John Young
Mentor at Techstars
John Young
Mentor at Techstars
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Overview
Work Experience
CEO / Brand, Product and Creative Strategy
2012 - Current
I'm a strategic advisor working with an extraordinary group of consumer media, entertainment, and technology businesses. I help these ambitious companies connect with the world, build success, and become amazing brands. I’m attracted to fast-forward media & entertainment companies (games, esports, itv, voice, spatial ar/vr/xr, eLearning, streaming, and commerce), passionate consumer brands (food, fashion, travel, finance, etc), technology innovators (web3, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, wearable ecosystems, adtech, mobile devices, sensor tech) as well as creative agencies and enlightened venture investors. Together, we build groundbreaking products, services and brands that attract customers, investors, employees, and the attention of the world. My clients have included: Riot Games, Coca Cola, Emirates Airlines, Akamai, American Idol, Optimus Ride, Ogilvy, Mightier, The Martin Agency, AT&T, Hershey, The Creative Group, Bunge, General Electric, Foodgraph, GameStop, and Groups Recover Together
Mentor
2023
I’m a mentor with the Anjal Z Techstars Founder Catalyst Program, a partnership between the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and Techstars. With a portfolio of over 1,700 companies in 1,000 startup ecosystems around the world, Techstars brings opportunities to startups in communities all over the world so that they can grow and thrive. I’m advising growing ventures in the early child development space who are dedicated to helping kids and their families along four key pillars of Health & Nutrition, Early Care & Education, Child Protection, and Family Support. I bring a ton of kid and mom experience, from games to consumer goods and media, and have worked with stellar brands such as Disney, Hasbro, School of Rock, The Girl Scouts, J&J, Stride Rite, Riot Games, General Mills and many startups like Mightier. I’m also mentor in MIT’s Morningside Academy DesignX Program, where I help new ventures like Romps, an innovative children’s brand that creates shoes that grow with you. I’m so excited to be part of the Anjal Z Techstars Founder Catalyst Program to help our cohort founder’s launch and scale their brands for the children and families of Abu Dhabi and the world.
Board of Advisors
2023
Alakazam is a web-based extended reality (XR) platform for creating lively, immersive virtual worlds, 3D websites and event environments. We're a team of game industry pros who built popular player brands such as Myst, Command & Conquer, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Age of Empires, Madden, Lord of the Rings Online, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, God of War, Kerbal Space Program, Monopoly, Blade Runner, Neverwinter Nights, and other notable franchises at studios like Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Sony, Turbine, Kabam, Cyan Worlds, Novalogic, Westwood Studios, Vicarious Visions, and Cyberlore.
Board of Advisors
2022
In beta development and coming soon. Audiodrop is a fun new way to liven up online conversations with sound. Audiodrop provides endless expressive audio memes and emojis that make any chatstream more interesting and shareable.
Vice Chairman / Board Director
2014
Earplay is the leading platform for creating and distributing interactive play-with-your-voice experiences across all voice-enabled media and devices – on your mobile devices, in your car, and throughout your connected home. Our clients and partners include Google, Amazon, Bose, Capstone, NBCUniversal, A+E, USA Network, WBUR, Xandra, Paradox Interactive and NPR. For two years in a row, Earplay has been named Alexa Developer of the Year and has won three Webby Awards for its work. Some popular Earplay experiences have included Mr Robot, Jurassic World, and Jack Ryan. Our collaborative voice-first tools enable teams of creators to produce smart, entertaining content while achieving fast development cycles, instant distribution, and dynamic updates across all popular media channels.
Board of Advisors
2018
Mightier helps kids discover their emotional strength and succeed in life through immersive play. At its heart, Mightier is a neurotech game system that benefits kids with emotional and cognitive challenges. A noble and important mission powered by engaging bioresponsive intelligence, wearable sensors and real-world clinicians,. I have been advising the Mightier team on brand strategy, product development and business growth along with special projects like developing their Brand Foundation and Messaging.
Board of Directors
2019
The Ad Club promotes and advances world-class networking, education, professional development, advocacy, and diversity across the creative marketing, media & communications industry. The Ad Club presents dozens of popular events and programs every year like the Equity Project, Media Innovation Day, The Edge Conference, The Hatch Awards, Women’s Leadership Forum, CMO Breakfasts as well as professional development courses and meetups. My fellow board members include leaders from Google, Amazon, Digitas, John Hancock, MullenLowe, Rapid7, Hill Holliday, Chewy, Havas, Boston Globe, Eastern Bank, iRobot, Allen & Gerritsen, Wolverine, Bank of America, and more.
Board of Advisors
2018
50Skills helps companies hire better people faster. It’s an all-in-one recruiting platform that delivers everything you need to attract, engage, incentivize and manage job seekers and referrers. Powered with AI learning and responsive Bot technology, 50Skills provides more effective hires and job sharing through messaging apps, job boards and all varieties of social media. Our rapid-growing customer base includes consumer and enterprise brands, retail and restaurant chains, municipal governments, travel and hospitality services, burgeoning tech ventures, and more.
Artist / Musician / Composer / Producer
1981
Once a fulltime job, presently my passion and hobby. Produced and performed with artists on Sire / Warner Brothers Records, Cleopatra Records, Play It Again Sam Records, Dark Entries Records, Fundamental Records, Red Records, Verdugo Records, Pyramid Records. Featured in Rolling Stone, Spin Magazine, Andy Warhol’s Interview, Rockpool, Rock America, MTV 120 Minutes, Universal Television / Miami Vice, Radio Télévision Belge Francophone and more. Toured the world playing infamous venues such as Danceteria, CBGB, Limelight and festivals like Pukkelpop. Also composed and produced scores for television, movies, theatre, dance and performance art - Paramount Pictures, Comcast, Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA), Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia Theatre Company, University of the Arts and more.
Co-Founder / Board Director
2014 - 2019
Whipper is a gamified Web3 messaging brand that gives people the ability to chat and play in real-time as their favorite characters across all media and devices. Co-founded with friends from Riot Games, Netflix, EA, Popcap and Amazon, I served the company as Chief Strategy and Creative Officer and a Board Director to guide its product, brand, business, and cultural growth. Whipper's business is built on delighting users with virtual cosplay and advanced speech recognition/creation technology with a blockchain-enabled digital goods marketplace. Ultimately, Whipper achieved a satisfying exit and was acquired by an international investor group.