Sandy Khaund
Founder of Credenza
Sandy Khaund
Founder of Credenza
San Francisco Bay Area
Overview
Work Experience
Founder/CEO
2021 - Current
Credenza’s platform empowers sports teams and athletes to seamlessly integrate Web3 technologies (NFTs, Tokens, crypto payments, Decentralized Commerce) into existing operations to enhance direct-to-fan relationships and create new digital revenue streams, while democratizing the Blockchain for the common fan.
General Partner
2020
Mindspring Capital is a team of sports and technology experts that partner with sport tech companies to help them reach the next level. Our focus is on B2B companies which have proven their concept and are ready to scale. We invested in nine companies in 2021-22. I joined as Mindspring's first EIR, and then moved to a General Partner role in January 2021.
Managing Director
2020
Our goal is to create, incubate, and collaborate on tech solutions to optimize business operations and unleash the magic of sports and live events. Born in the middle of a pandemic, we aspire to use the COVID "recovery" period to help our customers levereage the latest technologies to create new revenue streams, cut expenses, and bridge the sports world back to normal operations. Ultimately, the best of these solutions will spin out to their own companies to serve the broader markets.
Director, Board Of Directors
2020 - 2021
MakerDAO is a decentralized organization dedicated to bringing stability to the crypto economy. The MKR token holders are the decision makers in the DAO, supported by the larger public community of keepers, stakeholders, and various other interested parties. Maker is unlocking the power of decentralized finance for everyone by creating an inclusive platform for economic empowerment; allowing everyone equal access to the global financial marketplace. MakerDAO is a credit facility that issues Dai, the world's first stable decentralized digital cash.
Vice President, Ticket Management & Blockchain Products (formerly UPGRADED)
2018 - 2020
UPGRADED was acquired by Ticketmaster in the Fall of 2018. Joined Ticketmaster as part of the acquisition of UPGRADED, reporting to the Chief Product Officer. Took on broader responsibilities while continuing to manage engineering and product teams that were retained as part of the acquisition. • Integrated UPGRADED Blockchain system into Ticketmaster legacy systems (including Host, Archtics, and Universe), creating one of the first major Blockchain implementations within a Fortune 500 company. • Led biometric efforts, including managing Ticketmaster’s investment in Blink Identity (facial recognition) and teamed with CLEAR to bring biometric integration to Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.
Founder/CEO
2016 - 2018
** UPGRADED was acquired by LiveNation/Ticketmaster in September 2018 ** UPGRADED converts traditional event tickets into secure digital assets that are protected by cutting-edge cryptographic algorithms, allowing buyers and sellers to interact with complete trust. By structuring these tickets as “smart contracts”, they can each act as a self-contained escrow system while simultaneously allowing teams and artists greater control over the ticket after initial sale. These tickets work with existing entry systems while delivering digital encryption, enforceable sales restrictions, stored value capabilities, loyalty data, and other dynamic elements that turn a ticket into a "smart ticket". • Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9o7w4TFPSw&t=5s • Wrote v1 codebase for test pilot with MLB team and subsequently raised just under $1M in investments to ramp up team. • Engaged customers across MLB, NBA, auto racing, and theater. Projected cash-flow positive in under three years. • Selected to Stadia Ventures accelerator and featured in Forbes magazine (https://bit.ly/2Tc9muE). • Named Finalist for SXSW Startup Pitch and Sacramento Kings Pitch Competition. • Grew company to 12 employees before acquisition by market leader Ticketmaster in September 2018.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and SVP Mobile Products
2014 - 2016
** InStadium was ultimately acquired by Gimbal in August 2020 ** InStadium offers an unmatched, year-round national media network with unequaled scale and superior impact across 450+ college and professional sports venues. Hired as company's first CTO to deliver innovative solutions that transform the fan experience at professional sports venues around the world through mobile devices, "Internet of Things", and ubiquitous connectivity. Responsible for building the core platform to enable mobile activations within sports venues to increase engagement and enhance the live fan experience. Spun up small off-shore team to do all development tasks under my supervision. Instituted an agile development process that runs on user stories, two-week sprints, and daily standups. Primary responsibility is the design and development of FanX, the "Game Day Entertainment Center". FanX was built as an HTML5 mobile web application using a MEAN stack and Material Design on AWS EC2 instances. It includes responsive design, social logins, customizable configurations that adapt to the fan's venue, and multiple third-party integrations. I personally wrote the prototype as part of the proposal process. Once the project received approval, FanX was code complete in 8 weeks and reached customer availability in multiple venues less than 10 weeks after the development team was assembled. Other accomplishments • Migrated and managing SportsFanGraph.com, a comprehensive destination for social data activity metrics in professional sports. • Wrote mobile prototype that measures fan enthusiasm based on mobile phone movement (using iOS CoreMotion) to identify the "biggest and best fans". • Defined new revenue model to leverage local deals, sponsorships, and fan data generation to target short-term profitability from mobile development. • Built lightweight data analytics engine to uncover fan attendance trends at basketball arena for a trusted partner from the NBA.
