Aaron is the Founder and CEO of Podpal, and sets the product vision and strategy for the company. He got the idea for Podpal while helping his wife Tania manage her first podcast. What started as a simple Kanban board on their bedroom wall in Seattle sparked the idea for a SaaS platform that removes the busywork related to podcast management.
Since launching Podpal, Aaron has been recognized by global leaders in business and technology including Google, Hennessy, Target, JP Morgan Chase, Black Enterprise, and others. He’s secured over $250,000 of non-dilutive capital through various pitch competitions to fuel company operations and reach major product milestones. He’s a Google for Startups Black Founder’s Fund recipient, a Hennessy Never Stop Never Settle Society honoree, a Famous Amos Ingredients for Success Grant winner, and a finalist in Season 1 of Target and REVOLT’s TV Series, ‘Bet on Black’ featuring the nations top 12 black founders.
Aaron was a former Division 1AA student-athlete at Jacksonville University where he played football and earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics before transferring to the University of Florida to complete his BS in Civil Engineering. He continued to advance his education by earning his MS in Structural Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Master’s Certificate in Agile Product Management from Villanova. He began his career designing high-rise buildings in Seattle, and is responsible for major components of notable structures like Amazon’s Headquarters in Seattle and Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. He also contributed to major manufacturing system improvements for Boeing’s 777X aircraft prior to transitioning into the tech industry. He’s currently working as a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft where he leads a team of 12 software engineers revolutionizing the Azure Cloud platform while he continues to bootstrap Podpal to become the next tech unicorn.
Aaron embeds his cross-functional superpowers into every facet of Podpal’s product, culture, and community. He leverages his dynamic background in engineering and product design to bring disruptive solutions to market, guide teams, and achieve scale. He’s dedicated to Podpal’s mission to make it easy for aspiring, hobby, and professional podcasters to get their message out to the world and seeks to make a greater impact on society by increasing the diversity of voices and content in podcasting.
Aaron currently resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife Tania and 4 amazing children (Elijah, Olivia, Anorah, and Gianna). When he’s not creating and innovating, he enjoys playing acoustic guitar, hiking to alpine lakes, and advocating for children and adults on the Autism Spectrum.