Erik founded Katmai in 2020, a time when the entire world was re-learning how to communicate with one another. As his business transitioned to remote work, he became frustrated by the limited and lifeless options available for working together online and began looking for alternatives. A chance encounter with a promising tech demo led to Erik leveraging his 20+ years of industry contacts, building a team that could develop a solution to this problem. Today, Katmai is building that solution: a digital environment that facilitates meaningful, people-first communication. Prior to founding Katmai, Erik’s life revolved around music. He received his BFA from New York University’s Clive Davis Institute, and went on to create and operate Braund Studios, a production company in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Erik has worked with artists and performers such as Julian Casablancas, P Diddy, Nick Jonas, Courtney Love, Sting, Brian Cox, and Mac DeMarco, while producing content for The Food Network, Audible, Yamaha, The New York Times, Morgan Stanley, and many others. Erik was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, approximately 260 miles northeast of the beautiful Katmai National Park. Given that the company aims to give digital life a sense of place, Erik took inspiration from his beautiful home state — where he still returns regularly to visit family and play with his rock band, Delmag.