Kent Wakeford
Founder of Breaking
Kent Wakeford
Founder of Breaking
Los Angeles, California
Overview
Work Experience
Co-Founder + Executive Chairman
2023 - Current
Breaking aims to rid the planet of plastic waste. The breakthrough technology was discovered by scientists in the George Church lab at Harvard University and the Don Ingber lab at Wyss Institute, and now with support of Colossal Biosciences and Form Bio. Breaking was co-founded by Sukanya Punthambaker, Vaskar Gnyawali, George Church, Don Ingber, Alba Tull, Ben Lamm, and me, and funded by Builders.vc, Animal Capital, Climate Capital and many others.
Co-Founder + Co-CEO
2022
Form Bio provides AI solutions that reduce time and cost to develop gene therapies that are safer, more effective, and more manufacturable. Form's AI solutions have been validated to optimize vector designs with fewer truncations, fuller genomes, higher titer and potency, and better expression. Form Bio partnered with Google to enables its computation solutions as part of the Google Cloud Multiomics suite. Form Bio is backed by JAZZ Ventures, Builders.vc and USIT.
Co-Founder + Advisor
2021
Co-founder and COO (for first 18 months) of a bioscience company creating disruptive technologies for extinct species restoration, critically endangered species protection and the repopulation of ecosystems that support the continuation of life on Earth. Co-founded with world-renowned geneticist George Church, Ph.D., and in partnership with Harvard University, Colossal is the first to apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction, beginning with the woolly mammoth. Notable investors include Breyer Capital, Draper Associates, Thomas Tull, Tony Robins, Climate Capital, Animal Capital, Jazz Ventures, etc., and is advised by leaders in bioethics, genomics, chemical engineering, biotechnology, and molecular genetics including Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., Alta Charo, J.D., Joe DeSimone, Ph.D., Helen Hobbs, M.D., Michael Hofreiter, Ph.D., Peter Diamandis, and others. Established a computational biology platform to expedite the discovery process of CRISPR gene editing and genome assembly between Harvard and Colossal. Led the spin-out of the platform into a new company called Form Bio and took on the role as Co-CEO of the spinout company. Led the Series A financing for Form Bio from Jazz Ventures, Builders.VC, and Thomas Tull.
Co-Founder + Board Member
2020
Co-founder of a performance advertising platform for connected TV, enabling D2C and gaming companies to buy, measure and optimize TV ad campaigns with returns comparable (or better than) search and social. Investors include Norwest Ventures, Comcast / NBCU, Hearst Ventures, and IdeaLabs.
Board of Directors [NYSE: SKLZ]
2017
Named #1 Fastest Growing Company in America on the Inc. 5000 list, Skillz connects the world’s 3.2 billion mobile gamers through competition. More than 12 million gamers use Skillz to compete in mobile games across 6,000+ game studios. Skillz has earned recognition as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups, and the #1 fastest-growing company in America.
Co-Founder + Vice Chairman
2017 - 2022
Backed by top venture and celebrity investors, including Will Smith, Gen.G’s core mission is to help fans and athletes use the power of gaming to get ahead in their lives. Gen.G is widely acclaimed for #TeamBumble, the leading platform for the empowerment of women in gaming; the Gen.G Global Academy, the world’s first fully integrated academic esports program; and the Gen.G Foundation, fostering diversity and inclusion while providing $1M+ in collegiate scholarships. In my roles as COO and President during the first four years, I was responsible for establishing the company, developing go to market strategy, raising venture funding, recruiting talent, overseeing revenue growth, securing franchise rights, acquiring teams, overseeing legal and finance teams. Notable Accomplishments: ➢ Raised $76M in venture financing from investors incl.: NEA, Canaan Partners, Battery Ventures, Conductive Ventures, Altos Ventures, Dreamers.vc (Will Smith and Keisuke Honda), and co-owner of the LA Clippers. ➢ Gen.G named #6 most valuable esports organization in the world by Forbes magazine; grew revenue to >$20M in four years. ➢ Negotiated and secured franchise rights to the Overwatch League, League of Legends LCK franchise, NBA2k and helped secure eight esports teams that went on to win four world championship titles.
Chief Operating Officer
2011 - 2017
C-team member and COO of the leading developer and publisher of AAA mobile games. Developed and led a globally dispersed team with 1,000+ employees in 7 countries. Kabam was named by Deloitte as #17 “Fastest Growing Company” in the U.S. with $1.5B in total revenues and average YoY growth of more than 100%; Kabam was acquired by Netmarble for $800M. Notable Accomplishments: ➢ Delivered $400M annual revenue & YoY revenue growth of 100%; #1 top grossing iOS game in 2012, 2 of the top 10 grossing games in 2013, and a top 5 grossing game of 2015, 2016, 2017. ➢ Provided innovative digital marketing & publishing strategies with average 5:1 ROI on a $50M+ annual media budget. Developed proprietary performance marketing bidding platform integrated with Facebook and Google, including proprietary targeting algorithms. ➢ Oversaw $250M+ in capital raises, including strategic investments from Alibaba, Warner Bros., MGM; led two secondary tender offers for employees worth more than $75M. ➢ Led Acquisitions of 8 game studios with 10x+ ROI; led the sale Kabam to Netmarble. ➢ Generated $800M+ in revenue from licensing partnerships with Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate, Disney, Marvel, LucasArts and Hasbro. ➢ Awarded 6 Editor's Choice Awards from Apple and secured unique partnership programs with Google, Amazon, Samsung, Apple and Microsoft.
Co-Founder + President [NASDAQ: IAS]
2009 - 2011
Founding executive of the leading ad verification and brand protection platform named one of New York’s top 20 Hottest Startups [NASDAQ: IAS]. Recruited and managed the founding employees, oversaw development and release of IAS's initial ad verification products, partnered with major agencies and brands, and drove consistent month-over-month revenue growth. Notable Accomplishments: ➢ Created differentiated products, successful business plan, go to market strategy, distribution, and marketing plans. Established vision and culture across sales, business development, client services, marketing, and product development. ➢ Established partnerships with global advertising agencies; WPP, IPG, Publicis, Havas, ad networks (12 of top 20), demand side platforms, trading desks, yield optimization platforms, ad exchanges.
Senior Vice President
2007 - 2008
Spearheaded business & corporate development and legal team at this leading social sharing company. AddThis was funded by NEA, IVP, QED, Revolution, Ron Conway, Steve Case, and Ted Leonsis and acquired by Oracle for $200M. Notable Accomplishments: ➢ Oversaw a high-performing business development team, negotiating 200+ relationships with most major media companies, sports leagues, photo sharing platforms and social networks. ➢ Acquired AddThis to become successor to Clearspring and expand product offering, distribution and data aggression to hundreds of millions of websites. ➢ Helped grow reach to 330 million unique visitors per month across 300,000 websites. Prioritized initiatives, focused teams, and drove results through pre-established goals and targets.
President
2004 - 2007
Helped developed an enthusiast digital media company with 35+ enthusiast websites and 4 print publications. The Enthusiast Network was named an Inc. 500 fasted growing company and acquired by Internet Pioneering, Inc. Notable Accomplishments: ➢ Responsible for strategic and day-to-day activities, including staff of 22+ employees. ➢ Generated 100% year-over-year revenue growth, achieving positive cash flow within 2 years. ➢ Led business development activities, including managing inside and external sales teams, overseeing content syndication, and partnerships.
Education
Juris Doctorate (J.D.)
1993 - 1996