Jill Kenney doesn’t just lead teams, she builds them into something extraordinary. From steering sundae_bar and Paidia Gaming as CEO, to leading the Media and Content team at Red Bull, to coaching a high school girls’ soccer team to a regional championship, her knack for empowering people shines through. Her journey from Red Bull’s high-energy campaigns to Paidia Gaming’s inclusive tech platforms led her to Bittensor’s Subnet 121, where she’s creating an AI agent marketplace that’s as human as it is innovative. Here’s her story, grounded in teamwork and driven by a vision to make AI accessible and delightful.
Every conversation starts with this: Share something that is special and meaningful to you—maybe an object, memory, or experience—and tell us a little about why you chose it.
I’ve been told one of my strengths is leading teams. It’s my favorite thing to do, because when you have a good team, you can accomplish anything. I’ve led teams at big companies like Red Bull, in fast-paced startups like Paidia, and now at a publicly listed company, sundae_bar. Every bit of success I’ve had has been because of the people I’ve worked with. My leadership style is simple: empower the people around you, remove roadblocks, and let them shine.
To answer your question, an object that is meaningful to me as it relates to business is one that sits on my desk, right behind my monitor. It is a framed photo of a high school girls’ soccer team I coached. They gave it to me after we won the regional division banner, the first in our school’s history. It’s framed in sparkles (their idea, not mine!).
I don’t have daughters, but I’d been coaching my sons’ teams for years, so when I heard the girls at the school saying no one wanted to play because the team wasn’t “good” and girls school soccer was “lame”. That didn’t sit right with me. I’m a huge believer in girls in sport, so I volunteered. Our school was small and not known for athletics. After the first game, I realized we weren’t going to win on skill alone. So if we were going to have a chance, we would have to win on team work.
I pulled aside our two strongest players and told them exactly that: “You’re both better at soccer than I ever was, but I’m great at building teams. Let’s do this together.” They accepted the role as co-captains and they became true leaders. Pairing up strong and new players, running early practices, starting team chats, blasting pre-game music, and turning frustration into belief.
We shocked everyone and went right through the playoffs and won the banner. The refs were quietly cheering for us, and even the other coaches were happy for us, because they too saw that being so supportive of each other, both from the bench and on the field, we built something special. That photo reminds me every day, whether I’m leading in sport or business, that the right team can do anything.
Tell us a little about yourself and sundae_bar in a few brief sentences, including how your work ties into the Bittensor ecosystem.
This is a great question. I have always believed that no matter what industry you are in, if you build products that truly delight your customers, and make it simple for them to access, you will have success.
At Red Bull, my team was responsible for taking massive projects (anything from an athlete’s world-first to a global event) and translating that “wow” moment into story driven content pieces designed for the mass viewing. That is where I learned how powerful it is when you take something extraordinary and make it available to everyone.
At Paidia Gaming, that belief evolved into a mission around inclusion and accessibility. We wanted to meet gamers where they were, mainly Discord and Twitch, and build tech products that empowered and supported them when they gamed. Our most-used product was a Discord bot that organized esports tournaments end-to-end, simplifying competitive gaming, allowing tournament organizers and players to focus on other aspects of the event.
That same thinking carries directly into what I am doing now with sundae_bar, building a consumer facing AI agent marketplace. For it to be successful, we need a constant supply of high-quality agents that people and businesses actually want to use, and buy. That is where Subnet 121 comes in. It is the engine powering that supply of high quality, real-world-utility agents.
We call it the “last 20 percent” problem. We have found most AI agents can get someone 80 percent of the way to what they want, but they miss the final 20, the customization, the human nuance. Subnet 121 is designed to close that gap by being an incentivised AI Agent creation and evaluation layer, that can build high quality custom agents. In essence, sundae_bar functions as both a software development studio and a SaaS marketplace.
In the simplest terms a client comes to sundae_bar and outlines their ideal agent. sundae_bar takes that info and converts it into a technical brief displayed on the Developer Dashboard. Miners then submit public code agents against that brief and validators benchmark agents. Top performing agents get delivered to the client (+ a bonus for us a generalized version of that agent goes to the marketplace for rent). Obviously there are a lot of layers to this system, of which will be released to the public shortly.
What led you from high-energy esports and gaming ecosystems to launching Subnet 121 on Bittensor—a space that’s all about decentralizing AI intelligence?
I was fortunate to be in a position at Paidia that allowed me to transition to a board role and take on the position of CEO at sundae_bar. It was a huge opportunity. When I stepped into the role last fall, we were merging two publicly listed Aquis companies and preparing to relist as sundae_bar on AIM. For anyone who has gone through a public merger and relisting, you know how much work and coordination it takes. It was intense, but also incredibly rewarding.
I first heard about Bittensor in 2024 via one of our advisors and my co-founder. I immediately recognized it as extremely forward thinking, and something that could be at the forefront of pushing the boundaries of digital intelligence. As a team we were drawn to Bittensor for its direct access to the best devs in the world, decentralization and crypto based incentive mechanism. As a company, we are bullish on both AI and crypto. Beyond recognizing Bittensor as one of the smartest and most efficient ways to scale, its model perfectly aligns with our broader vision for sundae_bar.
