Arif Gursel

Arif Gursel Email and Phone Number

General Partner @ UnCap Ventures
Seattle, WA, US
Arif Gursel's Location
Seattle, Washington, United States, United States
About Arif Gursel

Arif Gursel is a creative and technical executive who effortlessly transitions between left- and right-brain duties, showcasing his adaptability and versatility. He is currently the founder and managing director of 8genC (pronounced 'agency') Inc., a dynamic agency that empowers influential content creators, brands, technology companies, and high-net-worth entertainers. Through fractional leadership and strategic executions, the agency captures new opportunities in the rapidly expanding creator economy. Mr. Gursel's influence transcends borders, as evidenced by his multiple global roles at Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Salesforce, Netflix, and Google. He was the global head of YouTube Music & Premium product partnerships and a global partnership leader at Netflix, where he fostered international relationships with other large enterprise companies. His extensive product and business development career, which began as a software engineer at Microsoft, working on Xbox and culminating in leading global media & entertainment partnership strategy at Microsoft, is a testament to his international reach and impact. After a successful 12-year career at Microsoft, where he shipped numerous impactful products in various roles, including engineering, product management, and business development, he began the Executive MBA program at The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where he was the youngest member of an international cohort. After completing his MBA, he ventured into the startup ecosystem as a multiple-time founder, early-stage advisor, and investor.Mr. Gursel's investments are not passive but driven by his active involvement. He is a general partner at Unified Capital, a VC firm established in 2024 that invests in Seed to Series-A startups. His specialization in technology strategy, creative direction, and business development for enterprise and venture-backed companies is a testament to his commitment. He also leads music, film, and fashion ventures through his holding company, VIBEHEAVY Inc., and its subsidiaries, which he founded in 2012.

