From Farm Boy to Tech Exec to Founder

I needed a vinyl cutter cable in a remote South African village for a business I was starting.

So I downloaded a schematic from the glacial African internet and went to a grease-caked township mechanic and convinced him to let me dig through his box of junk cables.

I found one, took it back to our village, and rewired it to match the schematic. It worked, the vinyl cutter worked, business started. ✊

I grew up in Kansas doing farm work, got cancer at 18 and beat it with nutrition, then traveled the world solving important problems and climbing the ranks of the tech industry.

Now I’m focusing my 40s-100s on building products that bring out the best in humanity and making evidence-based content on business science.

I’m an ex Meta IC7 Product Designer and worked on Instagram and Oculus. Also ex Head of Design at Cameo and Greenfly.

I live in Mountain View, CA with my wife Irene Cho.

What I Believe

Evolve or die. The only constant in the universe is change. Learn to do it quick and well.

We need people who love service not celebrity, who love purpose, not popularity.

AI is a new tool just like the wheel, the hammer, the car, the plane. Learn to use it.

Effectiveness is the new currency, and transparency is the differentiator.

Who I Am

I’m a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with mucoepidermoid carcinoma when I was 18 and had 3 months to live. I’m now 20 years in remission.

I love solving complex problems and never give up.

I grew up poor in the Kansas countryside, lived 10 years in South Africa and Los Angeles, and recently moved to the Bay Area.

My Swiss-Austrian family immigrated to the United States in the 1800’s and became farmers, which is very entrepreneur-y.