Jake Sigal

Jake mashed-up music and tech to make Livio Radio.

Jake quit his XM product management gig at Delphi at the age of 26, vowing to do things differently. Bolstered by a $10,000 loan from his parents, he combined his two passions -- engineering and music -- and started Livio Radio in 2008 from the guest bedroom of his home in Ferndale, Mich.

Jake’s rule-breaking style quickly established Livio as a leader in the car Internet radio industry. It also made Jake an accredited young entrepreneur. Through partnerships with venture capital firms and angel investors, he raised millions to fund the Livio Radio brand born under his own roof.

Before starting Livio, Jake worked at Numark as a product developer, where he invented the original ION USB turntable and co-invented the iDJ. After that, Jake jumped to Delphi’s Consumer Electronics Group, working as a product line manager for XM Satellite Radio where he built a budding bromance with his boss, Massimo Baldini, now Livio Radio’s president.

Before he set the consumer electronics world on fire with his innovations, Jake earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering at Ohio University, where he marched on the drumline of the infamous OU Marching 110. He now sits on the university’s Russ College of Engineering Board of Advisors. Jake is also a board member of the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) Board of Industry Leaders (BIL) and the Small Business Council (SBC).

When he isn’t inventing cool tech products, you can find Jake fist pumping in his office to electro, house and dubstep, or battling Baldini in foosball. Jake is married and has a cat cool enough to be on the box art for the Livio Radio featuring Pandora.

Jake also loves riding his fixed-gear bike, letting loose at national electronic music festivals, and playing ice hockey for Team Livio.

Today, Jake still plays by his own rules – an ideology that has put more than 25 products on the market.

CREDENTIALS

Awards

2012 – dBusiness 30 in Their Thirties
2012 – CEA Vision Awards Nominee
2012 – Automation Alley Entrepreneur Of the Year
2011 – Edison Research “30 under 30”
2011 – Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Semifinalist
2011 – Dealerscope 40 under 40
2010 – CES Last Gadget Standing
2010 – Crain’s Detroit Business 20 in their 20’s
2010 – Detroit Young Professionals Vanguard Award
2010 – Lawrence Technological University, Leaders & Innovators honoree

Speaking Engagements
2012 – Eureka Park! competition at CEA Line Show (New York), judge
2012 – Telematics Update (Detroit), panelist
2012 – Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (New Orleans), solo presentation
2012 – Mobile Web & Apps World 2012 (New Orleans), panelist
2012 – Society of Automotive Analysts & YPN May Event (Royal Oak, Mich.), industry speaker
2012 – National Association of Broadcasters (Las Vegas), panelist
2012 – RAIN Internet Radio Summit West (Las Vegas), panelist
2012 – Digital Music Forum East, solo presentation
2012 – Consumers Electronics Show (Las Vegas). panelist
2011 – Consumers Electronics Show (Las Vegas), panelist
2011 – NPR Labs – Radio With Vision Showcase (Las Vegas), panelist
2010 – Consumers Electronics Show (Las Vegas), panelist
2010 – RAIN Internet Radio forum (Toronto), panelist
2010 – RAIN Internet Radio forum (Las Vegas), panelist
2010 – SXSW Music Festival, solo presentation
2010 – Entrepreneurial Initiative of Southeast Michigan, keynote speaker
2010 – RadioTech Summit (Silicon Valley), panelist
2009 – CES Silvers Summit, video panelist
2009 – Consumers Electronics Show (Las Vegas), panelist

National TV Appearances
MSNBC
Dan Rather Presents
HSN (Live)
Fox Business News
SPIKE TV (Live) @ CES 2012

Judging/Adjudicating
2011 – Judge for University of Michigan startup funding competition

Massimo Baldini

Massimo Baldini, Livio Radio’s president, founding partner and Italian man of mystery, hails from Genoa, Italy. He brings more than 17 years of experience in business operations, product development and brand management.

A former Delphi boss of Livio Radio founder and CEO Jake Sigal, Massimo brought a resume loaded with global business experience to Livio’s in-house foosball table. Beyond the game, his work with major Fortune 100 brands, including Whirlpool, Kenmore, Delphi, 3M and Procter & Gamble has taken him around the world, to the U.S., Italy and Belgium, where he has consistently demonstrated success in developing new businesses and adeptly managing existing product lines.

With his hands-on style, he effectively managed Whirlpool’s Fabric Care global research and development team; led the market launch for the Whirlpool Family Studio; was the go-to guy for Delphi Digital Audio’s business line; and managed three consumer brands for Michigan-based Eastman Outdoors.

As if that’s not impressive enough, Massimo holds more than six patents ranging from microwave drying to a media player for recording and playback of streamed digital content.

He has successfully led negotiations and personally inked numerous business-to-business partnerships for Procter & Gamble, Schwan’s, Pandora, NPR, Sears, XM, CSR and retailers including Target, Walmart, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club, Costco, Best Buy, Amazon, QVC and HSN, just to name a few.

Massimo earned his master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Genoa in Italy and his MBA from the prestigious University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

At Livio’s HQ, he’s feared for his foosball skills, prone to making lunchtime salads, and known to blast Eminem’s mean rhymes from his office.

Massimo is married with three kids and has a dog that resembles a certain presidential pup. The Baldini family vacations in Sardinia every summer (not far from where P-Diddy kicks back) and hits the slopes in northern Michigan – in lieu of Massimo’s beloved Alps – every winter.

You can find him annually at Lollapalooza, losing his shoes in the pit at Rage Against the Machine; keeping tabs on his favorite Italian football team, Juventus; and losing his mind every four years when Italy heads to the World Cup (while at the same time, teaching the Livio office crew the more colorful phrases of the Italian language).