Describe the ideal collaborator for sundae_bar – perhaps a developer, SME owner, or validator—what makes them a great fit for your agent creation pipeline?
All of them! Developers, businesses, validators, investors, they’re all essential to making the model work. Businesses bring the need, developers bring high quality agent creation,validators ensure quality and fairness, investors keep the dream alive. When everything is aligned this flywheel is going to be epic.
It is also our hope that sundae_bar can bring broader exposure to Bittensor as a whole, and shine an even brighter spotlight on it.
What’s been your biggest challenge so far as CEO of sundae_bar and or in life in general?
Doing it all. I am an ideas person. I love the big picture and get genuinely excited about opportunities that can drive the business forward. That mindset served me well at Red Bull, where everything was on the table and the only idea that was ever frowned upon was one that had been done before or was not innovative enough. You were pushed to make an impact.
That philosophy has carried through to every tech startup I have led since. The challenge is balance. Big ideas are only valuable if you can execute against them, and that requires strong tactics, planning, and follow-through. If you get stuck in ideas, nothing happens.
I love timelines and hate missing deadlines, which helps, but the real difference is having a strong team around me. They ground my ideas in execution, and make sure we deliver.
What has been your biggest success so far as CEO of sundae_bar and or in life in general?
Opening the London Stock Exchange on June 3rd 2025 as CEO of a publicly listed company! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be doing that.
How do you define success for sundae_bar within Bittensor, and what does it look like on a personal level?
We see sundae_bar x SN121 seamlessly working together to create a self-reinforcing loop where custom-built agents become reusable marketplace products, generating revenue that funds buybacks, creating positive TAO flow, unlocking greater emissions for new agent creation.
On a personal level, there is great satisfaction in turning ideas into success. However, we understand that this build will come with a lot of pivots and iterations, as we learn, but we are all committed to the same goal: creating commercially ready agents built by the best, and validated through an objective and auditable mechanism.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given and by whom?
I am not sure it is advice, but rather a hiring philosophy. As a leader you do not have to be an expert in everything, but you do need to hire people who are. You surround yourself with the best people in the right positions and you remove roadblocks for them to thrive and move up in the business. Celebrate their growth and wins. If they become strong enough to take your job, that is a positive thing. It shows you are a good leader, and helps the overall business.
What advice would you give to someone transitioning from traditional tech or business into Bittensor?
Welcome! You have just made a very wise decision. Advice: get to know the other subnets and engrain yourself in the community. It is an active, intelligent and supportive community who will be an asset to you however you are participating – as an investor, miner, validator, owner.
Who are the ideal clients for sundae_bar and why should they choose sundae_bar over other options?
It is very hard to determine your ideal customer until you have months of data under your belt; however, from research, we believe initially our customers will be sole proprietors and SME’s. Organizations that need to scale quickly with reduced overheads. Also, they can make quicker decisions to integrate agents into their workflows vs larger enterprises who have more complex workflows. We do think this will balance out over time, and we will see higher volume of sales at a lower price point from small businesses and less volume but higher price point from larger organizations – having relatively equal revenue streams from both.
Why choose sundae_bar? This we will have to prove out – but the end goal is because we will be better.
If you could have one superpower in life, what would it be and why?
Mmmmm. For me it is all about my family. My kids and husband are my everything. If I could have a superpower it would just be to make sure they were safe and content.
What would be in your ultimate picnic hamper (and where would you enjoy that picnic)?
Wine and energy bars – at the top of a mountain (that I hiked up) on a clear day. The wine is the important part, and energy bars are just a necessity to get me back down the mtn!
Favourite movie and why?
Forest Gump. You laugh, cry and the life lessons just can’t get any better.
What’s your happy song / or favourite piece of music?
As a proud Canadian EVERY song by The Tragically Hip. I grew up on this music and it is my true happy place. For the non-Canadians, if there is one song you should give a listen to, it would be Ahead by a Century, or Wheat Kings.
What’s next for you and sundae_bar (and if appropriate, how can the Bittensor community get involved)?
sundae_bar is 100% focused on building a commercially viable AI agent marketplace. We want to scale quickly and gain as much market share as possible. In years to come, we hope sundae_bar and SN121 are recognized for taking an innovative approach to solving the problem of creating custom agents for clients, setting the standard for how AI agents are built, validated, and deployed. We couldn’t be more excited that we have landed in Bittensor to accompany us on this journey, and welcome all. To date the support and feedback has been invaluable and we can’t wait to take it to the next level.
Join us where we hang, X and Discord mainly – or check us out on the SBAR side! All of our RNS are released here:
londonstockexchange.com/stock/SBAR/sundae-bar-plc/company-page
What’s the best way for people to follow you and Sundae Bar?
Web: sundaebar.ai
X: sundaebar_ai
LinkedIn: sundae_bar
Discord: sundae_bar
Sundae Scoop (Newsletter): sundae-bar.beehiiv.com/
Jill’s story reminds us that the heart of any success, whether on a soccer field or in the decentralized AI space, is people working together toward a shared goal. With sundae_bar and Subnet 121, she’s building an ecosystem to shape the future of AI agents. Want to join the movement? Connect with Jill and sundae_bar on X (@sundaebar_ai), Discord, or their newsletter (sundae-bar.beehiiv.com) to stay in the loop and get involved.
