TRAPPER MARKELZ
TRAPPER MARKELZ
HUSBAND. FATHER OF FOUR.
POET. MUSICIAN. CYCLIST.
SOFTWARE STARTUP LEADER
About Me
HUSBAND. FATHER OF FOUR. POET. MUSICIAN. ANGLER. CYCLIST.
SOFTWARE STARTUP LEADER
Trapper was born in Alaska, educated at RIT in New York, worked in enterprise IT in Chicago, and entered the consumer web/mobile/startup scene via Boston. He completed the Harvard Business School GMP program in 2015 and has lived the ups and downs (mostly ups!) of a startup CEO. He spends his free time writing poetry (check out my book Childproof Sky!), cycles when he can, produces techno music when inspired, plays video games, appreciates a good Bourbon, likes to fish and reads/watches anything science fiction.
Trapper has 23 years of direct experience building teams, companies, and shipping consumer-facing software products and experiences, many built around online communities. He is currently the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Beamable, a gaming development technology company based in Boston, MA.
Additionally, Trapper co-founded Modi Boxi, a 3D printable storage solution that became the largest 3D STL camapign on Kickstarter raising over $410k and 7,000 backers.
Prior to Beamable, Trapper was Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Disruptor Beam where he served as Game Director on Star Trek Timelines, worked with blockchain gaming technology, and managed studio production across multiple AAA mobile IP licenses game titles.
Prior to Disruptor Beam, Trapper was the CEO of MeYou Health, working with large employers, small employers, health plans, benefits brokers, and consultants to deliver a wide range of clinically validated online communities that helped people move more, quit smoking, and improve their overall well-being.
Prior to MeYou Health, Trapper was co-founder of GamerDNA, a digital gaming media company that derived insights on the gaming community. This intelligence was applied to many businesses in social media, online content, and advertising solutions for publishers and brands.
Prior to GamerDNA, Trapper co-founded 360voice.com, an online Xbox gaming community that pioneered auto-blogging technology to drive new ways of interacting around games using data. As part of that project, he designed and coded a data-driven competitive gaming system for Proctor & Gamble that integrated into the Xbox 360 game console as part of a large media campaign that handed out over $100k in prizes.
Trapper also worked in Chicago, IL for Spencer Stuart and Associates for over 8 years, pioneering agile development methods and the adoption of enterprise technology.
Trapper lives in Arlington, MA with his wife Maureen, three daughters Hannah, Lucy, Alice, and his son Jack.
Instagram
Check out the latest adventures in all things Trapper
Poetry
Here is a selection of published works available online and in print.
Childproof Sky, a Cherry Dress Chapbooks 2023 Selection, released in September 2023. Available Now at Amazon. Learn more at https://childproofsky.com
September 2023
Industrial, Mixed Use is available in Issue 75 from Potomac Review. Reading available on YouTube.
August 2024
Elegy for a Garden is available in Volume XXVII of Clackamas Literary Review.
May 2024
Ode to the Oily Bilge of a Charter Boat and Stop Lights are available in the Spring 2024 issue from Pine Row Press.
April 2024
When It Happens and Matriculating are available on the website of the The Sandy River Review.
March 2024
Podcast appearance on the Jan 15th episode of My Bad Poetry, reading and discussing the poems Hello, Babies, Slaying It, and A Reading From Isaiah
January 2024
What You Asked, Dear Uncle, and Endangered Species appear in Issue #13 of Blood & Bourbon, available for purchase on Amazon.
December 2023
Ode to Being Frustrated With My Kids is available in Volume 10 from Digging Press.
November 2023
The Kardashev Scale is available in Issue 20 of Cagibi.
November 2023
Turning a Corner is available in the Fall of 2023 issue of The Bangalore Review
November 2023
Lying in the street is available in Issue #3 of Thanatos Review
October 2023
Can You See It is available in the Autumn 2023 issue of New Note Poetry on page 11.
September 2023
All I Have Left, Form of Survival, and Everything is a Nail are available from The Bond Street Review Summer 2023 edition
August 2023
Nature Games is available in Issue #21 of Wild Roof Journal, Issue #21
July 2023
Monsters is available from The Creative Zine in Issue #6, Spring 2023, Page 10.
June 2023
Demons Everywhere is available to read online in Pangyrus Literary Magazine.
May 2023
I'm Alive and So Are You is available to read online at Poetry Online.
April 2023
Passengers is available in the November 2022 #7 Issue of Hare's Paw Literary Journal.
