# Chris Knape

> Chris Knape is the CEO and co-founder of Rare Candy, a marketplace and toolkit for trading card collectors that has scanned more than five million cards. He spent a decade inside marketplaces and platforms - YouTube, Google Play, Thumbtack, Tempo - before turning a pandemic-era return to childhood card collecting into a venture-backed company built alongside Pokemon YouTuber Leonhart. Raised on a sailboat in the US Virgin Islands and trained at Dartmouth, BCG, and the youngest-manager ranks of early YouTube, he now spends his days authenticating, auctioning, and tracking the cards that nerds love.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Rare Candy
- **Organizations:** Rare Candy, Tempo, Thumbtack, ZIRX, Google / Google Play, YouTube, The Boston Consulting Group
- **From:** United States Virgin Islands
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Arts, Government / International Relations, Dartmouth College
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Rare Candy, a venture-backed collectibles marketplace for trading card games, Raised a $4M seed round (Dec 2021) led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from 776 and Gaingels, Grew Rare Candy past 5,000,000 cards scanned on the platform by October 2024

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Began career as an associate at The Boston Consulting Group after an internship at the U.S. Embassy in Paris
- **2010** — Joined YouTube as a strategy analyst; rose to become one of the youngest managers at the company and Global Head of Business Intelligence
- **2014** — Led business development for Google Play
- **2015** — Product Manager at on-demand parking startup ZIRX
- **2016** — Joined Thumbtack as Product Lead of Supply Growth
- **2019** — Became Product Lead & Head of Partnerships at Thumbtack
- **2020** — Head of Product at Tempo; reconnected with trading-card collecting during the pandemic
- **2021** — Co-founded Rare Candy with Leonhart (Lee Steinfeld); raised a $4M seed round led by Lerer Hippeau
- **2024** — Rare Candy passes 5,000,000 cards scanned and ships collecting tools including Tally and master-set tracking

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Rare Candy, a venture-backed collectibles marketplace for trading card games
- Raised a $4M seed round (Dec 2021) led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from 776 and Gaingels
- Grew Rare Candy past 5,000,000 cards scanned on the platform by October 2024
- Became one of the youngest managers at YouTube during its early growth years
- Built marketplace growth and partnerships functions at Thumbtack, Google Play, and ZIRX

## Latest updates

- **2024-10** — Rare Candy announced more than 5,000,000 cards scanned and shipped new collecting tools including Tally and master-set tracking.
- **2025-07** — Knape continued sharing investment theses and Rare Candy milestones publicly, including a 'Why We Invested in Rare Candy' post.

## Links

- Website: https://rarecandy.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-knape-9780a6a/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cknape1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cjksnaps/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/chris-knape
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25