense competition, and ultimately a successful initial public offering in 2002 followed by its acquisition by eBay for approximately $1.5 billion. The experience proved formative for Stoppelman, both in terms of the technical and business acumen he developed and the professional network he built. Many of his colleagues at PayPal—including Thiel, Levchin, Reid Hoffman, David Sacks, and others—went on to found or invest in some of the most prominent technology companies of the following decade, a group collectively known in Silicon Valley lore as the "PayPal Mafia."

Stoppelman's association with this group would prove instrumental in the founding and funding of Yelp. The shared experiences and mutual trust built during the high-pressure environment at PayPal created a network of entrepreneurs and investors who frequently collaborated on subsequent ventures.

Founding of Yelp

Following eBay's acquisition of PayPal, Stoppelman decided to attend Harvard Business School to augment his engineering background with formal business training. During the summer between his first and second years at Harvard, he took an internship at MRL Ventures, a startup incubator in San Francisco run by former PayPal executive Max Levchin.

It was at MRL Ventures, in the summer and fall of 2004, that Stoppelman and fellow PayPal alumnus Russel Simmons began developing the idea that would become Yelp. The original concept was rooted in a simple personal experience: Stoppelman had been looking for a doctor recommendation and found the process of finding reliable local business information online to be frustratingly difficult. The initial iteration of Yelp was built around an email-based referral system, where users could send requests for business recommendations to their friends. However, the founders soon noticed that the most engaging aspect of the service was the unsolicited reviews that users were writing about local businesses. This observation led to a pivotal shift in the product's direction—toward a platform centered on user-generated reviews of local businesses.

Stoppelman left Harvard Business School without completing his MBA to dedicate himself to building Yelp full-time. The company was formally incorporated in 2004 and headquartered in San Francisco. Levchin's MRL Ventures provided early funding and support, and the PayPal network proved valuable in securing additional investment. The decision to leave a prestigious MBA program to pursue a startup was a calculated risk, but one that Stoppelman has described as driven by the conviction that the opportunity was too compelling to pass up.

Growth and Expansion of Yelp

Under Stoppelman's leadership as CEO, Yelp grew from a small San Francisco-based startup into one of the most widely used consumer review platforms on the internet. The company's growth strategy focused initially on building a strong user community in San Francisco before expanding to other major metropolitan areas across the United States.

A key element of Yelp's early growth was its cultivation of an active community of reviewers, known as "Yelpers." The company invested in community management, hosting events for prolific reviewers and fostering a sense of identity and belonging among its contributor base. This approach helped Yelp differentiate itself from competitors and generated a growing volume of user-generated content that, in turn, attracted more visitors to the site.

Stoppelman's tenure was marked by a significant decision regarding the company's independence. Google made an acquisition offer for Yelp, which Stoppelman ultimately declined. According to reports, Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple Inc., personally called Stoppelman and advised him not to sell the company to Google. Stoppelman has spoken publicly about valuing Yelp's independence, stating his belief that the company could achieve more as a standalone entity than as a division of a larger corporation.

By 2011, Yelp had expanded beyond the United States and launched in international markets, including Australia, as part of its broader strategy to become a global platform for local business reviews.

IPO and Public Company Leadership

Yelp filed for an initial public offering and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol YELP on March 2, 2012. The IPO was considered a success, with the stock price rising significantly on its first day of trading. The offering created significant wealth for early employees and investors. Stoppelman himself, along with other early team members and investors, held substantial equity positions in the company at the time of its public debut.

The IPO marked a transition for Yelp from a venture-backed startup to a publicly traded company, bringing with it increased scrutiny from investors, analysts, and regulators. Stoppelman navigated this transition while continuing to serve as CEO, a role he has held continuously since the company's founding.

In a move that attracted media attention, Stoppelman took an annual salary of $1 for 2013, a gesture that placed him among a small group of technology executives—including Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison—who had at various points taken nominal salaries. His compensation was instead structured around equity-based incentives, aligning his financial interests with the performance of Yelp's stock price.

