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Andrew Paradise

Founder & CEO

Skillz

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Andrew Paradise

Bjørnulf Østvik

Andrew Paradise’s Biography

Andrew Paradise is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Skillz, a pioneer of mobile skill-based competition that connects players and developers through social competition. Andrew is a highly regarded leader, entrepreneur and inventor in the gaming and tech industries, having founded and sold numerous companies throughout his career.

Skillz’s platform gives game developers the opportunity to monetize their content by building franchises and enabling player competition in their games. It hosts billions of casual mobile gaming tournaments for millions of mobile players around the world and distributes millions of dollars in real-world prizes each month.

As CEO, Andrew has led the company through periods of significant growth, culminating in it becoming the global leader in mobile gaming industry. Under his leadership, Skillz has been recognized with many honors, including Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000.

Andrew has been widely recognized for his... Andrew Paradise is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Skillz, a pioneer of mobile skill-based competition that connects players and developers through social competition. Andrew is a highly regarded leader, entrepreneur and inventor in the gaming and tech industries, having founded and sold numerous companies throughout his career.

Skillz’s platform gives game developers the opportunity to monetize their content by building franchises and enabling player competition in their games. It hosts billions of casual mobile gaming tournaments for millions of mobile players around the world and distributes millions of dollars in real-world prizes each month.

As CEO, Andrew has led the company through periods of significant growth, culminating in it becoming the global leader in mobile gaming industry. Under his leadership, Skillz has been recognized with many honors, including Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Forbes’ Next Billion-Dollar Startups and the #1 fastest-growing company in America on the Inc. 5000.

Andrew has been widely recognized for his success and has earned his reputation as a thought leader in the gaming and tech space. He was listed in the ‘40 under 40 Class of 2018’ by the San Francisco Business Times, and has been a featured speaker on gaming and tech at the Milken Institute’s annual conference, MWCA, Inc. Conference, SXSW and more. Andrew has also been featured in articles and interviews by The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, Forbes, CNBC, Bloomberg and more. He has also registered several patents.

Andrew holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts and a BCom from the University of Auckland. READ MORE VIEW LESS

Andrew Paradise’s Newsfeed

Medium

Andrew Paradise of Skillz On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Suite Executive

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Business Wire

Skillz Spotlights Innovation, Monetization and Growth at the 36th Annual Game Developers Conference

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Andrew Paradise’s Background

Skillz

Founder & CEO

2012 - Present

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Skillz is the leading mobile games platform that connects players and developers through fun and fair competition. Its platform empowers game developers to monetize their content by building multi-million-dollar franchises and enabling social competition in their games.

Intuit

Director of Payment Solutions

Mountain View, CA, USA

Intuit is a global technology platform that helps consumers and small businesses overcome their most important financial challenges. Andrew served as Director following the acquisition of AisleBuyer.

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Andrew Paradise’s Gallery

Media

Skillz Reports Higher Revenues, Losses During ‘Huge Building Year’

Feb 2022

New York, NY, USA

“Last year, we made substantial investments in our infrastructure necessary to build the competition layer of the Internet,” Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise said in a release. “We are now entering a new phase, where we will shift focus to profitable growth through improving marketing efficiency, and deploying fewer but more impactful product features.”

Skillz starts trading as a public company as mobile esports heats up

Dec 2020

San Francisco, CA, USA

Mobile esports company Skillz has begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the latest company to take advantage of a boom in the game industry.

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Interviews

Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise on ‘Big Buck Hunter’ launch and future growth

Sep 2021

New York, NY, USA

Skillz CEO joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss the company’s upcoming launch for its ‘Big Buck Hunter’ game and where the biggest growth opportunities are for the company.

Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise on Aarki acquisition and the company’s outlook

Jun 2021

New York, NY, USA

Skillz CEO joins ‘Closing Bell’ to discuss the decision to acquire Aarki, what the business is investing in and the future of the company.

We’re revolutionizing the gaming industry as the leading e-sports platform, says Skillz CEO

Dec 2020

New York, NY, USA

The latest company to go public via SPAC is mobile e-sports platform, Skillz. The company's CEO joins ‘Closing Bell’ to talk about its business and future trends in the industry.

Get Your SPAC Game on with Skillz

Oct 2020

Andrew Paradise discusses taking Skillz public, market opportunities for mobile gaming and what the future holds for the company.

Skillz CEO on the company's plan to go public

Sep 2020

New York, NY, USA

Andrew Paradise says going public via SPAC is just one step in becoming a ‘hundred-year company.'

Andrew Paradise On The State Of The Mobile Games Market

May 2020

Ahead of the Los Angeles Games Conference, Andrew Paradise shared his thoughts on the changes affecting creativity in the arena, what role fundraising tournaments have played in COVID and the mobile game trends he foresees emerging.

