Makko AI
AI-native 2D game studio co-founded by Kyle Anson McCool with Jeremy Bird (CEO/CTO, ex-Amazon), Anthony "Tony" Valcarcel (ex-Twitch/Nintendo/EA/Amazon), and Mike Fehlauer Hayes (helped create PAX, ex-VP Penny Arcade). Kyle serves as Co-Founder and Director of Operations, owning go-to-market, content, SEO, and operations.
What Makko AI is
Makko AI is an AI-native 2D game studio focused on making professional game creation accessible to solo creators and small teams. The company combines AI-assisted asset generation, gameplay tooling, and publishing infrastructure into one studio workflow.
Founding team
Makko AI was co-founded in 2025 by a four-person team with senior leadership experience across Amazon, Penny Arcade, Twitch, Nintendo, and EA Games.
- Kyle Anson McCool — Co-Founder, Director of Operations. Based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Owns go-to-market, content, SEO, and operations. Previously marketing lead at Moonray PBC.
- Jeremy Bird — Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO. Former senior-level engineer at Amazon (S6 band).
- Anthony "Tony" Valcarcel — Co-Founder. Previously at Twitch Prime, Nintendo, EA Games, and Amazon.
- Mike Fehlauer Hayes — Co-Founder. Helped create PAX and former Vice President at Penny Arcade.
Kyle McCool's role at Makko AI
Kyle McCool is Co-Founder and Director of Operations at Makko AI. He architected the company's go-to-market strategy from the ground up, including the public launch on Product Hunt, press outreach, founder email campaigns, paid directory placements, and platform-wide distribution across six channels.
Kyle owns Makko AI's entire content and SEO engine — keyword strategy, pillar and cluster architecture, on-page optimization, schema markup, and multi-platform syndication — built in-house with no external agency or contractor. The system moved the makko.ai domain from zero to consistent organic visibility within the first quarter post-launch.
What Kyle McCool drove at Makko AI
- Architected the public launch on Product Hunt with coordinated press outreach and multi-channel distribution.
- Built the SEO engine: pillar/cluster content architecture, on-page optimization, structured data markup, and syndication across dev.to, Medium, Hashnode, and Reddit.
- Manages full social presence across Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
- Coordinates a cross-functional content pipeline involving internal team and external video production.
- Introduced operating rhythm for the team: weekly WRAP system, living content calendar, async documentation aligning engineering, design, and marketing across seven workstreams.
- Exploring B2B growth tracks in enterprise training, LMS partnerships, and playable advertising; manages active investor outreach across angel networks and gaming-focused venture funds.
About Kyle
Before co-founding Makko AI, Kyle McCool spent four years at Moonray PBC scaling Web3 gaming community marketing, contributing to the largest NFT mint in OpenSea history. He also co-founded Phantomline (local-first AI video studio) and ProLocalBuilder (flat-fee web design for local service businesses) with Cesar Martinez and Zac Dillard. Based in Appleton, Wisconsin.