John Yi

John Yi is Co-Founder and CEO of NextMe, a Chicago-based platform that powers guest flow and queue management for live events, experiential activations, and service-based businesses. From CES to San Diego Comic-Con to SXSW, NextMe helps event operators shorten endless lines with hybrid physical and virtual queue that keep guests nearby, engaged, and ready - preserving the energy of a live environment while giving operations teams real-time control over flow.

John's entry point into this problem was personal. The son of a South Korean immigrant entrepreneur, he grew up working behind the cashier of his mother's dry cleaning and salon business in Chicago's Lakeview East neighborhood. That experience gave him a ground-level education in what most technology vendors overlook: what it actually feels like to manage a line, a lobby, and a guest's patience at the same time.

That perspective shapes how John thinks about technology's role in live events - not as a replacement for human experience design, but as a collaborator that makes it possible. At ILEA Live 2026, he joins the Collaboration Meets Innovation panel as the emerging tech voice, bringing a practitioner's view on how the right tools, built into the right partnerships, unlock experiences that neither operators nor technology can create alone.

NextMe has been recognized by Forbes, BizBash, EventMB, Food and Wine Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. John mentors emerging entrepreneurs at DePaul University's Coleman Entrepreneurship Center and is passionate about representation and mentorship within the AAPI founder community.