About

A Dynamic Executive with Entrepreneurial DNA

Charles Basil is an executive and entrepreneur with a proven track record of identifying and capitalizing on opportunities in emerging technology. From web 2.0, to blockchain, to artificial intelligence; Charles has a keen ability to apply strategic frameworks to navigate emerging market dynamics; while getting under the hood on tech stacks to identify where new capabilities can solve underserved pain points.

Charles currently serves as EVP, Operations at Salt AI, (www.salt.ai) an AI startup backed by a16z, Coinbase Ventures, and UTA Ventures. As a founding executive at Salt, Charles is a key member of the executive leadership team responsible for setting company strategy. He operates in a General Manager role with P&L responsibility. He has spearheaded the effort to build a world-class team across product, design, marketing, and engineering; and leads that team in execution.

When blockchain emerged, Charles joined Core Scientific (now publicly traded on the Nasdaq:CORZ) as a founding executive. His leadership helped grow the company to become the largest blockchain infrastructure company in North America. Charles led marketing, product and software engineering, while working cross-functionally as part of the executive leadership team. When he joined the company had 3MW of power under contract. At his time of departure we had over 700MW online. The entire fleet of servers was managed by the proprietary Minder software developed by Charles’ team. This core IP was a key value driver in the effort to take the company public.

Charles started his career building a digital agency that helped consumer brands navigate digital transformation enabled by web 2.0. His clients included some of the world's largest consumer brands: Red Bull, Proactiv, T3, Wilson Sporting Goods, and Incipio. As the sole head of the agency, Charles was responsible for all aspects of company performance.

Charles holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Colorado - Boulder. His personal passions are music, health & fitness, surfing, snowboarding and aiming to be a superstar father & husband.

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Areas Of Expertise

  • Strategic Planning

    As an executive leader, I go deep on the industry landscape, develop points of view on competitors and opportunities, and create plans of action to diferentiate and win. I am highly comfortable with ambiguity, and naturally lead by creating clarity and goals for teams to execute againts.

  • Go To Market

    I work across the organization to synthesize brand strategy and business objectives into actionable growth plans that consider the competitive landscape, customer personas, content, messaging, storytelling, marketing tactics, digital properties, conversion funnels, physical collateral, and timeliness. The strategy becomes your brand’s playbook for executing towards goals.

  • Product Roadmaps

    I’ve taken countless products from napkin ideas to delightful, scalable tech solutions. Over the years I’ve developed a diligent and thoughtful requirements definition process that empowers designers, engineers and content creators to work efficiently toward unified launch goals, and establishes a roadmap for the long term product vision. A well-crafted PRD is foundational to a successful product outcome that is on-time and on-budget.

  • Leadership & Management

    I have deep experience leading cross-functional teams in marketing, design, and engineering; and collaborate across organizations to set goals and measure performance. I can provide a single point of contact and take ownership of multiple, concurrent marketing and product initiatives.

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testimonials

  • I've worked with Charles on multiple projects, over many years, and am consistently impressed by his ability to effectively diagnose root issues, develop solutions, and execute. He is talented at incubating new business ideas, developing strategies behind them, and taking them from concept to production. Charles is a strong leader with excellent communication skills and positive energy. He’s an inspiring colleague and a pleasure to work with.

    Jim Benedetto, Chief Data Officer, Core Scientific

  • We throw a lot of big, unusual challenges at Charles. And he consistently delivers. With just a napkin concept, he'll create a scalable solution for Red Bull. His ability to work across our organization to align on goals has always impressed us.

    Ryan Conway, SVP, Red Bull North America

  • Charles is my go-to person for product leadership needs in our family office portfolio of businesses. I've worked in technology my entire career, and very few have the product and leadership skill set Charles has. He's a huge asset on our teams.

    Jacque Khalil, President, Conova Labs