Head of Silicon Valley Emerging Technologies Office
2011 - 2014
In 2011, Turner opened the office in the bay area to work with the Silicon Valley community (startups as well as established companies) to help define the next generation of broadcast media. The office consists of a group of former tech entrepreneurs and execs who are aiming to change the way you'll watch televised content in the future. Hired in 2011 as an individual contributor (Senior Director), I was promoted in 2013 to manage the entire office. Our activities include: • experimenting with new technologies and incubating prototypes for implementation by Turner's Audience Management Platforms Team. • identifying and facilitating partnerships between bay area companies and Turner's family of brands, including CNN, TBS, TNT, Turner Sports, Cartoon Network, and more. • serving as one of the founding Directors of Media Camp (http://www.mediacamp.com), a startup accelerator targeted at high-tech companies in the media space. • providing leads and due diligence for Time Warner Investments. Incubated projects & partnerships include: • CNN on Google Glass: http://mashable.com/2013/05/16/google-glass-apps-io/ • CNN iReport on Google Glass: http://petapixel.com/2014/05/11/cnn-ireport-invites-google-glass-owners-become-citizen-journalists/ • Twitter & DataMinr Partnership for Breaking News: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/29/dataminr-for-news/ Articles about our team and my role: • Innovator Profile: http://dailytekk.com/2012/05/30/innovators-turner-broadcasting-senior-director-sandy-khaund/ • Interviewed about startups in 2013: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/19/turners-media-camp-class-2/ • Interviewed about incubators & accelerators: http://ajr.org/2014/05/01/media-camp-accelerator-for-startups/ • Interviewed about bring one of the first corporate accelerators in media space: http://www.innovationleader.com/time-warner-blue-cross-why-we-started-accelerators/ (sub req'd)
Founder/CEO
2008 - 2011
Founded Irynsoft, a software startup in the California Bay Area focused on educational software. Our mission is to build collaborative learning solutions that leverage social and mobile technologies to adapt to the lifestyles of online learners. We address the intersection of evolving mobile devices, the growing “social graph”, and the need for educational alternatives to create products that bring enhanced affordable education to users who might not otherwise have access. Officially incorporated as an LLC in late 2009. • Released four apps for iOS and two more for Android, resulting in over 300,000 downloads. Two-Minute Demo: http://bit.ly/c7vsUG • Extending platform to offer richer experience through a repackaged tablet that enables affordable alternative to access educational content. Targeting Fall 2011 release. Demo: http://bit.ly/uNAhrl Awards/Recognition include: • Irynsoft selected as part of Startl's 10 Education Company Showcase in 2010 • MIT OpenCourseware app included as part of Time's "50 Best Websites" in 2010 • Selected as one of 23 Kauffman Foundation 2011 Education Entrepreneur Fellows from pool of over 1000 applicants. • Irynsoft named as Fast Company's 2011 Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education • Finalist for 2011 World Technology Award (sponsored by Time, CNN, and Fortune) for “doing innovative work of greatest likely long-term significance" in education.
Chief Operating Officer (COO) and SVP Engineering
2007 - 2008
** Piczo was acquired by Stardoll in February 2009 ** Piczo was a social network targeted at teens around the world. Piczo empowered users to creatively express themselves, build personal communities, and share ideas and experiences with their friends in a safe online environment. Piczo grew to over 15 million monthly unique visitors and over a billion monthly page views, becoming one of the most popular social networks in the UK and Germany. Piczo raised over $17M in venture funding from Sierra Ventures, US Venture Partners, and Catamount Ventures and was acquired by Stardoll in early 2009. • Originally hired as SVP of Engineering and promoted to COO after six months. • As COO, was responsible for marketing, business development, product management, software development, QA, and operations. • Reduced overall corporate expenses by over 50% while maintaining continuous product innovation and quality. • Owned strategy to boost US audience and tripled DAUs in less than 12 months. • Drove the launch of Piczo Mobile in 2008, becoming one of the first social networks to have a mobile presence. • Implemented agile development practices, including bi-weekly releases and daily stand-ups.
Education
MBA
1999 - 2001
BSEE and MEng
1989 - 1995
BA
1989 - 1994