About
I am a lifelong computer nerd who balances the desire to stay on the cutting edge with the need to build meaningful projects. I firmly believe that success is measured with dollars. A product is only successful if people open their wallets to pay for it.
Originally from New York and a graduate of Tufts University and Johns Hopkins University (MS in Business and Technology), I spent the early part of my career working at large consulting firms (Accenture, Grant Thornton) and eventually made my way across the country until I landed in San Francisco and joined my first startup.
Having experienced the heyday of the original 'dot com' mania and the back-to-basics period that followed the bust, I have always known that it is most practical to start companies as simply as possible, test the heck out of any critical assumptions, and -- if necessary -- fail quickly so the team can move on to finding products that people really do want -- pretty much exactly what the "Lean Startup" movement preaches.
The combination of my consulting background and the diverse set of roles I have played for a number of startups has allowed me to remain technical (still writing code in Python/Django, PHP, MySQL) while being comfortable working with C-Level executives or speaking to large global audiences (including speaking in front of over 1,000 people at a number of VMware events).
Being a co-founder of a company has to be one of the most challenging and yet most rewarding experiences I have had to date in my career. I wish I could say that my first venture followed the "hockey stick" growth chart all startups hope to take; but there still is tons of reward in grinding hard and turning a simple idea into a small success.
Check out some of the things I am working on and connect if you would like to work with me!
Current Projects
I am currently juggling a few projects while taking on consulting assignments as interesting projects come across my radar (have to keep the lights on at home). Here are some of the projects I am involved in currently (click the titles to navigate to corresponding websites):
Perkvine
The Frequent "Flyer" Program for Dining.
Perkvine was designed to help restaurant owners attract, reward and retain the best customers. Perkvine operates like a "frequent flyer" program and rewards members for keeping their business in the network. Perkvine Members love recognition, are loyal, and share their favorite restaurants with their peers.
| Title | CEO, Co-Founder |
|---|---|
| Roles |
|
| Technologies | PHP, MySQL, Drupal, HTML 5, CSS, jQuery, jQuery UI Tools |
ForteFive
A small project incubator that I started with a great group of guys. ForteFive was the launchpad for Perkvine and a number of small projects.
| Title | Co-Founder |
|---|---|
| Roles |
|
| Technologies | Python, Django, PHP, MySQL, HTML 5, CSS, jQuery, jQuery UI Tools |
8foldlabs
The Lean Startup Laboratory that was spawned out of a "Lean Startup Machine" 48-hour startup jam. Being Lean Startup believers, the team is currently in the process of testing the idea of the lab and seeing what products and services make the most sense for our skills and passions.
Consulting
Leveraging my years of pre and post sales management and my previous experience in building back-office integration to Salesforce.com, I am working with one client to provide business process re-engineering advice to help organize and build a repeatable and scalable sales process. I am working with a few other clients on various website and social media integration projects. One of those projects is a site that I recently built for a person running for City Council in Tulsa Oklahoma: Ken Brune for Tulsa City Council District 4 (PHP + Smarty). Another project is for a startup contract cGMP manufacturing company that specializes in the use of disposable technologies called Pristine Bioproduction (Python on Google App Engine).
I am also available for freelance technical projects including website design and hardcore coding. Here are some of the technologies that I "speak" fluently (in order of most recent usage):
- Python, Django, Google App Engine
- Photoshop (hacker level -- not "artist" level by any means)
- PHP, Smarty, MySQL, Symfony, Drupal, Joomla
- ASP.NET, C#, MS SQL Server
- Java, JSP, J2EE, JBoss, Weblogic, Oracle DB
Older Projects
As I mentioned above, I have had the privilege of working at a number of amazing companies and have been able to play a diverse set of roles. Here are some of the other companies I have worked for:
- GoingOn Networks — VP of Operations. Member of the senior management team responsible for all aspects of product and services quality, delivery and support.
- earthfaves AG — VP of US Operations (contract). Strategic and technical advisor to the founders. Assisted with the formulation of the go-to-market strategy for the earthfaves recommendation platform.
- PacketTrap Networks — VP of Operations. Responsible for internal and external systems and processes relating to sales and marketing. PacketTrap was purchased by Quest Software [NASDAQ: QSFT] in 2010.
- VMware — Evangelist for the Virtual Appliance initiative and helped recruit over 500 community and ISV build virtual appliances to the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace. [NYSE: VMW]
- Cast Iron Systems — Director of Advanced Solutions. Worked with all of Cast Iron's most important customers (British American Tobacco, Toyota, Motorola, etc) in locations all around the globe. Built the original Salesforce.com integration to the Cast Iron Integration Appliance. Cast Iron Systems was sold to IBM in 2010.
- Zaplet — Senior Solution Architect. Road warrior working with all of Zaplet's big customers in both pre and post sales technical consulting roles.
- Grant Thornton / Hitachi Consulting — Manager in the NetSolutions Practice. Managed a staff of 15 consultants across 20 client projects around the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Naviant Technology Solutions — Senior Systems Architect for an intranet based 1:1 marketing application that provided detailed analytics for over 2 million customers that was used by financial advisors at The Royal Trust of Canada.
- Accenture — Senior member of a technical team responsible for building two, large-scale Multimedia Goal-Based Business Simulations for GE Capital.
- VIPS — Founding member of the R&D Group tasked with architecting a client-server approach to handling offline data analysis of complex mainframe data (used for audit and compliance).
Charity Projects
I am firmly committed to charity work and have donated my time and energy for a number of projects with charities like Habitat for Humanity, Hidden Villa, Variety's Children's Charity and Playworks. I am particularly interested in working with children and frequently volunteer to work directly with underprivileged and special needs children.
C.O.R.E. International
More recently, I have joined forces with a number of friends to start C.O.R.E. International (Creating Opportunities through Rural Education). CORE recently received it's 501(c)(3) status and is gathering a number of educational projects that will be available on our site for people to sponsor. I am modeling the new version of http://coreinternational.org after DonorsChoose.org and KickStarter.com. We plan to allow schools and organizations around the world to propose projects that members of our site can sponsor.