Maynard Webb

Maynard G. Webb Jr.
Born	1955
Occupation(s)	Corporate leader, author, angel investor
Known for	New York Times bestselling author; former COO of eBay; chairman of Yahoo!
Notable work	Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship; Dear Founder: Letters of Advice for Anyone Who Leads, Manages, or Wants to Start a Business

Maynard G. Webb Jr. (born 1955) is a prominent American corporate leader and author, known for his New York Times bestseller Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship as well as the widely acclaimed Dear Founder: Letters of Advice for Anyone who Leads, Manages, or Wants to Start a Business. With extensive experience as a technology executive and angel investor, Webb holds board memberships at Salesforce and Visa, and previously chaired Yahoo!. In 2010, he launched the Webb Investment Network and has held senior positions such as CEO of LiveOps and Chief Operating Officer at eBay.

Education and career

Webb completed his undergraduate studies in criminal justice at Florida Atlantic University. Early in his career, he was employed as a security guard at IBM, subsequently progressing to managerial roles at companies including Bay Networks, Quantum Corporation, and Thomas-Conrad Corporation. He also occupied the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Gateway, Inc.

Between 1999 and 2006, Webb played pivotal roles at eBay, serving as President of Technology and COO. During his tenure, eBay's revenue escalated dramatically from $140 million to over $4.5 billion by 2005, alongside an increase in staff from 250 to upwards of 12,000 employees.

In this timeframe, LiveOps gained recognition from Forbes as one of its Ten Hot Start-Ups (2009), broadened its reach into enterprise markets, surpassed its initial fundraising goals, and enhanced its board with leaders from companies such as Symantec, Hewlett-Packard, PeopleSoft, and eBay.

Writing

In January 2013, Webb co-wrote the New York Times bestselling title Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship with Carlye Adler. The publication challenges conventional employment frameworks and examines how technology can revolutionize work environments. Additionally, Webb has authored various blog posts focusing on entrepreneurship and the digital economy.

His follow-up book, Dear Founder: Letters of Advice for Anyone Who Leads, Manages, or Wants to Start a Business, which includes a Foreword by Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks, was released by St. Martin's Press on September 11, 2018.

Investments

Webb established the Webb Investment Network (WIN) in 2010 to back early-stage ventures specializing in ecommerce, mobile technologies, cloud computing, and enterprise solutions. WIN offers its portfolio firms access to a group of 89 industry specialists drawn from organizations like Google, PayPal, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard. This resource capitalizes on Webb’s broad professional network. WIN represents part of a growing movement of smaller-scale early-stage funds that are influencing the traditional venture capital model.

Philanthropy

Together with his wife Irene, Webb founded the Webb Family Foundation in 2004 with a mission to advance meritocracy by aiding those often overlooked by society. The foundation supports projects related to disaster relief, youth mentoring programs, cancer research initiatives, educational efforts, and similar philanthropic causes.