Meet The Team
At Courtyard, we’re collectors at heart. We were the kids collecting Pokémon and baseball cards and trading them with our friends on the playground (or "courtyard", as the French might say); the kids who grew up but never lost that collector mentality. While the team keeps on expanding and many people are helping us along the way, here is the core team behind Courtyard:
Nicolas has been working in Sales, Partnerships and Operations for 8+ years. While his strong suit is to build relationships with partners, negotiate deals and structure operations, he also loves to get technical on various designs and 3D tools. He spent most of his career at Google, more recently as a Strategic Partner Manager for YouTube, working with Music Labels and Movie Studios. When not working on Courtyard or looking at upcoming NFT drops, you can find Nicolas in his home studio, producing new songs as a DJ/producer.
Collects: Watches
Paulin is an engineer at heart who loves challenges. He previously spent almost 8 years at Apple, mostly contributing to making Maps a (much) better product after its controversial launch in 2012. A few months after leaving the big tech world in 2020, he started experimenting on his own, and got really excited by the potential of the blockchain when the idea of Courtyard reached his ears. When he is not actively drawing the roadmap and planning ahead, he spends his time building all aspects of our technology to the tiniest details.
Collects: French Pokémon Cards
A sabermetrics wizard and baseball card collector, Joe’s ability to build robust architectures that scale will be key in order to achieve our vision. After working as a full stack developer for several startups, he joined Google as a Software Engineer, focusing on the reliability of Google’s payments infrastructure. He got hooked on Solidity from participating in a crypto hackathon, during which he built a Clubhouse-like application on Ethereum. The knowledge he developed doing so is foundational to our smart contract development.
Collects: Baseball Cards
When Jake is not improvising a solo on his Fender Strat, hunting for rare sneakers or joining the latest NFT drop, you’ll find him being active in multiple Discord communities (especially ours, under the name chefspin). With his 6+ years of experience at Google and YouTube, Jake supported some of the largest content creators and partners, helping them navigate the complexity of the platforms. At Courtyard, he focuses on creating a great community culture and making sure you fully understand our project.
Collects: Sneakers, Concert Posters
Jim started his career in Finance & Analytics and from there moved into consulting, where he spent 3.5 years at the Boston Consulting Group in San Francisco. He focused primarily on Go-to-Market strategy, Pricing, and Global Org. Design with Tech clients, and also worked in Banking and Retail. Away from work, Jim is a huge sports fan and religiously follows Hockey & Golf. Most days you can find him at the driving range trying to emulate his favorite pros.
Collects: Hockey Cards, Golf Clubs
Jessica, UI/UX Design (LinkedIn)
Jessica started her career in Fine Arts & Multidisciplinary Art and from there moved into UI/UX Design, where she spent 4 years as a Freelancer working for multiple startups. Between wireframes and prototypes, she focuses on creating a great and understandable product for all of Courtyard’s users. When not working you can find her with a camera in hand, capturing the unnoticed.
Collects: Film Cameras
Alex's passions for art and programming came together in the world of 3D modeling. With a painting background (at one point he was painting custom portraits on commission) and years of experience as a designer, Alex now focuses on bringing physical collectibles to life in the digital world. Having previously developed on-board computer software for Ferrari cars, he understands the importance of bringing a premium look and feel to all parts of his work. When not experimenting with techniques in Houdini or studying new 3D modeling tools, you can find Alex riding his gravel bicycle or painting.
Collects: Movie Posters, Mechanical Keyboards
Zach, Marketing (Twitter, LinkedIn)
Zach discovered Bitcoin in 2013 and has been a fervent believer of decentralization ever since. After a stint at Coinbase as an Assets PMM during the 2022 Crypto Winter, Zach joined Courtyard as Director of Marketing. He has an extensive background working at early stage startups building marketing and go-to-market functions from the ground-up through launch and scale. Outside of work, you’ll most likely find him biking, attempting to pull the perfect shot of espresso, and learning how to sail.
Collects: Matchbooks… and NFTs
Andriy is a German, born in Ukraine and living in Tokyo. Utilizing his multicultural background he started his career at Japan's biggest Google Cloud Partner, establishing new branches in Southeast Asia such as Singapore and Hong Kong and developing their businesses through marketing. With his strong sense for design and interest in tech he jumped into front end development, where he quickly excelled by learning and using the latest tech. This is how he naturally started exploring the Web3 world and joined Courtyard. Whenever he’s taking a break from programming, you’ll catch him working out or playing a round of Yu-gi-oh! which is his favorite card game.
Collects: Yu-gi-oh! Cards
Moses, Engineering (Twitter, LinkedIn)
Moses is a self-taught programmer who began by launching small apps on the Google Play Store. Learning full-stack, machine learning, and now blockchain development, Moses loves to explore new technologies and find creative solutions to important problems. He has previously worked at Amazon and Snapchat, but loves startups. Before coming to Courtyard, he worked at 3 other startups and also co-founded his own. Outside of work, he loves exploring new restaurants, drawing, or traveling.
Collects: Stickers
A self-driven learner and software engineer, Gabriel's passion for programming started when he embarked on the side project of translating Pokémon ROMs to Portuguese in 2005. Before joining Courtyard, Gabriel played a pivotal role at Nubank, helping to scale the business from 1K to 70M clients. Having discovered the intricate world of Web3 in late 2017, he was instantly captivated by the revolutionary potential of blockchain technology.
Beyond the world of codes and algorithms, he immerses himself in the diverse realms of music, philosophy, history, archeology, and linguistics, even taking to the vibrant beats of a Brazilian carnival band. When not deep-diving into code or pondering philosophical inquiries, you might catch Gabriel exploring historical sites or resonating with the melodies of the world.
Collects: LP Discs
Said leverages 8 years of diverse experience across startups, enterprises, and industries like staffing, real estate, automotive, etc. With a Physics background, he's self-trained in software engineering, and his journey led him to the intriguing world of crypto and web3 in 2019. Saeed's appetite for learning extends beyond code, encompassing Philosophy, Psychology, Cosmology, and History. He's an avid reader, podcast enthusiast, and an experimental cook with a passion for specialty coffee. This holistic approach shapes his problem-solving skills and well-rounded perspective. Saeed thrives on challenges and embraces continuous growth.
Collects: Perfumes
Dany, Community
Dany works in marketing and thrives with new projects launches, bringing ideas to life with a strong focus on end users’ experience. Upon discovering Web3, he quickly became fascinated by community building and marketing strategies in the fast paced environment. On a given day you'll find him getting lost in Twitter threads and Web3 articles for hours (ideally with a Formula 1 Grand Prix playing in the background).
Collects: Rare and original items in video games
Courtyard is primarily based in New York, but has team members globally in Washington, Pennsylvania, California, France, Belgium, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil and Ukraine.
The team at Courtyard is always interested in meeting with bright people who are as passionate about our mission as we are. Be on the lookout for upcoming job openings on our website!