Susana Malcorra
Former Foreign Minister of Argentina | Former Chef de Cabinet to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon | Co-Founder & President, GWL Voices | Co-Chair, International Crisis Group Board
Kun Gao
Co-Founder & Founding CEO of Crunchyroll | Co-Founder & CEO of Forge | Co-Founder of GGWP | Serial Entrepreneur in Content, Community & Gaming
Kun Gao is the Co-Founder and founding CEO of Crunchyroll, the global home of anime, which he grew from a college project into the world's leading anime service before Sony acquired it in 2021. He now leads Forge and GGWP, building the next generation of gaming platforms. Audiences gain a candid operator's view of subscription economics, content-and-community flywheels, and what it takes to be a serial entrepreneur.
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Kun Gao biography
Kun Gao is a serial entrepreneur who has spent two decades building consumer technology companies that have reshaped how millions of people experience content, community, and gaming. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Forge, the first loyalty and rewards platform built for gaming, Co-Founder of GGWP, an AI-powered platform tackling toxicity in online gaming communities, and most notably the Co-Founder and founding CEO of Crunchyroll, the global home of anime.
Entrepreneurship speaker Kun Gao is best known for spending more than a decade as CEO of Crunchyroll, where he helped grow a passion project among college friends into a global leader in anime streaming. Under his leadership, Crunchyroll connected millions of fans around the world with premium content, live events, games, and consumer products. By the time Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2021 for $1.175 billion, the service had surpassed 5 million paid subscribers and 120 million registered users.
At Forge, Gao now leads a next-generation platform that lets gamers celebrate their achievements and earn rewards for their dedication to gaming, backed by a roster of leading investors including BITKRAFT, Makers Fund, Animoca Brands, Riot Games, and the Sony Innovation Fund. At GGWP, he drives business strategy and partnerships to scale AI-powered moderation tools that help game developers identify toxic behavior and build safer, healthier communities. Earlier in his career, he was Co-Founder and CTO of Frappr.com, one of the first successful geolocation social networks, later acquired by Slide.
Serial Builder at the Intersection of Content, Community, and AI
Across Crunchyroll, GGWP, and Forge, Gao has built an unusually clear founder thesis: the most enduring consumer products sit where premium content, real community, and frontier technology meet. He has navigated the full operator journey, from two-person seed-stage teams to organizations of several hundred employees, from licensing negotiations in Japan to global subscription economics, and from product-market fit to acquisition. Gao was a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on multi-core database systems optimization, and earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and B.A. in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley, graduating with honors.
As a speaker, Kun Gao gives audiences something only a few people in the global content and gaming industries can: a candid, operator’s view of building category-defining companies from zero, across two of the most competitive consumer markets in the world. Executive, founder, and investor audiences leave with sharp, applicable insight on subscription economics, content and community flywheels, scaling international teams, and what it actually takes to be a serial entrepreneur who builds, exits, and builds again.
Kun Gao Speaking Videos
Kun Gao | Uplifted Conference Las Vegas 2024 | AHN
#9 Pricing - (GGWP) Kun Gao | Slush 2022
Kun Gao Keynote Topics
The full story of how Kun Gao and his co-founders turned an unlicensed fan site for anime into the global leader in the category. He walks audiences through the pivotal decisions, the licensing battles with Japan, the leaps of faith, and the long arc from scrappy startup to acquisition, drawing out the founder lessons that apply to anyone trying to build a category-defining consumer business.
Subscription services look simple from the outside and are brutally complex inside. Gao breaks down the real economics behind premium content subscriptions, including churn, lifetime value, content amortization, and the trade-offs between growth and profitability. A practical session for founders, operators, and investors building or backing subscription businesses in media, gaming, or beyond.
Crunchyroll was never just a streaming service. It was a community. Gao shares how he and his team designed for fan culture, live events, consumer products, and games to reinforce one another, and how any modern content business should be thinking about turning audiences into communities and communities into compounding advantage.
With GGWP applying AI to moderation and Forge building the first true loyalty platform for gaming, Gao sits at the center of how the $250 billion gaming industry is rethinking its relationship with players. He shares what he is seeing in toxicity, retention, rewards, and engagement, and what every consumer platform can learn about building healthier, more sustainable online communities.
Few founders take a company through hyper-growth, sell it, and then return to the founder's chair, let alone twice. Gao reflects on what he carried from Crunchyroll into GGWP and Forge, what he had to unlearn, and how he thinks about energy, team, capital, and conviction as a repeat operator. A grounded, hard-won talk for founders, executives, and investors.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Kun Gao
Why Kun Gao?
Booking Kun Gao is a strategic choice for any event focused on entrepreneurship, gaming, media, or the future of online communities. As the Co-Founder and founding CEO of Crunchyroll, he built one of the most distinctive consumer media companies of the last 20 years, growing it into the world's leading anime platform before Sony acquired it in 2021 for $1.175 billion. He has since founded two more venture-backed companies in the gaming space and is one of the most credible operators speaking on subscription economics, content-and-community flywheels, and serial entrepreneurship. Book Kun Gao through Aurum Speakers Bureau for events focused on founders, consumer technology, gaming, and the future of digital entertainment.
Did Kun Gao found Crunchyroll?
Yes. Kun Gao is a Co-Founder of Crunchyroll and served as its founding CEO for more than a decade. He helped grow Crunchyroll from a project among college friends into the world's largest destination for anime and manga, connecting millions of fans through premium streaming content, live events, games, and consumer products. Crunchyroll later came under AT&T's ownership and was acquired by Sony in 2021 for $1.175 billion.
What does Kun Gao do now after Crunchyroll?
After Crunchyroll, Kun Gao co-founded two companies in the gaming industry. He is the Co-Founder of GGWP, an AI-powered platform that helps game developers tackle toxicity and build safer communities, and the Co-Founder and CEO of Forge, the first loyalty and rewards platform built for gaming. Forge is backed by leading investors including BITKRAFT, Makers Fund, Animoca Brands, Riot Games, and the Sony Innovation Fund.
What topics does keynote speaker Kun Gao cover?
Kun Gao speaks on serial entrepreneurship, the Crunchyroll founding and scaling journey, subscription economics, content and community flywheels, the future of gaming communities, and how AI is reshaping online platforms. His talks are designed for founders, operators, investors, and executives across consumer technology, media, and gaming. Book Kun Gao through Aurum Speakers Bureau to bring his operator's perspective on building category-defining companies to your event.
How to book Kun Gao as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Kun Gao as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Kun Gao's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Kun Gao or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Kun Gao speaking fee?
Kun Gao speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Kun Gao to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Kun Gao.
How can I contact Kun Gao?
We only work with Kun Gao on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Kun Gao and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Kun Gao speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Kun Gao for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Kun Gao for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Kun Gao is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Kun Gao for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
