Harold Hughes

Harold Hughes is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based live experience technology company. Under his leadership, Bandwagon has raised more than $4M in venture capital and successfully acquired IdealSeat, Inc. in 2020. Their customers include Fortune 50 brands, entertainers, and professional and collegiate athletes. As a first-generation American, Hughes prioritized education, receiving two Bachelors degrees (Economics and Political Science) from Clemson University and later received his MBA from Clemson while he led business development at a Fortune 1000 company based in Greenville, South Carolina. As a web3 builder and community leader, Hughes published "A Kids Book About Blockchain" to help educate people "from 6 to 60" about the revolutionary technology that Bandwagon specializes in.

As a community builder, Hughes co-founded Black@ Labs, where he provides resources and a 12-week accelerator curriculum to help support the next generation of entrepreneurs. While his expertise focuses on go-to-market strategies and business development, as an experienced operator, Hughes has helped founders go from the idea stage to scaling as an advisor and fractional operator.

Hughes is also an active angel investor, primarily investing in women, people of color, and Black founder-led companies. Most notably, he has invested in Partake Foods, the Jay-Z-backed CPG company making allergy-friendly snacks, and companies like Liquid Death, Athletic Greens, Republic, Stix, Major League Pickleball, and the National Cycling League.