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About

Rahul Sonnad is a serial founder and technologist who has built companies across digital media, electric vehicles, mobile commerce, and generative AI. His ventures have raised over $28 million, generated $100M+ in exits, and launched industry firsts — from the first api based B2B web service (SOAP based at theplatform.com), to the first 30 second video preroll ads (for MSN), the first 3rd party Android app (Sherpa app by Geodelic launched with the first G1 android phone by T-Mobile), and the first cloud-controlled Tesla fleet (Tesloop).

A Harvard Business School MBA with engineering roots at Microsoft and Adobe, Rahul holds patents in word processing (Microsoft) and vehicle telemetry and valuation (Tesloop). He speaks English and Japanese. He currently runs the Austin Alpaca Playhouse, a creative compound in Cedar Creek, Texas.

Experience

Cofounder — CatGPT
2023 – Present
Generative AI network for creating AI-generated cat imagery.
Founder & Creative Director — Austin Alpaca Playhouse
2021 – Present · Cedar Creek, TX
Creative compound redefining what an alpaca playhouse can be.
Cofounder & CEO — Tesloop
2015 – 2020
Launched and managed the first cloud-controlled Tesla fleet, operating LA to Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and San Diego. Transported 2k+ people/month. Built a connected car network with 2,000+ Teslas and the most extensive codebase ever built on Tesla APIs. Operated 8 of the 10 highest-mileage Teslas in the world (up to 500k miles).
4.9★ on Yelp · 17k miles/month per vehicle
Founder & CEO — Geodelic Systems
2008 – 2012
Venture-funded mobile commerce and location-based content startup. Raised $11M, generated $3M in revenue in first 3 years. Customers included Verizon, Universal Studios, Clear Channel, and Korea Telecom.
Created T-Mobile Sherpa — 1M+ downloads in 90 days, first app launched on Android
Founder, CEO, CTO — thePlatform
2000 – 2008
Conceived and founded thePlatform, recruiting from Microsoft and Adobe. Now Comcast Technology Solutions — the main platform for Comcast's IP products. Raised $17M. Serviced Hulu, Microsoft, Telstra, Qualcomm, CBS, Verizon, ABC, CNBC, AOL/Time Warner, and dozens of cable brands. Spark Capital's first investment.
Acquired for $100M+ in 2006
R&D Manager, MS Office Asia — Microsoft
1996 – 2000
Managed the entire Asian R&D effort for Microsoft Office — a $1B product group across 5 countries and 200+ people. Led product design and management for Microsoft Word in all Asian markets.
Engineering Manager — Adobe
1995 – 1996
Managed API engineering for desktop publishing products. C++ engineer on the InDesign team.

Industry Firsts

  • First cloud-controlled Tesla fleet
  • First app on Android (T-Mobile Sherpa)
  • First large-scale pre-roll video ad campaign (MSN, 2000)
  • First video subscriptions (CNBC, 2001)
  • First API web service SaaS (2000)
  • First premium paid movie downloads (Starz, 2002)
  • First broadband mobile video (Verizon VCast, 2005)
  • First combined music/video service (Telstra, 2006)

Education

Harvard Business School
MBA Program
University of Washington
Masters, Interengineering · Computer Science & Technical Japanese — the only 4.0 GPA of the year
University of Pennsylvania
B.S. Anthropology
Phillips Academy Andover
High School

Patents

Method and System for Placing an Insertion Point in an Electronic Document
US Patent 7,024,623 · 2006 · Microsoft Corporation
The "Click and Type" patent — enables double-clicking anywhere in a document to automatically insert text with the correct formatting. Co-invented with Nobuya Higashiyama and Koji Ishii.
Vehicle Valuation Model based on Telemetry
2017

Selected Writing

Tesla and the Electrifying Economics of Depreciation
2019
Tesla Model S Hits 300,000 Miles with less than $11,000 Maintenance Costs
2017
5 Common Myths about Car Autonomy
2016

Skills

Electric Vehicles Autonomous Driving Digital Media Mobile Applications Generative AI Location Based Services Fleet Management Vehicle Telemetry Entrepreneurship Mobile Strategy

Languages

English (native) Japanese

Videos

Rahul Sonnad at Startup Grind
Disrupting Transportation with Tesla Infrastructure
Startup Grind
Tesla Enabling New Mobility Platforms
Tesla Enabling New Mobility Platforms
HyperChange
Rahul Sonnad on This Week in Startups
Founder & CEO of Geodelic
This Week in Startups
Rahul Sonnad at Stanford Always On Conference
Stanford Always On Conference
Rahuliox

Connect

LinkedIn Alpaca Playhouse