Julien Genestoux
Julien Genestoux is an entrepreneur and developer best known for creating Unlock Protocol, a web3 protocol for memberships. With a strong background in decentralized technologies, open standards, and publishing, he has led ventures from bootstrapped startups to major acquisitions, raised millions of dollars while always championing openness and user sovereignty.
Unlock Protocol
Julien founded and leads Unlock, a permissionless protocol enabling creators and developers to monetize their work through memberships on the blockchain. Unlock is open-source and decentralized, empowering the creator economy with transparent access control mechanisms. Under his leadership, Unlock launched its native token and transitioned governance to a community-led DAO to ensure long-term decentralization. The protocol has enabled thousands of creators to earn millions of dollars from their memberships, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of developers and users.
Superfeedr
Julien founded Superfeedr, a real-time feed API service built on open web standards like RSS, Atom, and WebSub (formerly PubSubHubbub). Superfeedr powered major platforms like Google Reader and Hootsuite by delivering instant content updates to millions of users. The company was acquired by Medium. Julien pioneered real-time web technologies and successfully transferred ownership to a community-led DAO to keep the service open and decentralized.
Medium
After the acquisition of Superfeedr, Julien joined Medium to build out its developer ecosystem. He contributed to open APIs, web publishing tools, and integrations for content syndication, helping bridge traditional publishing and open web technologies.
Jobetudiant.net
Julien created Jobetudiant, one of France’s leading platforms for student jobs, launching it while at university and running it profitably as a solo founder. The site has helped hundreds of thousands of students find part-time and seasonal work and remains a popular destination for student employment in France.
Other
Julien actively supports the decentralized web. He serves as a council member for The Graph Foundation, governing indexing and querying web3 data. He also served on the board of La French Tech New York, promoting French innovation and startups in the U.S. Julien frequently speaks at and organizes conferences on web3 and open technologies, and is a regular guest on podcasts covering decentralized web, technology, and the creator economy.
Angel Investments & Advisory Roles
Beyond his own ventures, Julien invests in and advises early-stage projects in web3, developer tools, and the creator economy. He focuses on decentralization, interoperability, and open ecosystems, often collaborating on product strategy, token economics, and developer adoption.
Connect with Julien
Feel free to reach out or follow Julien on social media via the links below.