VP of Strategy
Steve O’Hear is a technology executive, and a former journalist and founder, currently VP of Strategy at Zapp, the UK startup building the future of convenience retail.
Prior to joining Zapp, he spent nearly 15 years as a technology and business journalist, including over 10 years as a reporter for TechCrunch, the leading global technology news site, where he focussed on UK/European startups, companies and venture capital.
In June 2011, Steve took a break from journalism to co-found the London and Prague-based startup Beepl. In the role of CEO, he helped the company raise its first venture capital funding round, and took the Question & Answer site through development to a high profile public launch. Beepl was acquired by Brand Embassy in November 2012.
In addition to TechCrunch, Steve has written for numerous other publications, including ZDNet (where he wrote the well-respected blog ‘The Social Web’), The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Macworld, Times Educational Supplement, and ReadWriteWeb. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Silicon Valley documentary ‘In Search of the Valley‘, which was released in September 2006.
In both 2016 and 2017, Steve was named on the Business Insider UK ‘Tech 100’ list (the only journalist to ever make the list two years running).
Prior to journalism, he worked as an educator, specialising in digital technology and how it could be harnessed for better learning outcomes. In 2002, he was made a fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, and previously served on the board of governors for the University of East London.
