Ethan Evans Ethan Evans is an influencer

Former Amazon VP, LinkedIn Top Voice, now Teaching Leaders to become True Executives

Greater Seattle Area
152K followers 500+ connections

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About

Objective: To provide professional development at scale, guiding transitions to executive leadership. I also offer easy to access online video courses so that you can get the coaching you need on your schedule.

Proven executive leadership of multiple $500M+ businesses across games, video, apps, and music. Global leadership experience of teams of 800+. Technical inventor; 70+ issued patents.

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Courses by Ethan

Articles by Ethan

  • Cancel Culture in the Future
    Dec 14, 2019

    Cancel Culture in the Future

    Did you know, or have you thought about the fact that George Washington executed some of his soldiers? It is definitely…

    3 Comments
  • The Secret of Doing What You Love
    Aug 24, 2019

    The Secret of Doing What You Love

    This article is not meant to be a complete explanation. It is written as an outline for my live broadcast on this…

    1 Comment
  • Why We Learn More from Mistakes
    Aug 17, 2019

    Why We Learn More from Mistakes

    Why do we learn more from mistakes, setbacks, and failures than from successes and victories? I think it is because the…

  • Asymmetric Consequences - Lifelong Impact from Small Mistakes
    Aug 5, 2019

    Asymmetric Consequences - Lifelong Impact from Small Mistakes

    In this article I want to discuss a belief I have developed over time, which I call Asymmetric Consequences. The idea…

    7 Comments
  • Work/Life Balance Part 2: Tools for Finding It!
    Apr 22, 2019

    Work/Life Balance Part 2: Tools for Finding It!

    I call this the lost talk because I lost my voice through my preparation to do a live stream about work/life balance…

    1 Comment
  • What is the Balance in Work/Life Balance?
    Apr 8, 2019

    What is the Balance in Work/Life Balance?

    Everyone I know complains about work/life balance, or being too busy, at least sometimes. Certainly I do it.

    3 Comments
  • The Reason Everyone Wants a Mentor
    Mar 27, 2019

    The Reason Everyone Wants a Mentor

    Mentors, sponsors, coaches, advisors. Whatever the term, these roles have become ubiquitous in modern professional…

    4 Comments
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Activity

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Experience

  • Ethan Evans VP Graphic

    Founder, Career Expert and Teacher, Newsletter Author

    Ethan Evans VP

    - Present 6 years 6 months

    Greater Seattle Area

    Career development expert now teaching specific classes to overcome career blockages.

    I retired from Amazon in September 2020 to allow me to focus on paying forward my good fortune to others. My focus is on helping people reach the next level in their careers. I work with clients at Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Airbnb, Stripe, Uber, Salesforce, as well as customers in banking, consumer goods, and other industries.

    I teach lives course online, offer on-demand…

    Career development expert now teaching specific classes to overcome career blockages.

    I retired from Amazon in September 2020 to allow me to focus on paying forward my good fortune to others. My focus is on helping people reach the next level in their careers. I work with clients at Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Airbnb, Stripe, Uber, Salesforce, as well as customers in banking, consumer goods, and other industries.

    I teach lives course online, offer on-demand leadership development recorded courses, and write a newsletter that publishes candid career advice. I hold 70+ patents, have reviewed over 10,000 resumes and interviewed more than 2,500 people, led global teams of 800+, and helped advocate for and draft the Amazon Leadership Principle (LP) “Ownership”.

    My specialties include fine-tuning resumes and LinkedIn profiles to get results, as well as executive career development.

  • Amazon

    Amazon

    15 years 6 months

    • Amazon Graphic

      Vice President, Prime Gaming

      Amazon

      - 1 year 5 months

      Greater Seattle Area

      I and two peers conceived of Prime Gaming (the gaming pillar of Amazon Prime, formerly called Twitch Prime). Prime Gaming has grown to millions of members worldwide and seeks to be the foremost gaming entertainment subscription on earth. I also led Prime Gaming Live (live gamer entertainment), and Amazon Game Publishing Services. Each month we bring dozens of game benefits to Prime members around the world.

    • Amazon Graphic

      Executive Vice President, Twitch Prime, Commerce, & Developer Experience

      Amazon

      - 2 years 7 months

      Greater Seattle Area

      In this role I was responsible for Twitch Prime, part of Amazon Prime, bringing first class gaming and gamer benefits to all Prime users.

