Team

The Masterminds Behind Mindtrip

Leadership Team

  • Andy Moss

    CEO, Founder

    Andy loves a good adventure — like traveling to Italy and Spain or starting new companies like Mindtrip. A serial entrepreneur, Andy has more than 20 years of expertise in launching and running successful online commerce companies. Prior to starting Mindtrip, Andy founded Roadster, an automotive retailing platform; FabKids, an online children’s apparel company; ShopStyle, the leading fashion search engine; and Cairo, an online service for retail discounts. He also held executive positions in business development at DemandTec and Ariba. Andy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manchester, England.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Very colorful Ken Done placemats from Australia

    On his bucket list:

    Lord of the Rings trekking across the mountains in New Zealand

  • Trey Matteson

    Engineering Leader, Founder

    Trey enjoys a variety of travel experiences — from hiking in Bhutan and Patagonia to taking in food and culture in New York and Paris. As an engineering leader, he is responsible for building Mindtrip’s AI and search core, as well as deployment and ops architecture. Prior to joining the team at Mindtrip, Trey was a co-founding engineer at Roadster and Popsugar’s ShopStyle. Before that, he applied his engineering skills at Ariba, NeXT and Apple. Trey holds Bachelor of Science degrees in math and computer science from Brown University.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    The Chomolhari Trek in Bhutan

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    A wine-tasting cup from Beaune

    On his bucket list:

    New Zealand, Sicily and a hut-to-hut trek in the Alps

  • Garrick Toubassi

    Engineering Leader, Founder

    Garrick likes experiencing nature’s grandeur while traveling in style. At Mindtrip, he plays psychotherapist to the LLM. Prior to Mindtrip, Garrick led engineering teams at major tech companies like Stripe and Google, where he led the development of Gmail, Calendar and Google Meet. He also has experience in early-stage startups, including Ariba and ShopStyle. Garrick earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from the University of Arizona.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Dubrovnik

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Cured reindeer meat from Stockholm

    On his bucket list:

    Thailand and Greece

  • Rudi Thun

    Chief Operating Officer

    Rudi loves off-the-beaten-path travel. When he’s not managing operations at Mindtrip, he’s out seeing the world and exploring new cultures. Before joining the Mindtrip team, Rudi was COO at Roadster and at Carwoo! He was also Head of Vehicles for eBay Motors, and VP and General Manager of AOL’s automotive properties. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Bhutan and the glorious Himalayan Mountains

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    A huge bone spur from walking the Camino Frances (500 miles in 34 days!)

    On his bucket list:

    Exploring every nook and cranny of Sardinia, Italy

  • Michelle Denogean

    Chief Marketing Officer

    Michelle is an adventure seeker. When she’s not cycling through Lisbon or zip-lining through Maui, she’s in charge of everything Marketing at Mindtrip. Before joining the Mindtrip team, she developed the brand and go-to-market strategies as CMO at Side, a real estate brokerage platform; Roadster an automotive retailing platform; and Edmunds, a leading automotive marketplace. Prior to that, Michelle held executive level roles in marketing and product leadership at eHarmony and Move.com. She is an alumna of UC San Diego and holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.

    Favorite place she’s traveled:

    Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps

    Weirdest souvenir she’s ever brought back:

    Not the weirdest, but I fell in love with a necklace while honeymooning in Florence, Italy. I didn’t buy it on the spot, but my husband had it shipped to me as an anniversary present one year later.

    On her bucket list:

    Exploring Australia’s big cities, coastal regions and outback

  • Tom Krackeler

    Chief Customer Officer

    Tom’s favorite mode of travel is by foot, whether it’s exploring new cities or long distance hiking on the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide Trails. Before joining the Mindtrip team, Tom spent eight years at Zuora as Chief Customer Officer and SVP of Products. Prior to that, Tom was Co-Founder/CEO at Frontleaf, a customer analytics startup; and Co-Founder and SVP of Products at Convio and GetActive Software, which pioneered online fundraising for charities. He graduated from Duke University and earned an MPP from UC Berkeley.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Backcountry camping on the John Muir Trail in Evolution Valley

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Esoteric T-shirts

    On his bucket list:

    Patagonia

Founding Team

  • Vincent Lo

    Engineer, Co-founder

    Vincent is an avid world traveler who enjoys eating at the finest restaurants, Michelin or otherwise. When he’s not enjoying a great glass of wine, you can find him building Mindtrip’s architecture, personalization platform, remarketing platform, booking flows and document processing capabilities. Prior to Mindtrip, he was a co-founding engineer at Roadster and a co-founder and CTO at FabKids. Before that, Vincent was an early engineer and manager at Ariba, and served as a software architect at Apple. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Brown University.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Santorini

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Sorry, I only take beautiful memories home.

