Doug Petkanics

Doug Petkanics is the founder and CEO of Livepeer, a decentralized video streaming platform based in New York City. Livepeer aims to create a scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for video broadcasting using blockchain technology. The platform leverages crypto-token protocols and economic incentives to facilitate a decentralized approach to video streaming, which is seen as a critical component of the emerging Creator Economy.13

Education and Early Career

Petkanics graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) in Computer Science. During his time at university, he was actively involved in various organizations, including serving as the President of the Phi Chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.12

His career began with internships at Anzus, Inc. and AT&T Labs Research, followed by a role as an Analyst at Accenture. He co-founded Hyperpublic, a data platform that was acquired by Groupon, where he served as Vice President of Engineering. Later, he co-founded Wildcard, a mobile publishing platform, where he was also the VP of Engineering before founding Livepeer in December 2016.123

Vision and Challenges at Livepeer

Under Petkanics' leadership, Livepeer has positioned itself as a foundational layer for Web3 video infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of decentralization in media. He has noted the challenges of increasing demand-side participation from video developers and aims to expand Livepeer's capabilities beyond video transcoding to include features like video upload and storage.134

Petkanics is also a proponent of open software and infrastructure independence, advocating that the future of the internet relies on decentralized networks rather than centralized cloud services. He believes that Livepeer can play a significant role in shaping the next generation of social media platforms by providing the necessary infrastructure for decentralized video services.13