Graham Andrew Dugoni (born November 24, 1986, in Portland, Oregon) is an American entrepreneur and former soccer player who is the founder of Yondr, a mobile phone device company. He had previously played collegiate and semi-professional soccer.[1][2][3][4][5]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Graham Andrew Dugoni | ||
| Date of birth | (1986-11-24) November 24, 1986 (age 35) | ||
| Place of birth | Portland, Oregon, United States | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2005–2008 | Duke Blue Devils | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010 | Portland Timbers U23s | 12 | (0) |
| 2010 | Mjøndalen | 8 | (1) |
| 2011 | Charleston Battery | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of April 9, 2011 | |||
Dugoni was born in Portland, Oregon. His father was a physician who graduated from Duke University in 1976 and his mother a homemaker. Dugoni graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Duke University in 2009. He worked at a ranch in Wyoming during the summer, where he got a foot injury that kept him from playing soccer for a while. He later taught English in Vietnam and worked in finance in Portland and Atlanta, which he said he had "zero interest in".[6][7]
Dugoni attended Jesuit High School, where he played both soccer and American football (as a placekicker). He was a member of the 2004 NSCAA Youth and EA Sports All-America teams, was named to the All-Star team at the prestigious adidas Elite Soccer Program (ESP), and was a member of the Region IV Olympic Development Program and Super-Y Regional Olympic Development Program teams before going in to play four years of college soccer at Duke University. He played 56 games in his career, tallying three goals and an assists for seven points.
During his college years Dugoni also played with Portland Timbers U23s in the USL Premier Development League, helping them win the PDL National Championship in 2010.[8]
Dugoni turned professional in 2010 when he signed for Norwegian club Mjøndalen of the Adeccoligaen.[9] He made his professional debut, and scored his first professional goal, on November 7, 2010, in a game against Nybergsund.
Dugoni returned to the United States in 2011. After impressing at open tryouts, Dugoni was invited into camp by Charleston Battery of the USL Professional Division, and played in the Carolina Challenge Cup. He signed for the team on March 23, 2011.[10]
Dugoni founded Yondr in 2014 after attending Treasure Island Music Festival in 2012 and witnessing a drunk man dancing with a couple concertgoers filming him. He started questioning the impact of such on freedom of expression and designed the Yondr pouch, which has a magnetic security tag that can be unlocked with a device. After raising $100,000 from friends and family, the company became profitable and he started consulting with his local hardware store as well as a seamstress with prototypes. He would later visit schools in San Francisco. Since the invention of this pouch, many artists, school districts and even courthouses have utilized it.[11]