Jon Kraft
Education
Stanford University
BA, Human Biology -Work Experience
Operative Games
Current
Operative Games
ExoDexa
Current
ExoDexa
Black Diamond Ventures
Current
Black Diamond Ventures
LiftOff LLC
Current
LiftOff LLC
Wine Chips, Inc.
Current
Wine Chips, Inc.
Thrively
Current
Thrively
UM
2010-03-01 - 2012-12-01
UM
Big Stage Entertainment, Inc.
2006-08-01 - 2010-04-01
Big Stage Entertainment, Inc.
Technology Council of Southern California
2004-01-01 - 2009-01-01
Technology Council of Southern California
CoreObjects
2002-09-01 - 2005-04-01
CoreObjects
Skills
Summary
I’m an entrepreneur and executive with a deep passion for building and launching early stage companies. I co-founded LiftOff, a business accelerator/technology incubator in Glendale / Los Angeles, to help early stage companies design, build, and launch their products and businesses. I'm currently a Venture Partner with Black Diamond Ventures as well as the COO of Operative Games, using AI to reinvent storytelling. I was the founding CEO of Pandora, which currently has over 75 million users and a 70% share of total Internet Radio. We were early innovators in deep personalization technology, and relentless believers that great product and great design eventually win. Overall, I’ve founded seven venture-backed companies, with multiple exits and several still operating today. At LiftOff, we’re helping our portfolio companies build and launch world class products and businesses, and at Thrively, our platform has been adopted by tens of thousands of schools nationwide. I like to get involved with entrepreneurs and core IP developers early in the company-building lifecycle. At Idealab, I helped start and build UberMedia, a leading mobile monetization company. I also have experience licensing and commercializing raw technology from major universities and companies, having worked to sign IP licensing deals with USC, MIT and Disney, among others. My strengths and interests include: • Company building • Business strategy • Business development • M&A • Product strategy • IP commercialization • Story / strategic narrative development
