Kyle Laffey
San Francisco, CA, United States0
Head of Partnerships | Strategic Partnerships, Product Partnerships & Business Development | AI, Gaming, Sports Tech & Emerging Technology
Strategic partnerships and product leader with 10+ years bringing emerging technology into sports, gaming, and entertainment. Combines enterprise partnership experience with founder-level product ownership and a background in creative production.
AI Fluency
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Q&A
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Projects
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HireGamers.org
Gaming-talent marketplace using competitive rank as hiring credential
Built a gaming-talent marketplace concept using competitive rank as a hiring credential. Work included front-end and back-end flows, database and authentication, dashboards, webhooks and segmented waitlist capture using AI coding tools.
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Media Valuation Tools
Stream sponsorship and media-value calculators
Built stream sponsorship and media-value calculators with audience estimation, viewer-scaling logic, branded interfaces, lead capture and email integration for calculating sponsorship value and media worth.
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XmoArena
World of Warcraft arena analytics addon
Created a World of Warcraft arena analytics addon using AI-assisted development, with combat-log parsing, persistent match history and a custom interface for competitive PvP analysis.
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ThetaDrop Marketplace
Digital-collectible platform with entertainment IP
Led digital-collectible releases generating $25M+ in marketplace sales. Connected entertainment IP and creator communities with interactive products across major properties including Katy Perry, American Idol, The Price Is Right, Vegas Golden Knights and World Poker Tour. Managed launches, partner coordination, promotional requirements and cross-functional execution.
Experience
Influencer Marketing Manager
Theta Network and Theta LabsAug 2016 — Aug 2017 · San Francisco Bay Area
Started in creator acquisition and influencer marketing, advancing into broader partnership leadership during SLIVER.tv and Theta growth years. Recruited 10,000+ creators, led up to 20 community managers, and helped scale the platform from launch toward 4M+ monthly active users, 750K+ social followers and 3.5M+ email subscribers.
Creative Director
Genies, Inc.Aug 2013 — Aug 2016 · San Francisco
Led creative campaigns for FoxTV, Live Nation, Naked Juice and Pokimane. Produced branded photography for 200+ lifestyle brands. Executive produced two $100K+ commercials and managed productions involving up to 150+ cast and crew, handling production vendors, agencies, locations and suppliers.
Esports & Gaming Brand Sponsorship Sales
XMOTAJul 2015 — Jul 2016 · San Francisco Bay Area
Developed sponsorship programs involving MGM Grand, Zippo, Kensington, Naver and Mandalay Bay. Helped non-endemic brands understand gaming audiences and translate brand objectives into activations within esports and gaming communities.
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Head of Partnerships
Theta Network and Theta LabsAug 2017 — Present · San Francisco Bay Area
Lead strategic partnerships across Theta EdgeCloud AI products, professional sports, esports, gaming, entertainment and digital commerce. Built a portfolio of 25+ signed strategic and AI partnership agreements, created the sports and esports AI-agent sponsorship category from zero, and led 15+ deployments across websites, mobile apps, Discord, Twitch and commerce. Worked with Product and Engineering on RAG-based agents involving NBA, NHL, MLS, Ligue 1 and U.GG data. Led ThetaDrop releases generating $25M+ in digital-collectible marketplace sales across 2021-2023.
Education
Loyola Marymount University
Film and Television Production
Credentials
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Honor or award
Cannes Film Festival 2014
Issued May 2014
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Honor or award
Nantucket Film Festival
Nantucket Film Fesival
Issued May 2014
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Honor or award
Best Picture
Loyola Marymount University
Issued Jan 2014
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Honor or award
Best Produced Screenplay
Loyola Marymount University
Issued Jan 2014
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Skills
Customer SuccessProduct StrategyProduct PartnershipsPartnership DevelopmentGo-to-Market StrategyStrategic PartnershipsSports & Esports Business DevelopmentGenerative AISportsTechPartnershipsCorporate Partnership DevelopmentGenerative AI (Chatbots & RAG)Creator Economy / Influencer MarketingWeb3 & Digital CollectiblesSocial MediaCreative Marketing