Continued Leadership and Recent Activity

Stoppelman has continued to serve as CEO of Yelp for more than two decades since its founding. As a public company CEO, his stock transactions are subject to public disclosure requirements under Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. In early 2026, SEC filings revealed a series of stock sales by Stoppelman. Between late January and early February 2026, he sold multiple tranches of Yelp shares. On January 21, 2026, he sold 30,000 shares of Yelp stock. Between January 29 and February 2, 2026, he sold an additional 90,000 shares for approximately $2.46 million. On February 4, 2026, he sold an additional 30,000 shares. SEC filings also showed that Stoppelman held 152,573 restricted stock units (RSUs) and 55,796 performance units, and had exercised stock options at a price of $20.47 per share. Some of the sales were conducted under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, a mechanism that allows corporate insiders to set up predetermined schedules for selling company stock to avoid allegations of insider trading.

In total, Stoppelman sold approximately 59,000 shares worth roughly $2.5 million in one series of transactions in late January 2026. Additional sales on February 4, 2026, included a separate transaction of 6,200 shares. Financial analysts noted these transactions amid a year of declining share prices for Yelp stock, though such sales by company insiders are routine and do not necessarily indicate a lack of confidence in a company's prospects.

Personal Life

Stoppelman has maintained a relatively private personal life despite his prominence in the technology industry. He has been based in San Francisco for the majority of his career, a city closely associated with Yelp's identity and operations.

Stoppelman has been photographed at various social and cultural events in San Francisco over the years, reflecting his participation in the city's business and social scene.

Recognition

Stoppelman's role in founding and leading Yelp has earned him recognition in business and technology circles. Vanity Fair included him on its New Establishment list in 2011, a ranking of influential figures in business, technology, and media. The magazine later profiled him again in 2014 as part of its coverage of influential technology executives.

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has recognized Stoppelman as a notable alumnus, highlighting his career trajectory from undergraduate engineering student to technology CEO.

Stoppelman's association with the "PayPal Mafia" has also contributed to his profile in the technology industry. As one of the former PayPal executives who went on to lead a major technology company, he is frequently mentioned alongside figures such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and Max Levchin in discussions of PayPal's outsized influence on Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.

Fast Company profiled Yelp under Stoppelman's leadership, noting the company's distinctive position among Web 2.0 companies and the strength of its user community as a competitive asset.

Legacy

Jeremy Stoppelman's primary legacy is the creation and sustained leadership of Yelp, a platform that fundamentally changed how consumers discover, evaluate, and choose local businesses. Before Yelp's emergence in 2004, finding reliable information about local businesses—restaurants, doctors, plumbers, and other service providers—depended largely on word of mouth, newspaper reviews, or directories such as the Yellow Pages. Yelp democratized this process by enabling ordinary consumers to publish reviews that could be read by millions of other users.

The platform's influence extended beyond its direct user base. Yelp's review system became a significant factor in the success or failure of small businesses, particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Business owners adapted their practices in response to Yelp reviews, and the platform's star ratings became a widely referenced metric in consumer decision-making. This dynamic also generated controversy, as business owners and critics raised questions about the fairness and accuracy of anonymous reviews, the potential for manipulation, and Yelp's policies regarding the filtering of reviews.

Stoppelman's decision to reject Google's acquisition offer and take Yelp public as an independent company represented a notable stance on corporate independence in an era when many technology startups sought acquisition by larger companies. His reasoning—that Yelp could better serve its mission as a standalone entity—reflected a philosophy of entrepreneurial independence that resonated with a subset of the startup community.

As a member of the PayPal Mafia, Stoppelman is part of a broader narrative about the outsized impact of a single company's alumni on the technology industry. His career trajectory—from engineer at a payments startup to co-founder and long-serving CEO of a publicly traded company—exemplifies the pattern of serial entrepreneurship and peer-network-driven company formation that characterized Silicon Valley in the 2000s and 2010s.