Agile Culture Improves Growth with Andrew Paradise at Skillz

Sep 2019

Skillz was the #1 fastest growing company in 2017’s Inc 5000 list. Their revenue growth of 50,059 percent in three years proves they understand growth. CEO, Andrew, shares how his teams think about their work in the agile framework. Create a team that moves fast and makes

Competitive Mobile Gaming with Andrew Paradise, CEO and Founder of Skillz

Aug 2017

New York, NY, USA

Skillz CEO joins the For Your Innovation Podcast to share his thoughts on the mobile gaming market, the technology stack necessary for mobile gaming platforms, monetization of mobile gamers, the importance of social experiences within and outside of games, and the rise of casual and professional esports.

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Features

How Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise Built an Inc. 5000 Leader

Aug 2017

New York, NY, USA

This feature highlights Skillz' placement in the No. 1 spot on the Inc. 5000 list, the first gaming entity ever to top the chart. In a discussion with founder, Andrew Paradise, the article traces the company's story, from its founding in 2012 to its current success hosting tens of millions of customers monthly on its platform.

Publications

3 Business Lessons I Learned From Playing Video Games

Author

Aug 2023

Andrew explains how the virtual world of gaming has motivated him - also leading to improved processes and better engagement with teammates.

Fueling Epic Wins: Skillz Puts Developers First with Innovative Revenue Model

Author

May 2023

In this article for LinkedIn, Andrew explains why Skillz utilizes an innovative revenue model to reward game developers fairly, describing them as the lifeblood of their business as the creators of the games that players love.

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Awards & Recognition

CNBC Disruptor 50 list

Honoree

2019

New York, NY, USA

Skillz was honored with a place on the list for the second year in a row. The CNBC Disruptor 50 list features private companies — from biotech and machine learning to transportation, retail and agriculture — whose innovations are changing the world.

40 Under 40 | Class of 2018

Honoree

2018

San Francisco, CA, USA

The San Francisco Business Times’ 40 Under 40 highlights some of the young business leaders making their mark on the Bay Area and the world. The leaders and entrepreneurs that make up the list come from a variety of fields, including technology, real estate, finance, healthcare, law, philanthropy, food and more.

Speaking Engagements

Milken Institute Global Conference

Panel member

2021

Beverly Hills, CA, USA

Andrew, along with other leaders in the tech space, took part in a panel titled 'Leading Companies Through the New Digital Reality'. Panel members discussed the new reality companies are facing around the globe, including what the workspace of the future will look like and what the shift to e-commerce could mean for the small and medium businesses that drive the economy.

South by Southwest

Panel member

Apr 2021

Andrew and other leaders in the tech and gaming industries participated in a panel titled 'Gaming for Good: The Future of Fundraising'. The panel discussed opportunities for organizations to rally the gaming community and drive meaningful change, while also sharing an inside look at the success of companies across esports, technology and nonprofits.

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Business Interests

Cooperative Gameplay in Peer-to-peer Wagering Platform

Patent | US-9697680

With this peer-to-peer program, data can be received and can include a request to initiate a cooperative digital skills-based gaming competition and an identification of one or more additional players to invite to join a cooperative team.

Online Software Video Capture and Replay System

Patent | US-9630097

The user-activity video signal can comprise a video capture characterizing a user's interaction with a software application on a client. The software application can have an interface display space on the client and the software application can execute on the client in operation with at least one remote backend computing system.

Event Platform for Peer-to-Peer Digital Gaming Competition

Patent | US-9479602

On this platform, data is received identifying a peer-to-peer gaming event and comprising a request to register for the peer-to-peer gaming event, the request originating from peer-to-peer gaming platform software executing on a client.

Integrations Portal for a Peer-to-Peer Game Platform

Patent | US-9349246

An integrations portal can communicate with a developer client and can include an interface to prompt the developer client for and to receive peer-to-peer competition settings and third-party game mechanics. Additionally, a peer-to-peer wagering platform can be in communication with the integrations portal and a plurality of player clients and can receive data from the integrations portal.

Determining Game Skill Factor

Patent | US-8882576

With this program, data characterizing a quantifiable outcome for each of a plurality of game trials can be accessed. For one or more of the plurality of players and using the accessed data, a second variance measure of the quantifiable outcome for the game trials associated with the one or more of the plurality of players can be computed.

Dynamic Gameplay Advertisements

Patent | US-8715077

Data characterizing historical skills-based gaming metrics for a first user and historical skills-based gaming metrics for at least one second user is accessed. Using the accessed data and a set of rules, a targeted advertisement to present to the first user is determined.

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Press Releases

Skillz to Participate in Wedbush Winter Games Conference

Dec 2021

New York, NY, USA

Skillz announced that its CEO and founder, Andrew Paradise, will participate in a fireside chat at the Wedbush Winter Games Conference being held December 8-9, 2021.

7th Annual Digital Entertainment World Features Speakers from Pluto TV, Roc Nation, CBS, NBC, Epic Games and more

Jan 2020

New York, NY, USA

Andrew Paradise is listed as a featured speaker at the 7th annual Digital Entertainment World (DEW), which will assemble industry leaders who play a significant role in the business of creating and monetizing digital entertainment content.

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Andrew Paradise’s Education

The University of Auckland

BCom | Economics

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

B.A. | English Literature