Eric Tang is a technology entrepreneur based in New York, known for his work in the blockchain and video streaming sectors. He is the founder of Livepeer and Livepeer Studio, platforms that use decentralized technology to improve video streaming infrastructure. ^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Education

Eric Tang studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned both a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Business Administration. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, he participated in varsity track and field and was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and Alpha Kappa Psi. He also conducted three years of research in wearable and pervasive computing.^[1][3]

Career

Eric Tang began his career in the technology industry as a Software Developer at Next Jump in 2008. He then moved to Clickable, where he served as a Software Engineer and later as a Product Manager for the Facebook Ads Platform. During his time at Clickable, Tang contributed to developing a self-serve SEM platform.

In 2010, Tang joined Hyperpublic as the Lead Developer, working on a database and API of global places. Hyperpublic was acquired by Groupon in February 2012, leading Tang to join Groupon as a Member of Technical Staff.

Following his tenure at Groupon, Tang provided technical advisory services at Transform Health from 2013 to 2014, assisting in the development of health technology solutions. He then co-founded Wildcard Inc, where he served as CTO and developed a mobile web browser that converted webpages into native mobile experiences.

In 2016, Tang founded Livepeer, a platform offering scalable and affordable live video transcoding infrastructure leveraging hardware encoding and blockchain technologies. His work at Livepeer has focused on providing reliable, cost-effective services to video developers and businesses.

Continuing his efforts to enhance video streaming technology, Tang founded Livepeer Studio in 2023. Livepeer Studio is a high-performance video streaming platform for developers, aimed at reducing video infrastructure costs. His initiatives prioritize decentralization and the establishment of open, independent infrastructures, offering an alternative to conventional models dominated by major cloud providers. ^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Interviews/Panels

Building Scalable Video Applications

In one of the interviews, Eric Tang said that he believes that by encouraging people to run video encoding services over a distributed network, it is possible to build highly scalable video applications without any single point of failure. According to Tang, Livepeer's growth is measured by the increase in platform usage, specifically the amount of video transcoded and the growth of the community. He notes that the biggest challenge in Livepeer's growth is balancing the needs of node operators and video service users, who are distinct audiences. Tang believes the key to growth is identifying, at any given moment, the action that will most benefit the project, whether it's increasing infrastructure or encouraging more video transcoding on the platform. ^[6]

Eric Tang on Fishtank's Success with Livepeer Studio

Eric Tang praises Fishtank's achievement in leveraging Livepeer Studio with its interactive streaming. Fishtank, known for its live reality TV show "Vampire Bloodgames," reached one million viewers and $3 million in revenues by integrating AI-powered interactions and virtual gifts into their platform. Tang emphasizes that in his opinion Livepeer Studio's decentralized infrastructure has enabled Fishtank to provide cost-effective, high-quality streaming, improving viewer engagement and real-time monetization, without traditional cloud infrastructure expenses. He underscores Fishtank's model as a pioneering example of how interactive content creators can innovate and thrive with minimal financial risk and maximum audience engagement. ^[7]