# John Gardner

> John Gardner, also publicly known as Jack Gardner, is the co-founder and CEO of Kickoff. A Columbia graduate and Dartmouth Tuck MBA, he previously worked at Bain & Company and BuildZoom before founding Kudos in October 2017, the early business behind Kickoff. His work centers on using software to support human coaching and help coaches run their businesses.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Kickoff
- **Organizations:** Kickoff, Kudos, BuildZoom, Bain & Company
- **Education:** BA, Economics and American History, Columbia University, MBA, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
- **Known for:** Founded the early coaching business Kudos in October 2017., Co-founded and leads Kickoff, whose platform had attracted more than 20,000 coaches by June 2022, according to Expa., Reported more than $5 million in cumulative payments to Kickoff coaches in June 2022.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Graduated from Tuck with an MBA and returned to Bain & Company in San Francisco, focusing on technology clients.
- **2015 (approximately)** — Joined BuildZoom; his 2018 Tuck interview describes two years there as COO. Other public profiles list his title as SVP.
- **2017-10** — Founded Kudos, according to his 2018 Tuck interview.
- **2019-01** — Kickoff launched, according to Expa’s June 2022 founder spotlight.
- **2022-06** — Reported more than $5 million paid to coaches and said recruiting occupied 40% of his time.
- **2025-12** — Appeared as Jack Gardner in NYC Founders Club’s Starting Up interview.

## Achievements

- Founded the early coaching business Kudos in October 2017.
- Co-founded and leads Kickoff, whose platform had attracted more than 20,000 coaches by June 2022, according to Expa.
- Reported more than $5 million in cumulative payments to Kickoff coaches in June 2022.
- Earned NASM personal trainer certification.

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — In a December 3 NYC Founders Club interview, Gardner discussed early customer experiments, lessons from gamification, his continuing use of the platform as a coach, and travel and cycling.

## Links

- Website: https://www.trainwithkickoff.com/blog/author/john-gardner
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnlawrencegardner/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/john-gardner
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-15