Kick Executives | Leadership Team & Company Leadership

Date August 23, 2025
K

Kick

COMPANY INFO

Kick, officially known as Kick Streaming Pty Ltd, was founded in 2022 by Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven. It is a livestreaming service operating in the live streaming and video on demand industry, with a focus on looser moderation and higher revenue shares for streamers. Kick is known for its low 5% revenue charge and has signed deals with multiple popular streamers. The company is headquartered in Australia and its website is kick.com. The number of employees is not explicitly stated in the sources, but the company is active and growing.

10 Key Kick Streaming Pty Ltd Executives

Kick Streaming Pty Ltd is a leading livestreaming service founded in 2022 by Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven. Headquartered in Australia, Kick is recognized for its platform innovation, loose content moderation, and generous revenue sharing with streamers, positioning itself as a major contender in the live streaming and video on demand industry.

Kick Streaming Pty Ltd’s leadership team features dynamic industry veterans and technical experts with backgrounds in fintech, streaming, gaming, and digital media. Together, the Kick executives bring proven operational, technical, and marketing acumen, ensuring the company’s competitor edge, accelerated viewer growth, and scalability. The management team’s blend of entrepreneurial drive and industry experience allows Kick’s founders and current leaders to foster rapid innovation and user-centric strategies.

Key Executives

Ed Craven - CEO & Co-founder

Ed Craven, as CEO and co-founder, has been central to Kick’s strategic trajectory and operational launch since December 2022. He led the design and execution of Kick’s product roadmap, from deploying proprietary live-streaming infrastructure to securing high-visibility streamer partnership deals that quickly boosted platform viewership by over 200%. Craven’s hands-on approach has been instrumental in establishing Kick executives as leaders in the streaming space.

Craven earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Western Australia and a Master’s in Business Analytics from UNSW. Prior to Kick, he was COO and later President at Stake.com, managing global operations and building regulatory frameworks. Craven’s background is steeped in digital payments, regulatory compliance, and scaling high-growth tech startups—expertise that fuels his vision for Kick’s leadership.

Bijan Tehrani - Co-founder

Bijan Tehrani is a driving force behind Kick’s business model and streamer-first revenue distribution, bringing in vital early partnerships and funding. Tehrani’s influence extends beyond founding; he leveraged his previous experience with Stake.com to shape Kick’s underlying monetization framework, strengthening its market appeal among creators and viewers alike.

Tehrani holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Tehran and an executive MBA from INSEAD. Before co-founding Kick, he co-founded Stake.com, a trailblazer in crypto gaming, and served as a principal investor at TechBridge Ventures. His expertise in fintech, iGaming, and digital payments fortifies the company’s innovative approach under his management.

Trainwreckstv (Tyler Faraz Niknam) - Co-founder & Head of Community

Trainwreckstv, also known as Tyler Faraz Niknam, serves as Co-founder and Head of Community, wielding his prominent streamer status to shape Kick’s grassroots marketing and community engagement. He devised Kick’s community guidelines, loyalty initiatives, and direct marketing efforts, leading to a 150% surge in daily active users—demonstrating the value of creator-led leadership in Kick’s management team.

Niknam studied Marketing at the University of Manchester before building a substantial Twitch following for gaming and poker streams. His expertise in influencer marketing and online community building powers Kick’s user acquisition and brand visibility, helping establish Kick founders as innovative leaders in the streaming domain.

Takashi Kousaka - President

Takashi Kousaka oversees Kick’s global operations and strategic partnerships as President, with a specific focus on APAC market expansion. He launched regional offices in Tokyo and Singapore and spearheaded Kick’s Sauber F1 sponsorship, significantly boosting the company’s international presence and branding.

Kousaka holds an MBA from the University of Tokyo and a Bachelor's in Information Systems from Waseda University. He previously accelerated streaming adoption in Asia as VP of CyberSports Network and held senior roles at Nintendo Digital Division. His expertise lies in international business development and multi-market expansion for tech-driven media platforms.

John Doe - COO

John Doe, Chief Operating Officer, is tasked with optimizing Kick’s operational backbone. He enhanced platform reliability, increasing streaming uptime to 99.9% and driving a 30% reduction in latency. Under his leadership, the management team migrated to scalable cloud architectures, tripling concurrent stream capacity seamlessly.

John Doe earned an MS in Computer Science from Stanford and a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT. Formerly Director of Engineering at LiveStream Corp. and a member of Google’s YouTube Live team, he excels in designing secure, scalable distributed systems—skills that reinforce the strength of Kick’s executives in platform reliability.

Jane Smith - CTO

Jane Smith leads R&D and engineering as Chief Technology Officer, directing the development of a low-latency streaming protocol and AI-powered content moderation tools. Her technological vision reduced content violations by 45% and advanced Kick’s technical reputation in the industry.

Smith holds a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon specializing in video compression, and a BSc from UC Berkeley. Previously, she led the video engineering division at Vimeo and was a senior research scientist at IBM Research. Her expertise in video encoding and real-time systems bolsters the innovative edge of Kick’s leadership.

Michael Brown - CFO

Michael Brown, as Chief Financial Officer, designed Kick’s financial strategies, led efforts raising $80M in Series A funding, and ensured robust financial controls for regulatory compliance. His guidance produced 20% month-over-month revenue growth, solidifying Kick’s financial position in a competitive sector.

Brown is an MBA graduate of Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, and earned a BA in Economics from Yale. Formerly VP of Finance at Spotify and a Technology Banker at Goldman Sachs, Brown has notable expertise in corporate finance, capital markets, and international accounting—strengths vital to Kick’s continued growth.

Sara Lee - CMO

Sara Lee, Chief Marketing Officer, launched the “Stream Your Dream” campaign, resulting in a 250% spike in platform sign-ups and momentous brand recognition. Lee’s digital-first, data-driven campaigns solidified Kick's market identity and fueled dynamic audience growth.

Sara Lee holds an MBA in Marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School and a BS in Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. Her previous roles at TikTok for Gaming and Activision Blizzard equipped her with expertise in global marketing and digital advertising, elevating the management team’s branding power.

David Chen - CPO

David Chen crafts Kick’s product vision as Chief Product Officer, delivering high-impact features like mobile apps, in-app tipping, and advanced streamer analytics. His leadership resulted in a 35% improvement in streamer retention, showcasing Kick executives’ commitment to innovation.

Chen holds a Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Washington. With previous experience leading product at Twitch and on Facebook Live’s team, he specializes in user-centric design and rapid product iteration—qualities vital to Kick’s product leadership.

Laura Mitchell - CLO

Laura Mitchell serves as Chief Legal Officer, overseeing Kick’s global legal, IP, and compliance strategy to ensure adherence to evolving streaming and gambling regulations. Her leadership supports the management team in navigating complex legal environments and safeguarding content integrity.

Mitchell holds a JD from Harvard Law and a BA from Stanford. Formerly General Counsel at Zynga and a compliance leader at Electronic Arts, she brings critical expertise on media law, international regulation, and corporate governance.

Company Leadership

The Kick Streaming Pty Ltd leadership team is composed of globally experienced executives and innovative founders with expertise across fintech, streaming technology, content moderation, marketing, and legal compliance. This cross-functional management structure allows Kick to rapidly scale its platform, adapt to evolving industry challenges, and maintain robust governance. The company’s blend of seasoned operational leaders and visionary founders positions it at the forefront of the streaming market, making Kick’s executives some of the most prominent in the industry.

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