What comes next…
<TL;DR>
After five years working to define & build a world of spatial computing at Magic Leap, I am happy to share the news that I am embarking on a new challenge at Syng as Chief Commercial Officer. Syng is an audio company building hardware, software and services that gives listeners and creators the power to engage with sound in new and transformative ways.
<TL;DR>
Rewinding for a moment, when I left Vevo as CEO (also after 5 years) at the end of 2014, I was a tad burnt out from all of the growth that we had experienced combined with the inherent challenges of running a music industry joint-venture in a deep commercial relationship with Google & YouTube. I needed to take some time off to clear my head. I had found myself feeling a bit complacent, a little too comfortable (in the way that you can feel when you spend a long time doing the same thing in one particular industry). It kind of sneaks up on you, but it dawned on me that I felt that way and I did not necessarily like the way that it felt. I needed to get uncomfortable (in a good way), and get back to feeling again like I was learning something new every day and working with really smart people who knew things that I did not know.
I joined Magic Leap in June of 2015 as Chief Content Officer to focus on building a developer & creator ecosystem for their new spatial computing platform that was in development. As I write, I realize that is entirely a whole separate post (likely a series of posts) to do it all justice and properly talk what I learned & what that experience was like. In truth, no matter the outcome — I would do it all over again. I believe that I am a better person for that experience. I learned a ton about building hardware, about the challenges of launching a new brand and product category, about the importance of finding product market fit. I built an amazing team of engineers, artists, product managers, writers & folks who all cared deeply about supporting customers and creators. Most importantly, I am proud of how that experience sharpened my focus and attenuation on the vitality of developers & creators. My empathy for supporting the crazy ones who feel drawn & compelled to put their fingerprints on the world really flourished during my time at Magic Leap and I love the way that felt. Focusing my efforts on helping creators to tell their story, to fight for them, to be their advocate and to get them the resources and support that they need, that became my mission and the most important thing to protect and grow.
For me, developers & creators are the atomic kernel of truth. They are the root essence from which all else comes forth. Whether an engineer, a musician, a storyteller or an artist of any stripe —I realized the common thread throughout my life has been to work in service to do what I can to enable and support them.
My father was a rock n’ roll photographer so I was born and grew up in Los Angeles in the heyday of the ’70s rock scene surrounded by musicians & artists. I had an appreciation for artistry and the alchemy of creation at the earliest of ages. I can’t help but feel like some part of that experience stuck and helped to make me who I am today.
Even at Vevo, when I look back at one of the reasons that I worked to start the company while I was running the digital business at Universal Music was to try and fix what was broken within the industry when it came to generating real revenue from music videos — which in turn, puts more money directly in the pockets of rights owners, artists and songwriters. More recently, I joined the board of Austin City Limits so that I could contribute directly to helping that organization and its mission to celebrate musicians and live music.
I have always been passionate about Music. And I believe that what comes next is Spatial Computing. I believe that what comes next is a seamless and persistent integration of the digital world into our physical one. A natural premise of spatial computing is audio. Working to stick pixels to atoms has comprised the last 5 years of my life. Now I can say that working to make audio spatial is my next big endeavor (hopefully at least for another 5+ years).
I can’t reveal too much here about what we are working on over at Syng, as that will come out in time — but I am most excited about 3 things:
- The quality of the people
- The passion for artistry, musicians & creators
- The focus on advancing the state of sound using computational audio
The founding team at Syng is beyond impressive and the people that I have met so far are world class. It is an honor and a privilege to join them on this mission. I have not felt the fire burn so bright in awhile and it feels great to wake up every day doing what I am passionate about, with a great team that cares about customers, creators and musicians in pursuit of building something larger.
In my role as Chief Commercial Officer at Syng I will be leading our efforts to grow as a business and to obsess over and serve our customers. I will be driving partnerships / business development, sales, operations, finance and anything and everything else required to get our products & services in the hands of customers and creators to bring them joy. Syng has been working on an amazing product offering, and I could not be happier to join this talented team to help on the road to market and get it in the hands of customers.
Thank you to the Syng team for having me. I look forward to working alongside of you to build and ship great things.
Rio Caraeff
January 2021
h/t to ian c rogers for inspiring me to write this (and for inspiring me in general for over 20 years.)
