CPO at LIVE AWARE
Nathan Wheeler
Nathan Wheeler is Co-founder and Head of Product at Live Aware Labs. He built his early career as an educator in Seattle before transitioning into game development at the indie studio Very Very Spaceship. Nathan’s unique blend of educational experience and hands-on development expertise has made him a master of community-driven design, perfectly positioning him to lead innovative product strategies in the rapidly evolving gaming and technology landscape.
Questions & Answers
Why are you excited about your company/product?
What excites me most is our customers' feedback. From the start, we've prioritized discovery—actively listening to prospective customers. These insights have shaped a highly focused approach to building Live Aware, earning consistent praise for solving key obstacles facing game developers. As our customer base grows, we have the opportunity to learn from an increasingly diverse range of developers. This continuous feedback loop fuels our innovation, ensuring that Live Aware not only meets our customers’ evolving needs but also remains agile in solving their most pressing challenges. This is especially critical in an industry undergoing rapid transformation, driven by advancements in AI and the ever-changing social media landscape. Game developers must constantly adapt, and their ability to deeply understand and connect with their communities is becoming more complex. I’m excited to continue this journey, driving innovation, and supporting this dynamic industry.
What problem or opportunity inspired you to start your company, and how has your vision evolved since then?
My experience as both a UX researcher and game developer gave me unique insight into how player data flows to dev teams. Player experience data is crucial for key development decisions, yet most teams struggle to process and act on it effectively. Internal feedback is equally challenging to translate into action. Game developers work fast—they need immediate, actionable insights. I saw a clear gap in the market for a real-time solution. We started building Live Aware just as LLMs emerged, expanding our vision beyond its initial scope. Today, we can process more data and deliver insights faster than we ever imagined when we started. Developers need a continuous stream of insights to make quick decisions throughout development—Live Aware’s AI-powered solution ensures they get exactly that.