Arif Gursel's Current Company Details
UnCap Ventures

Uncap Ventures

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General Partner
Seattle, WA, US
Website:
uncap.vc
Employees:
1
Arif Gursel Work Experience Details
  • Uncap Ventures
    General Partner
    Uncap Ventures
    Seattle, Wa, Us
  • 8Genc
    Founder & Managing Partner
    8Genc Apr 2023 - Present
    Los Angeles, Ca, Us
    8genc is led by executives with a combined 50+ years of experience building, deploying, and amplifying entertainment and consumer brands for Fortune 500 companies. We provide strategic guidance and top-notch execution to those participating in and making a living off of the creative economy. We partner with professional creatives, consumer brands, and venture-backed startups to cross chasms and reach the following stages of growth & funding in an accelerated cadence.
  • Vibeheavy
    Founder & Chief Vibe Officer
    Vibeheavy Jan 2012 - Present
    Seattle, Wa, Us
    VIBEHEAVY is a brand, movement & company. As its founder and chief vibe officer, I lead music, film, and fashion ventures through the holding company VIBEHEAVY Inc. and its various subsidiaries. We specialize in multi-medium design from software to fashion and are proven innovators in the entertainment business and product development, pioneering physical x, digital, and experiential marketing and strategy. Prominent Clients:• Microsoft• Salesforce• Twitter• Netflix• Coogi• Jaclar Athletics• Ali Shaheed Muhammad / A Tribe Called Quest• Panama Jazz Festival***Music Service IP (Discovered.io) Acquired by MyStay Inc in 2015***
  • Google
    Global Director - Head Of Product Partnerships (Youtube Music & Premium)
    Google May 2021 - Apr 2023
    Mountain View, Ca, Us
    I lead efforts to drive platform growth by striking innovative partnerships to support the subscriber acquisition and retention goals for YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium and partnerships that support the broader Music product area.
  • Netflix
    Global Alliances Manager - Google
    Netflix 2020 - May 2021
    Los Gatos, Ca, Us
    I lead the global partnership with Google, one of Netflix’s most strategic global partners. I work to deliver an amazing Netflix experience on Google devices and services. I operate as the organizational glue between business development, product development, product marketing, business operations, and partner engineering to influence Netflix’s positive outcomes across multiple partner integrations. The full scope of my role oversees Android TV & Android TV scaling programs and integrations with Google Play, Google Search, Google Assistant (Voice UI), Google Home Smart Devices, Google Chrome, Google Chromecast, Google TV, Chromebook’s, as well as innovative product explorations.
  • Salesforce
    Global Director Of Product & Ecosystem Partnerships (Heroku Marketplace Gm)
    Salesforce Jul 2017 - Sep 2019
    San Francisco, California, Us
    I led the Ecosystem team at Heroku, a business unit of Salesforce, driving over $100MM ARR for the division with 30% YoY growth. As the GM, my team consisted of technical product and program managers, software engineers, marketers, and designers who partnered together to plan, build, and deliver consumer cloud platform features and partner apis. I led the strategy and execution required to evolve platform features to support integrating and managing over 200 third-party fully managed services from world-class providers such as Amazon's AWS IBM, MongoDB, as well as nascient face growing developer tool companies.My Product Ownership Areas:- Heroku Elements Marketplace- Heroku Partner Portal- Heroku Add-on Partner API's- Heroku Platform API's- Ecosystem Developer Experience- Ecosystem Runtime Integrations- Ecosystem Marketing- Ecosystem Sales EnablementIn short, I led partner recruitment activities to align Salesforce's Heroku ecosystem value with the ever-changing developer landscape across sectors and industry verticals. My work helped companies who provided tools for modern application development adopt and efficiently exploit a unique sales channel, providing tremendous differentiated customer value for SMBs and Enterprises. I partnered cross-functionally with other Salesforce marketing, sales, customer success, and legal teams to provide the human API to Heroku's ecosystem of application development partners. My team explored strategic alliances in the cloud (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS) ecosystem that unlocked unique value opportunities including corporate strategy M&A activities.
  • Point Inside
    Vp Of Product
    Point Inside Dec 2015 - Feb 2017
    Bellevue, Washington, Us
    I joined Point Inside as the first product leader in a fast-growing startup. I led the product strategy for a team of 60+ engineers, product managers, and UX designers, building a white-label SaaS platform that powered the shopping experiences for customers of Target, Lowes, and Meijer. Our SDK and mobile apps provide location-based mobile SaaS solutions to major global retailers, airports, and malls. In addition to my role as a product leader, I also served as the engineering manager for the team building our white label faceted search engine product.
  • Select-Tv Solutions Inc. [Mystay Inc.]
    Chief Product Officer
    Select-Tv Solutions Inc. [Mystay Inc.] Jan 2015 - Sep 2015
    I joined MyStay through the acquisition of technology assets developed by VIBEHEAVY. As CTO and Chief Product Officer, I designed next-gen set-top boxes and integrated TV systems to deliver OTT content to limited-service properties. By driving a superior linear programming UX and F.A.S.T. (Free, Ad-Supported, Subscription, and Transactional) VOD, MyStay brings the benefit of local access and global reach to travelers and hotels through an interactive experience, while being a reliable and secure solution at an affordable price. Our guest-oriented solution enables a content-rich, personalized, and mobile experience for the hospitality industry.***Acquired by Select-TV***
  • Zillow
    Product Leader | Revenue Growth
    Zillow Mar 2014 - Jul 2015
    Seattle, Washington, Us
    At Zillow I drove innovative product development for the largest revenue generating business unit. My role oversaw the product development roadmap, sales strategy and execution. I reported to the VP of Sales and Ad Ops and regularly meet with the founders, CRO and CEO about future strategy and product needs.Responsibilities:• Discover and validate market problems; define and size market opportunities.• Provide direction for strategy, technical, operational, and marketing aspects of portfolio products. • Lead engineering to deliver features from detailed requirements and prototypes.• Drive go-to market planning, positioning, pricing, and the buying process.• Key product and technology evangelist and authority for platform.Accomplishments:• Drove conversion of the current fixed price (contract based) advertising model into a market based (real-time) dynamic pricing model utilizing a modified "2nd Price Auction"• Oversaw the release of new advertising products in high value markets with 30%+ increase in MRR• Built, lead and enabled a team of rock star product specialist, business analyst, account executives and sales team driving new product execution• Drove the largest ad inventory release and monthly record sales performance in the companies history
  • Microsoft Corporation
    Hospitality Cto - Global Partner Team
    Microsoft Corporation Jan 2009 - Dec 2012
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    Responsible for setting and directing technical strategy for industry solution areas of:-Gaming-Point-of-Sale (POS)-Property Management Systems (PMS)-Casino Management Systems (CMS)-In-Room Guest Experience Solutions I partner with the industry’s largest and Microsoft’s most strategic partners. With a heavy focus on SOA, cloud development/deployment, and mobile scenarios across multiple platforms. I drove innovation using cutting edge technologies to deliver next-gen solutions for early adopting customers.Accomplishments:• Signed largest partner cloud deal (8MM committed revenue)• Created “Restaurant of the Future” (concept) deployed at National Restaurant Association• Partnered to develop the industry’s first purpose built SaaS property management system (PMS)• Successful conversion of Linux based slot machines to Windows Embedded for IGT and Aristocrat
  • Microsoft Corporation
    Global Alliance Management
    Microsoft Corporation Jan 2006 - Jan 2009
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    As a Technical Global Alliance Manager I was responsible for increasing Microsoft and partner revenue by creating new flagship products and innovating within current offerings. In this role I managed partnerships and ventures in various industry verticals.Accomplishments:• Founder of Microsoft Audio Music Partnership AMP Alliance (Breadth Engagement Organization)• GISV Partner Collaboration Award 2009• Drove license revenue of $100MM through alliance portfolio engagementsGlobal Alliances Managed (Account Portfolio):• Consumer: Nero, Sonic, Avid• Media/Entertainment: AVID, Pinnacle, Roland, Yamaha, Cakewalk, Open Labs, Gibson• Comm. Sector: AVID, Harris, MetraTech, MSA, Parallels, SubEx• Retail & Hospitality: Micros, Agilysys, IGT, Aristocrat, SuiteLinq, Par Springer Miller, Cenium, Red Rock
  • Microsoft Corporation
    Sr. Program Manager | Windows
    Microsoft Corporation Jan 2006 - Jan 2007
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    As the PM on the Audio and Video Excellence team in the Digital Media Division my responsibilities covered both audio and video. In addition to feature ownership I was responsible for UX design and the “Go To” person for all aspects of core audio, pro-audio, and video planning for Windows. I also served as the technical liaison for video/audio Independent Software and Hardware Vendors (ISV/IHV). My responsibility included:• Pro-Audio API development (Apple Compete)• UI design of the Windows Volume Control • PM owner of Audio Roles (Default, Communication)• Creator of Windows Audio Summit• Video PM: Evangelize the global eco-system of feature adoption Accomplishments:• Spearheaded the change of driver install behavior for class drivers (Benefited multiple device teams)• Introduced new volume concept (Multiple Volume Sliders) to Windows platformProducts Shipped: Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Microsoft LifeCamRelationships Managed: Logitech, Panasonic, Sony, Olympus, Pixela, RCA
  • Microsoft Corporation
    Lead Pm- Xbox Alternative Entertainment
    Microsoft Corporation Jun 2001 - Dec 2005
    Redmond, Washington, Us
    As the first technical member of the Xbox Alternative Entertainment team I was responsible for creating products and scenarios to push the capabilities and expectations of video game consoles. In this role I was allowed the flexibility to dream up and deliver some of the industry’s most innovative products (now standard) working in cross divisional collaboration with other Microsoft stakeholders. The nature of this role included high-level product planning with the divisional Vice President to explore areas of innovation, including commercializing R&D efforts.My responsibility included:• Feature development of new entertainment titles• Developed, implemented, and managed software testing processes and procedures• Managed a team of 20 (internal/external) software test engineers• Drove external focus group testing requirementsOverall Accomplishments:• Patent Award: Method and Apparatus for Managing Sounds in a Gaming Console• Shipped Products: Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, Music Mixer, Exhibition, Xbox Video Chat (Japan), Xbox Live Vision (Camera), Windows XP Media Extender, Media Extender for Xbox
  • Kuow Public Radio
    Board Of Directors | Governance Co-Chair
    Kuow Public Radio 2010 - 2011
    Seattle, Washington, Us