      I also owned all aspects of the Twitch consumer-facing ecommerce system, including Bits, Cheering, and Subscriptions, including building these programs and driving their P&Ls. More generally, my team is exploring the boundaries of social selling by influential community members, a powerful mechanism in the age of social media. I'm super proud of my…

      In this role I was responsible for Twitch Prime, part of Amazon Prime, bringing first class gaming and gamer benefits to all Prime users.

      I also owned all aspects of the Twitch consumer-facing ecommerce system, including Bits, Cheering, and Subscriptions, including building these programs and driving their P&Ls. More generally, my team is exploring the boundaries of social selling by influential community members, a powerful mechanism in the age of social media. I'm super proud of my team, as together we've actually accelerated our growth rate each year, from >50% in 2016 to >100% in 2017 to >140% in 2018. Rapid growth continued in 2019 and 2020 after my transition to a new role.

      I'm responsible for Developer Experience, our outreach to all kinds of developers to help them benefit from the Twitch platform. Here we are launching functionality to let game developers build their games directly into the Twitch community mechanisms.

      Our goal is to help ever more creators earn a living from sharing their creations on Twitch.

    • Amazon Graphic

      VP, Twitch Integration

      Amazon

      - 1 year 8 months

      Greater Seattle Area

      Possibly the best job ever! We're putting the strength of the Amazon platform behind the brilliance of Twitch live engagement of game players and streamers. You'll be able to literally watch what is next!

      The more prosaic business explanation of the role: I'm the executive liaison between twitch.tv and Amazon. Responsible for all phases of intracompany cooperation from strategy and execution to corporate infrastructure and practices.

    • Amazon Graphic

      VP, Amazon Appstore

      Amazon

      - 2 years 1 month

      Greater Seattle Area

      -Build and deliver the Amazon Appstore on general Android and Kindle Fire devices
      -Worldwide ownership of software development and content operations
      -Responsibility for the US Appstore P&L (nine figures) and consumer marketing
      -Leadership of offices in Seattle, Los Angeles, Banglore, and Beijing in the high hundreds total staff
      -Five issued patents, more pending
      -Continued innovation (example: Amazon Coins)
      -Telecom carrier partnerships and integration
      -Led worldwide…

      -Build and deliver the Amazon Appstore on general Android and Kindle Fire devices
      -Worldwide ownership of software development and content operations
      -Responsibility for the US Appstore P&L (nine figures) and consumer marketing
      -Leadership of offices in Seattle, Los Angeles, Banglore, and Beijing in the high hundreds total staff
      -Five issued patents, more pending
      -Continued innovation (example: Amazon Coins)
      -Telecom carrier partnerships and integration
      -Led worldwide expansion of Appstore footprint, starting with US and now including UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, Brazil, Canada, Australia; global sales in English/USD as well

    • Amazon Graphic

      Director, WW Appstore for Android and Fire

      Amazon

      - 5 months

      Greater Seattle Area

    • Amazon Graphic

      Director, Amazon Appstore for Android

      Amazon

      - 11 months

      Greater Seattle Area

      Amazon Appstore for Android in general and Kindle Fire in specific.

    • Amazon.com Graphic

      Director, Interactive Digital Content (SW, Games, Mobile)

      Amazon.com

      - 2 years 8 months

      Technology for digital delivery of software and video games across platforms. Led Amazon's first game studio and shipped over a dozen different games across many platforms.

    • Amazon.com Graphic

      Director, Digital Video

      Amazon.com

      - 2 years 9 months

      Responsible for all technology, software development, and daily operations for Amazon's online and downloaded video offerings. What I built has become AIV (Amazon Instant Video) and PIV (Prime Instant Video).

    • Amazon.com Graphic

      Senior Manager, Digital Video

      Amazon.com

      - 2 years

      Engineering manager responsible for design, development, and launch of Amazon Unbox Video Download service. See it at http://www.amazon.com/unbox

  • VP of Engineering and Operations

    Lightspace, Inc.

    - 1 year 3 months

    Responsible for hardware and software development, manufacturing, QA, IT, HR, Support, Installation, and Training. Lightspace makes interactive display surfaces using LEDs. See our web site at www.lightspacecorp.com

  • Lightningcast Graphic

    VP of Engineering

    Lightningcast

    - 2 years 6 months

    Our business: ad insertion in streaming media
    Brought in to turnaround situation, after termination of previous VP.
    Quickly determined who was committed and wanted to stay (most) and who needed to go (some)
    Over the next 2.5 years, led the technology team through tough post-bubble years after 9/11, which hit the Internet advertising industry very hard.
    Won AOL as a customer, who would later acquire Lightningcast.

