Ex-Snapchat COO Emily White Has A New Startup

Emily White

Director of Business Operations Instagram White's title is director of business operations, but her job description is a lot like that of chief operating officer. Her job: transforming the photo-sharing network, acquired by Facebook for nearly $1 billion last year, into a moneymaker. That includes building Instagram's advertising efforts, which kicked off this October with the roll-out of video and image ads to some of the company's 150 million monthly active users.
Courtesy: Instagram

Former Snapchat and Instagram executive Emily White has created a high-end personal concierge startup, Fortune has learned.

The new Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup is called Mave, and is described by one source as a “chief of staff for your household.” Indeed, Mave’s website is adorned with the image of a woman whose shirt is covered with pinned notes like “Schedule haircuts” and “Pick up the kids at 4:00.”

It’s unclear if Mave actually performs physical tasks for users (kind of like an upscale version of Hello Alfred) or if it is primarily a virtual scheduling and messaging assistant (like Zirtual or Facebook M). The service currently is operating an invite-only private beta test.

White spent the first nine years of her tech career at Google, before leaving in late 2010 to join Facebook (where she eventually led Instagram’s business operations). In early 2014 she left Facebook to become chief operating officer at Snapchat, but only lasted through last March.

She declined to comment for this story, saying that to do so would be “premature.”

Update: Fortune has found an archived version of the Mave homepage that says the company pairs “smart, experiences virtual personal assistants — Maves — with category experts, machine learning technology, and a black book of ‘Best Of’ in your neighborhood.” Also, the full-time Maves are based in Los Angeles, and many of them “have supported celebs and high-profile execs.”

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