William (Will) Kline
Founder
Oakland, California · willkline@willkline.com
Twenty-plus years in high-end audio — sales, brand management, and training across McIntosh Group, Sumiko/Fine Sounds, and Shunyata Research. Now builds and runs the software his businesses depend on: storefronts, back-office tools, and the glue between, in TypeScript + Postgres.
Experience
11 roleswillkline.comLive
Founder· Self-employed
Jan 2025 — present · 1 yr 5 moOakland, California
Operator hub + signal lab — the umbrella over the MadCool brand family.
- Designed, built, and shipped the umbrella site: brand pages, resume, /listen audio lab, signal-mark motif across every surface.
- Holding identity for MadCoolHiFi, MadCoolStuff, MadCoolMoney, and MadCoolSocial; coordinates the cross-brand operator thesis ("pioneer in the endless search for perfect signal").
- Stack: Next.js App Router, TypeScript, Supabase, Stripe, Vercel, R3F, WebAudio, ComfyUI for generative assets.
Next.js · TypeScript · Supabase · Stripe · Vercel · R3F · ComfyUI
MadCoolHiFiLive
Founder· Self-employed
Jan 2025 — present · 1 yr 5 moWyoming · Remote
The tide that rises for the industry I love.
- Managed marketing stack purpose-built for specialty audio dealers: social, local search, reputation, and lead intelligence — operated by people who have worked actual showroom floors.
- 1,519 dealers mapped; 1,385 brands tracked on the dealer-intelligence layer.
- 30-day onboarding cycle, no long-term lock-in.
Next.js · TypeScript · Supabase · Stripe · HighLevel
Shunyata Research Corp.
International Sales and Marketing· Full-time
Feb 2024 — Dec 2024 · 10 moPoulsbo, WA · Remote
International sales and marketing for Shunyata — the reference in high-end audio power conditioning and cabling.
- Sales training
- International marketing
Sonus faber
Global Training Manager· Full-time
May 2022 — Oct 2023 · 1 yr 5 moVicenza, Veneto, Italy
Global training development and North American training implementation.
- Branding & identity
- Team management
- Hosted "Choosing the Perfect Speakers & Speaker Positioning"
- Hosted "Gramophone LIVE! with Sonus faber"
- Hosted "Hear Here! Top Features to Look For In Your Next Speaker Purchase or Upgrade"
McIntosh Group Inc.
North American Brand Manager — Sonus faber· Full-time
Jan 2017 — Oct 2023 · 6 yrs 9 moNew York, United States
A member of the McIntosh Group family of high-end audio companies. Sonus faber is a high-performance loudspeaker manufacturer based in Vicenza, Italy. Reporting directly to the VP of sales.
- Executive market communication and activation strategy
- Product and channel management
- Market strategy research and analysis
- Sales team and distribution network support
- Training development and instruction
- Event coordination and execution
- Information systems management
- Multi-media content development and oversight
- Strategic partnership management
Fine Sounds Americas
Inside Account Manager — North America· Full-time
Mar 2015 — Jan 2017 · 1 yr 10 moNorth America
Brand support, dealer training, business growth and sales strategy development.
- Brands represented: Audio Research, Sonus Faber, Sumiko, McIntosh, Wadia, Pro-Ject, Pryma
Sumiko / Fine Sounds
Western Regional Sales Manager· Full-time
Sep 2014 — Mar 2016 · 1 yr 6 moBerkeley, CA
Developing business growth strategies and enhancing the dealer network across CA, WA, OR, NV, HI, and AK.
- Brands represented: Sumiko, Sonus Faber, Audio Research, Wadia, Pro-Ject
- Sumiko Audio — hi-end products in North America: one of the largest importers and distributors of hi-end products in North America.
Music Lovers Audio
Manager· Full-time
Jul 2013 — Sep 2014 · 1 yr 2 moBerkeley, CA
Finest home-theater and audio installation in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
- Maintained highest revenue and margins of any salesperson in the location.
- Orchestrated a radio-based advertising campaign that led to nation-wide television coverage for the company and select brands.
