Zak Longo is a tech entrepreneur, digital media executive, and venture investor living in Miami. He moved to New York at 18 and Los Angeles at 21 to start building digital media platforms. He co-founded Gamelancer in 2019, growing the gaming network until its acquisition and public listing in 2022. He also founded Sugo Sunday Inc., generating over $100M in social media production revenue.
Additionally, he founded Travly, building its travel network to reach billions of followers and impressions. Longo currently manages a venture portfolio that includes xAI, Tyson 2.0, Planaday, Mytodetox, Apothekary, and Sesh, while running consumer brand partnerships with Prince Street Pizza, Andrea’s Cookies, Le Padel, and Gummly.
How did you end up diving straight into entrepreneurship at such a young age?
Zak Longo: I realized pretty early on that the idea of a traditional education and career path didn’t appeal to me. It just wasn’t something that I wanted to do. Instead of going to university, I moved to New York City at 18, then Los Angeles at 21, two major cities both heavily involved in media. Being out there on the ground taught me how real distribution worked well beyond anything being taught in school. Taking that jump forced me to figure things out on the fly, spot trends early, and learn how to build real businesses from scratch.
How did you scale your media companies into powerhouses?
Zak Longo: I noticed that old-school production agencies were way too slow and expensive to keep up with social media. Sugo Sunday was built specifically to crank out high-converting content for YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat. We cut the bloated agency middleman, focused on raw analytics, and pulled in over $100 million in revenue. With Gamelancer, the goal was to consolidate gaming fans into a single massive network that reached Gen Z and millennial gamers, leading to the company’s acquisition and public listing in 2022. With Travly, I grew the network to billions of followers and annual views, linking hotel bookings directly to travel clips so social attention converted straight into real transactions.
How do you apply your digital media playbook to brick-and-mortar food brands like Prince Street Pizza and Andrea’s Cookies?
Zak Longo: The line between online media and physical brick-and-mortar businesses has pretty much disappeared. The same tactics you use to get views on a video can also attract restaurant customers. As an owner and partner in Prince Street Pizza, I saw a legendary pizza spot with incredible customer loyalty that just needed a larger scale of operations, so we expanded to 20 locations in North America and are now opening more in the UK and the UAE. With Andrea’s Cookies, we run four standalone stores and have locked in major deals to put our products in every major sports stadium in Toronto. Using online hype and social distribution is what turns a famous local spot into a global household name.
How do your consumer brands like Gummly and Le Padel tie into your investment strategy?
Zak Longo: Both of those brands hit fast-growing consumer trends that were missing strong, fresh brand leadership. With Le Padel, we created a high-end brand for the fastest-growing racket sport in the world, giving players sleek gear they actually want to show off. With Gummly, we entered the health industry by creating the first-ever jet lag gummy, and we’re now using that same team to expand into high-end oral care. That same logic drives my venture investments in xAI, Tyson 2.0, Planaday, Sesh, Myodetox, and Apothekary. I plan to continue supporting founders, technology, and companies that own their distribution channels.
How has living and operating in London and Miami impacted how you build and scale global businesses?
Zak Longo: Operating in major financial and cultural capitals completely changes your perspective on global consumer behaviour. Living in London for three years helped me learn about European markets, international brand expansion, and cross-border commerce. Living in Miami now puts my daily operations right in the middle of tech innovation, global finance, and access to the Latin American market. Being physically embedded in these huge cities drastically grows your network and opens up business opportunities you would miss if you stayed in one market. That international experience directly impacts how I deploy capital, structure partnerships, and build companies for global reach.
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