August Newsletter Member Spotlight: Kiran Brahmandam, Founder/CEO at Gaming Analytics. AI

Kiran Brahmandam, one of our accomplished founders/entrepreneurs joined VenturePad in 2019, having founded Gaming Analytics in 2017. Gaming Analytics provides a search-driven cognitive computing platform. Users simply type business questions in and get relevant, contextual answers, insights and recommendations. Its first target industry is the gaming business, where Kiran had spent over a decade as a senior software development executive with Scientific Games (formally Bally Technologies). He has been involved in creating software solutions that have generated nearly a billion dollars in new services and product sales. After leaving Scientific Games, Kiran’s first start-up was an app that helped schedule social events with key contacts. He learned a great deal, especially about Business to Consumer models that can be very challenging, and the app marketplace. With those lessons under his belt and real life experience with a software startup that did not meet its goals, Kiran explored his next start-up.

“I had an opportunity to work again in the gaming business. We found that most software for decision making required technical skill just to ask the questions. Executives were dependent on IT staff to use financial management and analytics software. We vowed to make management decision software easier and accessible. The Gaming Analytics software does not replace a legacy system, it just sits on top of it for queries and reporting.”

The design focused on three characteristics in the value proposition: Easy to use, actionable insight, and affordable. It helped management with the key issues they were dealing with: optimizing budgets, marketing strategy and lead gen and conversion, defining which customers would be the best to acquire and retain. Kiran and his team thought that machine learning and AI would be the optimal approach to deal with the complexity and ever-changing decision making environment in the gaming and entertainment industries. For example, in the hotel business, with the pandemic induced downturn, hotels need to deal with the low 60-70% occupancy rates. Who are the right customers and their attributes? What should the best customer mix be? How should they be spread around the property? Where should they flow?

Pandemic Impact:
Kiran so far is fairing alright with the downturn in the gaming and entertainment industry. Software decisions may be postponed but are not dead. He has some perspective on local hospitality businesses. He believes that smart owners will build their delivery and loyalty programs, and increase outreach. Delivery costs are not cheap so he suggests looking at leverage and “stacking” delivery routes to cover multiple deliveries in one trip.

What VenturePad means to him:
“I can really focus at VenturePad. I get the work done, the calls made, and I don’t have all the distractions of the family and tasks at home.” Home life and work are well separated, which is key for mental wellness. As a startup founder, his team being remote and mostly working by himself, Kiran also appreciates being able to get the support he needs from the VenturePad community. “Chris and Alejandro, the two VenturePad partners, provide good consul, connections and encouragement that every founder needs. Whatever gaps in the skill set I have to get stuff done, or in the advice for a decision, they can provide it.”