About Me

My first tech job happened by chance when a membership association in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia needed someone to manage their "Internet stuff." I didn't know anything about internet technologies, but it was the late 90s and knowing almost anything about computers made you an "internet guru" (we were big into gurus, ninjas, and other cultural appropriative titles back then 🤦).

That initial dive into tech ignited something in me. While teaching myself everything I needed to know to be semi-competent, I discovered a passion for design. Riding the wave of the dot-com boom, I leveraged this newfound enthusiasm to land a role as an Interaction Designer at LivePrint, an online printing startup down the street. We were living the dot-com dream: working out of a converted car dealership, eating unlimited peanut M&Ms and going on VC-funded offsites to "strategize." We took on funding from Kinkos, built out their Internet-powered products, and were convinced that one day we'd buy this company called FedEx to extend our reign (narrator: it did not happen that way). The dot-com bust dried up our limitless supply of M&Ms and all of our jobs.

I escaped the dot-com bust by moving across the country for a job at (the then still relevant) Yahoo. I was completely underqualified to play in the big leagues, and I am eternally grateful that they gave me a chance. I think of my time at Yahoo as my graduate education in technology. During my tenure, I got to work on their Enterprise products (including a very cool proto-Slack with a lock-emoji mascot), led design for Yahoo! Messenger, learned the basics of product management, and was responsible for overseeing design for Communication & Communities products. I made some of my closest friends at Yahoo but saw the writing on the wall and knew that I didn't want to be the last one there turning out the lights on my way out.

Looking for a new challenge, I joined the executive team trying to rebuild AOL after its spinout from Time Warner. I led a small team responsible for refocusing the company on building consumer-centric products by fixing the struggling product management and UX functions. Instead of merely preaching the gospel of consumer-centric products, we acted as product managers, designers (and sometimes developers) for strategic projects across the company including redesigning TechCrunch.

The experience of trying to rebuild the AOL battleship while navigating choppy waters was invaluable, but it also made me realize I needed a change of pace from big corporate environments. This realization kicked off my string of adventures leading product at high-growth startups. First came Hightail (formerly YouSendIt), where we transformed a simple file-sharing service into a full collaboration platform. That led to FutureAdvisor, where I got to scratch my itch to learn more about finance while building white-labeled robo-advisor technology that was acquired by BlackRock. My next stop was Lyra Health, which gave me the opportunity to go deeper into the intersection of mental health and technology.

Then the pandemic hit, and it sparked an epiphany. After spending two decades building products and leading teams at companies of all sizes, I realized that the most rewarding part of my job wasn't launching new features or hitting metrics (though those were pretty fun too). It was helping other leaders grow and succeed. Now, I get to do what I love most: helping product and design leaders navigate their own journeys. I've had the privilege of working with leaders from more than 60 companies, ranging from fresh-faced first-time managers to seasoned executives who've been around the block a few times.

I currently live in San Francisco and outside of work and spending time with my family, I watch way too many movies, listen to too many hours of podcasts, and read too many newsletters and books.

If you aren't sold on contacting me to schedule a trial session, maybe my wonderful teenage daughter's testimonial will convince you: "Um ... I guess he's competent at his job ... What do you even need this for anyway? What do you mean: just answer the question?!"