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Dmitry Shapiro is the co-founder & CEO of GoMeta, which provides users with Koji, a platform that aims to democratize app development. Similarly to how blogs democratized text publishing, and Instagram democratizing photography, the GoMeta team believes that the general public are at a point where they are ready to get familiar with, and create things from, code.

The Russia native moved to Atlanta, GA when he was just 10 years old. In 1984, during his teen years, Dmitry watched a movie called WarGames that immediately drew him to computers, and so, he began spending his free time at his high school’s computer lab. Soon enough, Dmitry went from being a rookie to learning how to program. His parents eventually got him a computer so that he could learn skills from the comfort of his own home. 

Although his activity during his teen years would suggest a future career in computer science, Dmitry decided to spend his college years studying electrical engineering instead. After graduating with a degree he was burnt out from, Dmitry explored other career paths until rediscovering programming at 25. This caused him to shift gears and find work as a Sales Engineer and later on as a web consultant. After a few years, Dmitry was recruited by an up-and-coming San Diego company called College Club, spending just under a year there.

After the company tanked, DMitry decided to begin his own venture. He founded Akonix Systems, a startup that sought to build online communities for individual brands, and raised his first round of venture capital, totalling $5 million, after about a year. Although the business was doing well, Dmitry and his co-founder decided pivoting the business to a cybersecurity company would be best. 

With an eventual $34 million in venture capital raised, the future of the cybersecurity venture looked promising. In late 2004, five years into his venture, Dmitry had an epiphany: he wanted to make it easy for anyone to broadcast video on the internet. An idea he came up with several months before the launch of YouTube.

He felt so strongly about his idea that he ended up leaving Akonix shortly after to pursue this new venture, Veoh Networks. In the five years he pursued this new venture, Dmitry’s team raised $70 million, competing directly with YouTube and Hulu. Nearing the end of its five-year run, the company was being bombarded with lawsuits from Universal Music, leading to its subsequent liquidation.

After closing down his company, Dmitry was recruited by MySpace to become the next CTO of its subsidiary, MySpace Music, where he worked for one year before leaving to become a Googler. Four years later, Dmitry left his gig at Google and moved back down to sunny San Diego, where he started working on his current venture: GoMeta.  

Listen in to hear all about Dmitry’s journey as an entrepreneur, his plans for the future of GoMeta, and his local favorite eats and brews.

Thanks to our partners Cox Business for their support in enabling us to grow the San Diego ecosystem.

Dmitry’s favorites

Tacos - Taco Stand, The Brigantine, South Beach

Beer - Stone Brewing, Karl Strauss

Coffee - Achilles

Keep up with GoMeta & Koji: 

Facebook: @gometainc @madewithkoji

Twitter: @metaverse @madewithkoji

Dmitry’s Twitter: @dmitry

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