Meet the TIKI Team!
From the core team to investors and advisors, meet the people behind the project.
"The ability to express an idea is well nigh as important as the idea itself." - Bernard Baruch
The team at TIKI has an idea to change the world, but that idea is nothing without the people working behind the scenes to turn vision into reality. Different people, different backgrounds, different specializations, different experience motivated by the same vision.
The TIKI Team
Mike Audi — Founder & CEO
Mike creates innovative data products for B2C and B2B markets. As co- founder and CTO of Blustream, he built, led, and sold products responsible for billions of user data points into businesses ranging from SMBs to Fortune 500 brands. You have seen him featured as a data expert in the New York Times, Financial Times, CNN, CyberNews, CPO Magazine, and many others.
Passionate about the power of data, transparency, and people, not the system.
Previous: Co-founder & CTO @ Blustream Corporation
Shane Faria — Co-founder & Head of Content
Shane is drawn toward building teams and maximizing their potential. He built out the CX team at early-stage eCommerce start-up Purple Carrot, taught high school English, and helped build multi-championship high school track and field programs in his native Massachusetts. He combines his previous successes at team-building, motivating, and leading at TIKI and as a volunteer track and field coach at a local Nashville high school.
Shane is a die-hard Boston sports fan (sorry), avid reader, and can still run very, very fast.
Previous: CX @ Purple Carrot, Track & Field Coach @ Burlington High School
Barry O’Connor — Data Market Lead
Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Barry O’Connor is a curious leader with demonstrated success in new business creation. He is passionate about the intersection of big data and DLT. In his free time, Barry is an accomplished cold-water swimmer and expert at measuring in pints. Barry’s gift of gab and years of experience with blockchain (as well as being one of the OGs of selling data in the CEM space) add a new dimension to TIKI team.
Previous: National Blockchain Expert Panel Member @ NSAI, Global VCM @ Nokia Siemens
Ricardo Gonçlaves — Mobile Lead
The pride of João Pessoa, Brazil, Ricardo is a mobile/web developer and teacher. He is passionate about Flutter, WordPress, wearing tank tops, and making Barry jealous about his excursions to the beach in Brazil while it is constantly overcast in Dublin. Ricardo’s amicable personality and positive attitude are as warm as his climate.
Previous: Instructor @ ProWay IT Training, Project Management Lead @ BRGWeb
Nick Gebo — Engineering (Intern)
Nick is a Vanderbilt student passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation as ways of making social progress. He grew up learning programming and entrepreneurship skills by watching YouTube and creating Minecraft servers, and makes games for The Sandbox metaverse. He is working to help TIKI in whatever way possible. Nick is also studying to become a grandmaster at Blokus, a colorful board game meant for players age 7 and up.
Previous: Founder & CEO @ Havoc Games
Diana Shaw — Chief of Staff (Intern)
Diana is passionate about creating innovative businesses with a strong mission to make the world a better place. In college, she launched an incubator for students fighting against human trafficking and labor exploitation. After spending time in strategy & analytics roles at a few large companies, she decided to get her MBA from the U. Chicago Booth. Diana loves mentoring others, spends her free time playing sports and salsa dancing, and especially embraces her Italian heritage with her strong love of coffee, wine, bread, and cheese.
Previous: Venture Fellow @ 11 Tribes Ventures, Senior Business Analyst @ Capital One
Daniel Tierney — Content (Intern)
Daniel Tierney is dipping his toe into tech after being involved in the local music scene in Nashville. As a student at Vanderbilt University, he spends his time outside the classroom developing student artists through the student run organization the Music Room. He's looking to translate the promotional skills he strengthened while working as the Music Room's VP of Communications into strategies to encourage meaningful user engagement for TIKI's following.
Previous: Executive VP of the Music Room, Track and Field Coach @ Brentwood Academy
Advisors
At TIKI we’re blessed with some truly amazing advisors and mentors. They’ve built some of the most impactful companies in the world and we’re incredibly proud to have their wisdom behind us.
Co-Founder & CTO @ SaaSWorks. Former founding team (5 people) @ HubSpot, original CTO, first CIO, and then the first Chief People Officer.
Board Member @ Security ScoreCard, Fellow @ MIT Media. Former President of Standard & Poor’s, Head of Global Strategy and M&A @ The McGraw-Hill Companies.
CEO @ Blustream Corporation & Trustee @ Zenie Foundation. Former Founder & CEO @ VelQuest Corporation, acquired by Accelrys, then Dassault.
Kashish Mittal
Co-Founder @ Emigre. Former Security Lead @ Brex & Head of Security @ Microsoft MLX.
CEO @ OneScreen.AI. Former Instructor @ Harvard & Head of Growth @ HubSpot Labs.
Rikesh Govan
Angel Investor. Physician & Healthtech advocate. Former Co-founder @ Jambli.
Investors
Pre-Seed Angels (Jun. 2021)
Raised $240k from accredited angel investors via a SAFE note. Their early belief and support for the vision of TIKI means the world to us. Participation included a combination of advisors and investors from our personal networks.
Pre-Seed Crowdfunding (Nov. 2021)
Raised over $400k from 300+ investors through equity crowdfunding. The goal was alignment of users and investors, in the business. An amazing by-product is hundreds of passionate, new brand advocates.
