Our story
The beginning
Our story is as unique as our product. We are a veteran-owned startup doing our best to solve a problem that we deal with every day. Like many others, our journey is not a straight line from idea to success. Rather, it took us on a road that twisted and turned until, finally, we have arrived at what we call Webreel today.
Bill and Peter Haig founded Webreel in 2011
“We were tired of the countless hours we spent searching our own search results looking for relevant websites. We would conduct a search on a generic search engine and then spend hours gathering and grouping websites that would actually help us. This problem was even more frustrating when you add the fact that at any given time hundreds, if not thousands, of people (definitely smarter than me) had already done those exact same searches, and gathered the relevant websites – they just didn’t have any way to share their hard work. We knew a huge disconnect existed and we started researching solutions. After months of research and interviewing, we started building what would slowly turn into Webreel,” says Bill. Before they had time to make it happen, life got in the way when Bill had to leave the startup to join the U.S. Army and passed the reins to Peter to keep the dream alive.
William Haig, front, taking a break from the startup hustle while on a mission in Afghanistan
The turning point
“I was the original founder, but as much fun as I was having building Webreel, I had another dream that took precedence. That dream was realized when I joined the U.S. Army in 2011. I served for just under four years as an Infantry Officer (1st CAV) and loved every single second of it. An unfortunate but unavoidable consequence was that Webreel stopped being a priority. Our goal for the site changed from aiming for growth to simply keeping the idea alive. And while Pete did an incredible job, my responsibilities were in other places, and the site’s growth was minimal. However, we kept plugging away, and as we worked I found that even in the Army there was a disconnect between how people were finding and sharing relevant content.
Near the end of my service, in perfect timing, everything for the site slowly started coming together again. Pete was introduced to Vlad Khomutov who initially joined the team to lead the product development and is now a co-founder and leading client experience. Together, the three of us started making this thing real.”
Mission
Just like you don’t have to be a musician to have a great taste in music, you don’t need to be an authority to share knowledge on Webreel. We believe there’s a spark of genius in all of us and we are making it easy for everyday people to share great content about topics they know well.
You don’t have to be a musician to have a great taste in music
Not everyone has the skills to maintain a blog and write articles about a topic, but everyone can press a button to add great content to collections we call webreels and share them with others.
We are committed to building the best online marketplace that gives content creators the easiest way to share their webreels freely or monetize their expertise and get paid fast, without the need for a rocket science degree to set up and run an e-commerce platform.
We are the modern day startup, and we don’t quit.
Leadership
William Haig
Co-founder, Business development
Bill Haig is currently in his second year at the NYU Stern School of Business where he is pursuing his Masters in Business with a specialization in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Prior to arriving at Stern, Bill spent four years serving as an Infantry Officer in the United States army. Bill also has experience in consulting, both domestic and international. He received his B.A. from Rice University.
Vlad Khomutov
Co-founder, Client experience
In the past seventeen years Vlad founded eight technology companies, ran two consulting agencies, had an app nominated by Apple as New & Noteworthy, helped more than twenty startups go to market, and designed digital products for eleven Fortune 500 brands. His track record with e-commerce goes back to the late 90’s and includes leading design for Canada’s largest online store - Rogers.com.