Get to know PouchNATION’s CTO, KEVIN ANTONIO.
Kevin is a mobile and backend software engineer by nature. He is the software architect behind the design PouchNATION’s events and venues management platform. In his spare time, he loves to go swimming, cycling and running and has participated in many races, marathons and triathlons.
We asked him a few questions about his success in building and developing PouchNATION’s system.
When and why did you decide to join PouchNATION?
I joined PouchNATION back in April 2014 when it was still doing loyalty for merchants. I joined because I felt that I could really contribute a lot on the technology and product. During the session I had with the founders, I also felt that I would have a chance to do something that would disrupt the industry.
How long did it take you to develop the first PouchNATION’s system? Can you tell us your journey on building it?
The first system I built with PouchNATION was the MVP of the events product. It took me about a month to build it and I still remember the first draft of that product. I also remember having to finish the prototype before the client stepped in to the office. There was a huge pressure to finish that product on time since the event was just a month away. Fortunately we were able to deliver and even executed quite well on the event day itself.
The Development Team is the largest in the company, how do you manage it?
As a baseline I always define expectation and output. Empowering the team leaders and making them work autonomously always helps.
How do you see technology disrupting the event space?
I see technology disrupting the event space in 2 ways, offline and online. Online would be bringing like minded people together and engaging the community aspect of the event, have a medium for the community to connect, share information or even catch a ride together going to the venue. Offline would be enhancing the customer experience, like payments, registration and access control, much like the solution that PouchNATION is providing through NFC.
What’s next for PouchNATION and its different verticals?
Personally, I’m very excited with our Digital vertical. I believe this is the first step for the company to diversify our business and become a much more scalable solution. A new vertical usually means starting a product from scratch, we can take advantage of this opportunity to apply new technologies and bring exciting products to our clients.
How do you balance personal and professional life?
Personal and professional life is always a tricky problem to solve, consistently. For me, I always grab the opportunity of going home every weekend to the family. Fortunately, my family is very active, so I also try to get back to running and cycling during these trips.
