Michael Tavani

Entrepreneur, Switchyards and Scoutmob

Atlanta

Michael recently launched Switchyards (www.switchyards.com), a design-focused consumer startup incubator based in Atlanta.

Michael was named one of 20 People to Watch in 2014 in Atlanta by Creative Loafing, has been awarded Top Up-and-Coming Entrepreneur at TiECON Southeast 2013 and 2010 Mobile Marketer of the Year by the Tech Marketing Awards and is a frequent speaker on startups. He has been quoted in/on Wired, CNN, CNBC, The Washington Post, NBC, Mashable, NPR, Travel + Leisure, CBS, and Fast Company, among others. He is the host of On Doers (www.ondoers.com), a conversation series about founders and beginnings.

He's also a Co-Founder of Scoutmob. Scoutmob is a venture-backed & nationally recognized ecommerce & local mobile company that was named one of the top apps in all categories by Wired and Mashable and one of the country's most promising companies by Forbes.

Prior to Scoutmob, Michael co-founded SkyBlox, a local Wi-Fi marketing company that became the first company to ever raise financing via Twitter. SkyBlox was named to Network World's list of 2009 mobile/wireless companies to watch. He previously worked in professional sports marketing for the Atlanta Hawks, Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and Major League Soccer (MLS). In 2002, he started Tavani Soccer, with his father and brother, a successful youth soccer camp company that has hosted thousands of campers and still runs today.

Michael lives in Atlanta with his wife, Stephanie and sons, Jarrett and Hudson, and holds a Juris Doctorate from Barry University School of Law and a BA from Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.