  • Comanage Corporation Graphic

    VP of Operations

    Comanage Corporation

    - 3 years

    CoManage was in the carrier network management and provisioning space; our initial major customer was Rodgers (AT&T) Canada. The company was ultimately bought by another network management firm, which was in turn acquired by a third.
    I led all aspects of the technical support infrastructure, including QA, IT, documentation, training, professional services, customer support, pre-sales support, HR, Recruiting, and facilities.
    Sixth person at the company; first person post funding. Grew…

    CoManage was in the carrier network management and provisioning space; our initial major customer was Rodgers (AT&T) Canada. The company was ultimately bought by another network management firm, which was in turn acquired by a third.
    I led all aspects of the technical support infrastructure, including QA, IT, documentation, training, professional services, customer support, pre-sales support, HR, Recruiting, and facilities.
    Sixth person at the company; first person post funding. Grew team from 0 to 30 and led overall growth of company from 6 to 150.
    Saw company through B and C rounds of funding and three expanded space build outs. Delivered initial product to customers in full production.

  • Lycos Graphic

    Director of Operations

    Lycos

    - less than a year

    Led QA and Build/Release management for Lycos in both its Boston HQ and Pittsburgh, PA acquired subsidiary, Wisewire Corporation.

  • Manager, Operations

    WiseWire

    - less than a year

    Briefly led QA, IT, and DBAs for 6 weeks, when the company was acquired by Lycos.

  • FORE Systems Graphic

    Manager, Network Test Lab

    FORE Systems

    - 4 years

    Proposed the idea of an internal interoperability lab for FORE Systems, to identify and eliminate problems between components in our product lines. Products included a homogeneous mix of devices from acquired companies as well as third party partnerships.
    Budgetted for new lab, designed physical space in new building. Hired and trained staff of about 10.

  • Carnegie Mellon University Graphic

    Visiting Project Scientist

    Carnegie Mellon University

    - 1 year 7 months

    Greater Pittsburgh Area

    Work as a part of the Vision and Autonomous Systems Center within the Robotics Institute to apply computer vision to industrial automation; negotiated system sale and deployment to Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) factory in Brilon, Germany. This was a blast - it was here that I learned that all you had to do to close some "sales" deals was ask the people if they wanted to do whatever it was you were proposing and were willing to pay. Coffee is for closers - OK, I'm happy to ask for the deal.

Education

Volunteer Experience

  • Washington Trails Association Graphic

    Technology Advisory Council

    Washington Trails Association

    - Present 11 years 8 months

    Environment

    Guide WTA in updating it internal technology, websites, and mobile applications.

  • Washington Trails Association Graphic

    Member Board Of Directors

    Washington Trails Association

    - Present 9 years 2 months

    Environment

    Trail maintenance, advocacy, and education. My focus is on providing the technology and financial solutions to support this mission.

Skills

Patents

  • Server side stream switching

    Issued US 9015335

    Technology is provided for dynamically adjusting the delivery of content by switching streams during delivery in order to adapt to bandwidth information. A server (or set of servers) storing content transmits one or more portions of a first version of a set content to a client and monitors that transmission (or other transmission) to determine bandwidth information. The server determines whether to switch versions of the set of content based on the bandwidth information. One or more additional…

    Technology is provided for dynamically adjusting the delivery of content by switching streams during delivery in order to adapt to bandwidth information. A server (or set of servers) storing content transmits one or more portions of a first version of a set content to a client and monitors that transmission (or other transmission) to determine bandwidth information. The server determines whether to switch versions of the set of content based on the bandwidth information. One or more additional portions of the first version of the set of content are transmitted from the server to the client if the server determines that it should not switch versions of the set of content. One or more portions of a second version of the set of content are transmitted from the server to the client if the server determines that it should switch versions. The first version of the set of content and the second version of the set of content are at different quality levels.

    Other inventors
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  • Data Locker Management

    Issued US 8,668,591

    This patent relates to a 'data locker' management system that enables a user to have applications, desktop layouts, and other data that follows them across various computing devices. For example, a user may purchase an application and add it to their data locker. The user may then use various computing devices to access a saved desktop that incorporates local applications and the application contained in the entitlement locker.

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