YouNow CEO Adi Sideman is a pioneer in participatory media with over 20 years driving the evolution of interactive social, video and online entertainment. Sideman founded YouNow in 2011 as a way for people to connect to each other and express themselves. YouNow has become a leading live streaming platform for creators and audiences to engage in real time. Sideman began his career as a developer. In 1996, he produced the first animated ads on AOL. He then headed a company called Squeeze, which provided Web development services to Fortune 500 companies, including Starbucks and Con Edison. He produced more than thirty online games, including HBO's "Sex in the City", "The Sopranos", and Warner Brothers' "The Matrix" game. He then founded Oddcast, creator of groundbreaking apps such as Office Max’s “Elf Yourself,” and KSolo, the web’s first online Karaoke service (acquired by Fox Interactive/MySpace). Sideman is a member of the Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts & Sciences and was named one of this year’s top 100 most influential and inspiring people in NYC tech by Business Insider. He holds an MPS degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an undergraduate degree from NYU Film School.