    On his bucket list:

    Viewing a total solar eclipse

  • Manish Dubey

    Engineer, Co-founder

    Manish has a passion for adventure travel and immersing himself in diverse cultures. His professional journey has led him to contribute to dynamic startups, including Mindtrip and Shopstyle. Prior to co-founding Mindtrip, Manish made significant impacts as an engineer at LinkedIn, where he contributed to the company’s successful IPO and user base expansion from 100 million to 1 billion. Manish has a master’s degree in computer science from Louisiana State University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Bombay.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Guayana, for its unspoiled rugged jungles and rivers

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    A lung infection that nearly killed him after a jungle safari in Africa

    On his bucket list:

    Snow leopard trekking in the Annapurna Mountain Range

  • Prakoon Chen

    Engineer, Co-founder

    Prakoon is an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for hiking and backpacking along the scenic trails of the East Bay and in national parks along the West Coast. As a full stack engineer at Mindtrip, Prakoon is focused on developing the exploration content platform and the on-trip experience. Prior to Mindtrip, he worked at disruptive tech companies including Roadster, TechStyle, ShopStyle, Ariba and Oracle. He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Palau

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Foods in his tummy

    On his bucket list:

    The Wave hike in Arizona, The Shikoku Pilgrimage, Machu Picchu, Egypt

  • Rob Davis

    Engineer, Co-founder

    Rob loves seeing the world and building technology for it. At Mindtrip he’s working on trip-planning tools and AI streaming. Previously, he co-founded and contributed to a number of successful startups, including Roadster, FabKids, iAmaze, Perka and Lighthouse Design. Prior to that, he was an engineer at Sun Microsystems, where he contributed some of the earliest user interface components to the standard Java platform. Besides engineering, Rob has a background in film and worked as a critic — traveling to festivals, interviewing legendary filmmakers and absorbing cinema through bleary eyes. Rob has a degree in computer science from Purdue University.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Paris (for a month!)

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    A black iron tea kettle he uses every single day

    On his bucket list:

    Spain

  • Elsa Kawai

    Design Leader, Co-founder

    Elsa has a deep-rooted passion for storytelling and believes in the transformative power of travel. At Mindtrip, she oversees the seamless integration of brand strategy, creative, product design and production. Prior to co-founding Mindtrip, Elsa co-founded Roadster and served as creative director at Yahoo, Wikia, ShopStyle and Popsugar. Her work has been featured in Airbnb, Refinery29 and Sunset Magazine, and has been recognized by Fast Company and even the late Queen Elizabeth. In addition to leading the creative team at Mindtrip, Elsa is the proprietor of unique accommodations that celebrate the natural beauty of Elk, CA, where she lives.

    Favorite place she’s traveled:

    Indonesia and Elk, CA

    Weirdest souvenir she’s ever brought back:

    It’s a secret 😉

    On her bucket list:

    All the hidden gems

  • Mika Kozma

    Design Leader, Co-founder

    Mika is highly skilled at using design and technology to tell stories. At Mindtrip, he’s responsible for creating and executing on the product vision, and optimizing the user experience. His work is inspired by the possibility of changing what travel means and how planning it should feel. Previously, he was a co-founder and the product design director at Roadster. Prior to that, he applied his product design prowess at Affinity, Meta, Messenger, Fandom and Cisco.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    San Francisco, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm and Prague

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    A donkey

    On his bucket list:

    Porto, Budapest, Tokyo and Cape Town

  • Jesse Hart

    Design Engineer, Co-founder

    Jesse’s lifestyle and work embody a passion for exploration and innovation in travel technology. As a founding designer at Mindtrip, Jesse seamlessly integrates design and code to craft engaging user experiences. Prior to Mindtrip, Jesse consulted for high-profile clients, including Sephora, and several Bay Area startups. When he’s not hard at work, Jesse enjoys off-the-beaten-path travels with his wife and homeschooled sons. Jesse holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in design from The Art Institute of Boston.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    Touring Italy for 3 months

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Etna basalt

    On his bucket list:

    New Zealand

  • Jordan Castillo

    Engineer, Co-founder

    Jordan enjoys exploring music and art scenes, and unearthing local food and brewery gems while traveling. He’s thrilled to be a part of a team that’s redefining the travel experience. In his role, Jordan is responsible for Mindtrip’s transportation search, booking, and generative AI. Before that, he collaborated with teams at Roadster, Tesla, and Bolster, creating comprehensive solutions in cybersecurity, ecommerce, and DevOps tooling. Jordan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Wichita State University.

    Favorite place he’s traveled:

    New York, NY

    Weirdest souvenir he’s ever brought back:

    Unique collectibles including vinyl records, VHS tapes and classic video games.

    On his bucket list:

    Commercial space travel

  • Katherine Wang

    Engineer, Co-founder

    At Mindtrip, Katherine gets to pair two of her biggest passions: engineering and exploration. When she’s not using Generative AI to enrich travel content and build itineraries, she can be found in parks and museums with her children. Prior to teaming up with Mindtrip, she worked as an engineer, building and maintaining vital systems at Roadster and at AutoGravity, a Daimler Company backed startup. Katherine holds a master’s degree in computer science from UCLA, under the tutelage of Mario Gerla.

    Favorite place she’s traveled:

    Backpacking through Europe with her father for a month

    Weirdest souvenir she’s ever brought back:

    A chopstick-and-bowl set

    On her bucket list:

    Korea, Cambodia and India

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