Technology & Media Innovation Executive; Founder & Managing Director of 8genC Inc.; Former Global Head of Product Partnerships at YouTube Music & Premium; General Partner at Unified Capital

Seattle, WA, USA
Live Event: $10,000 - $20,000 Virtual Event: $5,000 - $10,000 More Fee Info

Arif Gursel Biography

Arif Gursel is a creative and technical executive whose career encompasses software engineering, product management, business development, and entrepreneurship across leading technology companies. Gursel began his career as a software engineer at Microsoft, contributing to Xbox and later leading global media and entertainment partnership strategy. He served as Microsoft's first Global Technical Evangelist for the Media & Entertainment Ecosystem, establishing a foundation at the intersection of technology and culture. Throughout his tenure at Microsoft, Gursel shipped a range of products in engineering, product management, and business development roles. He holds an Executive MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he was the youngest member of an international cohort.

Gursel has held leadership positions as the Global Head of Product Partnerships for YouTube Music & Premium and as a partnerships leader at Netflix, managing global relationships with major companies. His professional background spans software engineering, product and business development, and partnership strategy. Gursel is an HBCU alumnus with a bachelor's degree from Tuskegee University and an MBA from the University of Chicago, focusing on technology strategy and quantitative marketing. His experience at Fortune 500 companies—including Salesforce, Netflix, Google, and Microsoft—provides a global perspective on the convergence of technology, media, and culture.

Gursel is the founder and managing director of 8genC Inc., an agency that supports content creators, brands, technology companies, and entertainers in the creator economy through fractional leadership and strategic execution. He is also a general partner at Unified Capital, a venture capital firm investing in Seed to Series-A startups.

In addition to his commercial ventures, Gursel is committed to advancing underrepresented communities in technology. As founder and CEO of the Pan-African Center for Empowerment, he launched SEA619, a program supporting Black entrepreneurs in Seattle through a business association, incubator, and accelerator. The program's name combines the Seattle-Tacoma airport code, SEA, and 619 to honor Juneteenth. Gursel was motivated by interactions with founders and creators who needed resources and experience to develop their ideas into viable businesses.

As a keynote speaker, Gursel addresses topics such as art and design, business, corporate strategy, entrepreneurship, executive leadership, and technology. His signature talks include "The 8 Must-Haves for Building Valuable Products and Services" and "Build, Buy & Partner: Different Ways to Scale Your Product or Service Offering." Gursel's experiences navigating a life-threatening illness, a corporate layoff, and the founding of a new enterprise inform his perspective on resilience, innovation, and the evolving creator economy.

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Speaker profile last updated by AAE Talent Team on 10/30/2026.

Arif Gursel Speaking Topics

  • The 8 Must-Haves for Building Valuable Products and Services

    Many entrepreneurs (regardless of type of business) don’t anticipate and plan for their success or know how to tap into resources to help them scale. They get past the “idea at the kitchen table” stage and feel a huge sense of momentum. Yet, often they freeze or worse yet all their hard work goes down the drain from a lack of preparation for the next phase (building a team, raising capital, transitioning their role, thinking strategically vs. tactically, etc).

  • Build, Buy & Partner: Different Ways to Scale Your Product or Service Offering

    This talk explores the difference between product management and product partnerships. The goal is to empower entrepreneurs and product development professionals to think strategically about when to develop a solution or partner with other companies to unlock unique value. While product managers work through the trade-offs of prioritizing feature development, product partnership professionals live at the intersection of business development and product management. They are often tasked with product growth through partnerships, leading to feature development rooted in partnership integrations to drive product growth. In this talk, we explore various models, including white-labeling, grey-labeling, affiliate, and referrals, the various revenue models enabled by each, and their pros and cons.

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Arif Gursel Videos

How can product managers thrive when working remotely? | Craft.io Webinar

How can product managers thrive when working remotely? | Craft.io Webinar

With COVID-19 challenging how companies work, product managers can feel like fish out of water without access to the physical spaces shared with...

  • How do I book Arif Gursel to speak at my event?

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  • What topics does Arif Gursel speak about?

  • Where does Arif Gursel travel from?

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Arif Gursel is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as The 8 Must-Haves for Building Valuable Products and Services, Build, Buy & Partner: Different Ways to Scale Your Product or Service Offering, Plugging Leadership Gaps to Get Your Next Round of Funding, MVPitch: New Venture Prototyping: Design Is Cheaper Than Development and More Topics:. The estimated speaking fee range to book Arif Gursel for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Arif Gursel generally travels from Seattle, WA, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Jasmine Crowe-Houston, Dr. Kimberly Harden, Terry Jones, Henrik von Scheel and Ryan Wilson. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Arif Gursel for an upcoming live or virtual event.

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