I love building things at scale that allow people to have a more connected and interesting existence. I believe in the promise of the Internet and the importance of constraints. I am currently fascinated with the psychology of anticipation, marketplace ecosystems, empathetic communication mediums, data informed decision making and functional business models. I've also negotiated major deals with some of the largest companies in music. I'm a monster truck and live music enthusiast (together or separate).
I was the CEO of SonicLiving, a company I founded and recently sold which connected millions of people through a massive shared RSVP system. I started SonicLiving after spending 7 years at Pixar, building systems for IT and film production. I sold SonicLiving to BandPage where I spent just over a year doing with Business Development. I'm also a founder of the SF Embassy which started as a community of 150 people in the middle of Austin during the past three years of SXSW. I'm now heading up the SF Embassy for Iceland Airwaves this Fall.
Beyond communication, team building and product skills, I've also built many systems with HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, UNIX, ImageGD, Javascript and more. I've built After Effects RenderFarms and massive IT infrastructure. I'm crazy good at building complex spreadsheets and have strong design sensibilities. I'm also very skilled at Photoshop and have recently been exploring the world of iPhone image compositing and manipulation.
Oversaw the integration of SonicLiving technology and partnerships into BandPage. Played a key role in launching BandPage's Data Platform and Artist Experiences initiatives in the areas of both product positioning and go-to-market strategy.
Launched the Pandora Concert Calendar powered by BandPage
Launched Múm's sold-out $1,500 fan experience for which the band composes a new song from a fan's content and has it pressed to one-off vinyl
Personally conceived of and coded the first concert site to make recommendations based on listening habits. Successfully raised major financing and pivoted into the one of the largest event platforms in the music industry.
SonicLiving pioneered new forms of building anticipation and engagement around events - from global releases of content, to television events to concerts.
After raising financing the SonicLiving team grew to world-class talent including a former Director of Engineering for Digg and a lead data-taxonomy expert from Yahoo. Several SonicLiving members are at BandPage today holding key positions.
The success of SonicLiving was largely built on a deep understanding of new forms of user engagement, massive music data mapping, event information extraction from websites and data feeds, navigation of the politics and needs of music and entertainment industry stakeholders, and exploration of the psychology of anticipation.
Pandora, Live Nation, Universal Music Group, BandPage, American Idol, Another Planet Entertainment
Lady Gaga's Born This Way Largest music event in Facebook history
Outside Lands Music Festival Highest online engagement by music festival attendees
Self-funded from 2006 through 2010
Raised 1.5 Million from O'Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures & Steamboat Ventures
Sold to BandPage in April 2012
Created a new position at Pixar whose mission was to make tools which eliminated unnecessary process and make the work people do more valuable. Personally conceived of and coded a tool to called Foundin' which streamlined asset management for artists and allowed them to focus more on making art. Foundin' was used in production for 4 years and its replacement took a team of 5 nearly a year to create.
The success of Foundin' was largely built on the decision to mold tools around existing working styles and leveraging new technology for handling file metadata and image manipulation. The web application and API development allowed integration into everything from Pixar's internal wiki to Apple's iPhoto.
Lead Pixar's OS X deployment and maintenance platform and co-created Metro which revolutionized OS X administration. Metro became the model for how many other enterprises handled deployment and is still functionally in use today at Pixar.
The success of Metro was largely built on leveraging the brand new UNIX underpinnings in Mac OS X, exploiting every nook-and-cranny of Apple's limited enterprise management tools, and applying administration principles from Pixar's Linux infrastructure.
Pixar: 20 Years of Animation at the MoMA After Effects Renderfarm Architect, 2005
Apple World Wide Developer Conference Keynote Speaker, 2003
O'Reilly Media Mac OS X Con Speaker, 2003
Running Mac OS X Panther Technical Editor, 2003
Created a tech and music community which hosted 150 people in an 11-unit condo during SXSW from 2010 to 2012. Globally expanded the SF Embassy to Reykjavik for the Iceland Airwaves Music Festival in 2013. The community created was so fertile that several business deals transpired, a major company was launched and two couples who met there are still together.
World Beard and Mustache Championships 2003 Placed 6th in the first-ever sideburn category
Milk Spice's Spice Rack Spice Girls haiku site from '96 with mentions by Playboy and MTV
Film Credits Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille
Impromptu Jambox Street Parties Inspired hundreds of unsuspecting people to start singing and dancing in California, New York, Texas, Utah, England, Mexico, Iceland, France, and Canada.