- Trained salesmen with no prior sales experience who have since become consistent top-of-month performers.
- Implemented a stream-lined shop maintenance schedule that noticeably improved store-wide organization and cleanliness.
- Earned the nickname "Zen Master" for signature unbreakable cool temperament and grace under fire.
Assistant Manager
Jan 2006 — Jul 2013 · 7 yrs 6 moBerkeley, CA
Consistently top-salesman award with both highest profit and highest margins of any sales personnel in the company.
- Implemented a cloud-based scheduling system that significantly reduced downtime and scheduling issues for both sales and field crew.
- Coordinated training of sales personnel across two locations while maintaining the most consistent sales numbers in the company.
- Maintained customer database, store network, and data management systems.
- Earned the nickname "Eagle Eye" for sharp vision for the company and attention to detail.
- Orchestrated scheduling, advertising, setup and breakdown of numerous trade shows.
Circuit City
Manager in Training
Mar 2005 — Jan 2006 · 10 moEmeryville, CA
Became the driving force in transitioning a "brown-level" location to platinum level — highest numbers in the region within two months of hitting the sales floor.
- Consistently achieved sales numbers higher than the entirety of the remaining departments of the store combined.
- Earned two monthly awards for the top-ten sales numbers in the entire country.
MadCool LLCLive
Founder· Self-employed
Jan 2000 — present · 26 yrs 5 moOakland, California
Holding entity for the MadCool brand family — MadCoolHiFi, MadCoolStuff, MadCoolMoney, and MadCoolSocial.
- MadCoolHiFi — managed marketing, visibility, and intelligence stack for specialty audio dealers; 1,519 dealers mapped, 1,385 brands tracked, 30-day onboarding.
- MadCoolStuff — practitioner's guide to AI: hardware, models, and robotics for the operators actually shipping with it.
- MadCoolMoney — real-time dashboard for traders and investors with live markets, signal-level charts, and the numbers that matter.
- MadCoolSocial — productized AI-drafted social posts for any business: voice-matched, fact-grounded, approval-gated, auto-published across 24+ platforms.
- Earlier chapters: e-commerce + manufacturer/distributor relationships, profitable inside three months of founding, 32% average month-over-month revenue growth, lucrative merger with an online retailer.
TypeScript · Next.js · Python · Postgres · Stripe · JavaScript · PHP · MySQL · HTML/CSS
Brands represented
Across two decades of retail, regional, and brand-management roles
- Sonus faber
- McIntosh
- Audio Research
- Sumiko
- Wadia
- Pro-Ject
- Pryma
- Shunyata Research
- Wilson Audio
- VTL
Projects
MadCoolHiFi
2025-2026Operating system for audiophile retailers.
Inventory, showroom, and a buying guide that respects the listener. Built solo: Next.js · Supabase · Stripe · HighLevel CRM.
Next.js · TypeScript · Supabase · Stripe · Tailwind
MadCoolStuff
2026The practitioner's guide to AI.
Independent coverage of the AI practitioners actually ship — hardware, models, and robotics. Same stack as MadCoolHiFi, plus ComfyUI pipelines for product photography.
Next.js · Supabase · Stripe · ComfyUI
MadCoolMoney
2026A real-time dashboard for traders and investors.
Live markets data, signal-level charts, and the numbers that matter — filtered, framed, and made decision-ready. MDX · Plaid read-only · charts.
Next.js · MDX · Plaid · Vercel
Skills
TypeScript · Next.js / App Router · Postgres · Stripe · Supabase · Tailwind
Python · ComfyUI · FastAPI · Sentry/PostHog instrumentation · GitHub Actions CI/CD
Industry · High-end audio sales · Brand management · Dealer training · International marketing · Event coordination · Distribution network strategy
Last shipped
- 9021364polish(portrait): click-based touch tap-toggle + drive-by log (#93)3 minutes ago
- e6502bffeat(portrait): tap-to-toggle eyes-glow on touch devices3 days ago
- fbc3feastyle(web): biome format fixups (import + long string wrap)3 days ago