Arif Gursel Skills

Cloud Computing Start Ups Enterprise Software Mobile Devices Product Management Management Strategy Strategic Partnerships Leadership Saas Project Management Business Development Marketing Software Development Program Management Social Media Marketing Integration Product Development Business Strategy Partner Management Digital Media Agile Methodologies Software As A Service E Commerce Software Project Management Programming Strategic Planning Social Media Cross Functional Team Leadership It Strategy Marketing Strategy Analytics Business Modeling Mobile Applications Product Marketing Consulting Go To Market Strategy Enterprise Architecture Angularjs Mongodb Digital Marketing Node.js Swift Executive Management Mobile Technology Business Alliances User Experience Sales New Business Development Python

Arif Gursel Education Details

  • The University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business
    The University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business
    Technology & Corporate Strategy
  • Tuskegee University
    Tuskegee University
    Computer Science
  • Brooklyn Technical High School
    Brooklyn Technical High School
    Architecture

Frequently Asked Questions about Arif Gursel

What company does Arif Gursel work for?

Arif Gursel works for Uncap Ventures

What is Arif Gursel's role at the current company?

Arif Gursel's current role is General Partner.

What is Arif Gursel's email address?

Arif Gursel's email address is ar****@****avy.com

What is Arif Gursel's direct phone number?

Arif Gursel's direct phone number is +142559*****

What schools did Arif Gursel attend?

Arif Gursel attended The University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business, Tuskegee University, Brooklyn Technical High School.

What are some of Arif Gursel's interests?

Arif Gursel has interest in Children, Economic Empowerment, Civil Rights And Social Action, Science And Technology, Human Rights, Arts And Culture.

What skills is Arif Gursel known for?

Arif Gursel has skills like Cloud Computing, Start Ups, Enterprise Software, Mobile Devices, Product Management, Management, Strategy, Strategic Partnerships, Leadership, Saas, Project Management, Business Development.

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