November 2022
A reading of All I Have Left, performed at Follen Community Church, Lexinginton, MA, is available online.
October 2022
Anxious Prayer, Place of Stones, and On the Line are available in Issue #11 of The Banyan Review.
September 2022
Negative Land is available in Issue #16 of Wild Roof Journal. You can listen to a reading of this poem on their podcast. My reading is at 18:38. You can also watch the reading on YouTube at 18:45
September 2022
Rich People is available in Vol. X | Issue 3 of The Bangalore Review.
August 2022
The Longest Echo is available in Issue #17 of The Closed Eye Open Web Micros
July 2022
Will I Be Your Tragedy?, The Day We Talked About Death At Church, and End of an Era are available in Issue #37 of Shot Glass Journal
June 2022
Childproof Sky is available in print issue 45.2 of The Journal
May 2022
See You at the Air Down and Glass Coffin are in the January 2022 issue of The Write Launch
January 2022
Nowhere on All Sides is available in Issue 5 Fall/Winter 2021 of the The Moving Force Journal
December 2021
An Orange in the Sun is available in the Fall 2021 Issue 110 of The Greensboro Review
December 2021
Snow-Colored Home is available in the October 2021 issue of Dillydoun Review.
Published October 2021
Who Goes First, Scrolling, and When She Looked Over the Expanse is available from Cathexis Northwest Press.
Published October 2021
You Will Need Foor For The Journey is available in Issue XXXIII of High Shelf Press. (Journal no longer available)
Published August 2021
End of the Road is available in Volume 11 of the The Stillwater Review
Published May 2021
A Midnight Clear, It seems like the back wheel got him, and Off to war, daughter are available in Vol 2 No 2 of Hole in the Head Review
Published May 2021
Marlborough is available in Issue 4 Vol 2 of Passengers Journal
Published April 2021
Summer Camp is available in the journal Prometheus Dreaming
Published March 2021
Walls is available in Issue 2 Vol 2 of The Dillydoun Review
Published March 2021
First Snow is available in the Winter 2021 issue of The Baltimore Review
Published January 2021
Boundaries is available online and in the compilation Words of Power edited by Kevin Watt
Published October 2020
My directory listing at Poets & Writers Magazine can be found here.
My profile at Chill Subs can be found here.
Various new and experimental work is available on Medium.
Music
Check out my electronic music album Above available on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and Spotify
Listen to my other songs and albums on Soundcloud
I'm experimenting with GenAI songs over at Suno.ai
Projects
A few things I'm always working on...
Poetry Collection: Childproof Sky
Childproof Sky (published by Cherry Dress Chapbooks) is a 22-poem, 31-page chapbook about the loss of my daughter from SIDS in 2009 captured from the perspective of myself as a father and husband. The poems span 13 years and touch on moments of loss, sadness, resilience, love, and hope.
Purchase the book at https://childproofsky.com
My Company @ Beamable
Beamable's mission is to enable Unity game developers to easily add social, commerce, and content management features to their games. If you are a game maker, come check us out! Maybe we can help!
My side project: Modi Boxi!
I teamed up with Jeff Paradiso to launch a 3D printable gaming storage solution with infinite expandability.
We ran a Kickstarter that attracted 6800 backers and $410,000!
You can buy the STL files direct at our store. If you have a 3D printer, grab this and get started!
Follow me on Fishbrain
I grew up fishing in Alaska. I love freshwater ultralight fishing in New England. Bass. Perch. Crappies. Bluegill.
If you like fishing, check out my Fishbrain profile where I log my catches and give me a follow!
My Discogs Vinyl Collection
I did some Trace/Prog/House DJing back in the early 2000s. I still have over 250 albums and 300 records that I've put up on Discorgs. It is all classic electronica from 1999-2003
My NFT Collection
As a technology enthusiast, I love exploring the latest trends. NFTs are lighting the crypto world on fire and I am involved in a number of communities and projects. You can see a portion of my collection in this 3D gallery.
My Original Star Wars RPG Campaign
In 2021, I wrote up a custom four-session campaign for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars RPG system. I borrowed heavily from ideas, text, and images across the internet to put all their pieces together for my players. I present that campaign here as a Google Doc and supporting Google Sheet and Google Slides to provide ideas for other players. If you use anything from my campaign, I'd love to hear about it!
My TEDx Talk @ Youtube
Fulfillment Mechanics
In 2010, I gave a TEDx Nashville talk on the role of gamification in product design. It was an amazing experience.
Drop Me a Line
Want to connect? Shoot me an email...
© 2019