XLIVE is proud to present its first-ever list of Emerging Leaders in Event Tech. Our group of 2021 winners includes young event professionals — in both B2B and live events — whose innovation, creativity, and drive are pushing the industry forward. We will be featuring all of the winners over the coming weeks, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for what they do next!
Rocco Haro would not be where he is today if not for a prophetic dream that he had during the early days of lockdown last year. With a background in computer science and software engineering, Haro has always known that he wanted to start a company and build something disruptive, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that he determined exactly what that would be.
In his dream, Haro was hosting a small social gathering and chatting with friends when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. He wanted privacy as he went to go open it and made everyone in the room disappear on command. “When I woke up from the dream,” he explains, “I knew I had to find a way to recreate this experience and the ease of in-person communication for an online format.”
That was the beginning of Kick Back, a new innovative video conferencing and virtual event platform that Haro has been working on for the past year. The goal of the platform is to replicate in-person interactions as closely as possible and will enable features like eye contact by manipulating participants' video streams that Haro realized was missing from any available video conferencing tools.
“During the pandemic,” he says, “the team at my previous company tried doing virtual happy hours using tools like Zoom and Gather Town. I love working the room, moving around, and having conversations with everyone, but none of this software felt natural. It was very hard to just be myself. Those experiences marinated in my mind, and I think that’s what triggered the dream and ultimately the idea for Kick Back.”
Haro initially planned to deliver his unique solution to influencers as a tool to engage with fans, like Patron or Cameo, but after performing more market research, he realized that there was a stronger use case for the events industry. “We keep hearing that this is something the industry really needs, and we can't wait to launch the product and start building a user base,” says Haro.
The Kick Back team has now grown to 17 people, and Haro wears many different hats as he builds the company, including product development, sales and marketing, and fundraising. The startup was also recently accepted to the NVIDIA Inception Program, which recognizes and supports early-stage companies building solutions using artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Haro credits eventprofs John Chen and Ella Glasgow with providing motivation for his work. “They have this amazing energy that can be felt through the computer, and they inspire me to build a virtual experience that can finally match their energy,” he says. In addition, he shares that event designer Anthony Vade has provided valuable guidance for building virtual experiences that offer immersive journeys to attendees instead of just a virtual booth and an informative video.
Although Kick Back has yet to officially launch, Haro has a clear vision for the future. “Quality communication drives innovation, business, happiness, and love, and it all starts with making eye contact — a cross-cultural sign of acknowledgement and respect” he says.
“However, making eye contact while video conferencing is still not a ubiquitous experience. In five years from now, anyone with an internet connection will be able to leverage five patents that we're building out to forget that they were ever even behind the computer.”
Kick Back will also be offering developers the opportunity to contribute to the platform to deliver new types of experiences, and Haro is planning soft launch of the platform before the end of the year. When he’s not busy growing his company, Haro also enjoys spending time outside and growing his garden.