Story open
I started coding when I was 12. And like many of my successful friends, it started with Minecraft. I built Minecraft server plugins in Java, but back then, it didn't feel like "software". I just liked making things exist.
In high school, I thought the clubs I tried (QuizBowl, SciOly, Track) were boring, so I started a nonprofit instead. We built our own programs and raised over $120,000 for people experiencing homelessness in MPLS, even during COVID. That was probably my first real lesson in ownership: if something should exist, you should start building it.
Around the same time as starting the nonprofit, I joined a small consulting firm. There, I worked closely with a bright team on interesting projects, including a patient-facing application for UHG. It was exciting and my first real job, but after a while, I burned out on the version of tech I was practicing.
That burnout led me to step away from coding for a bit. I drove a box truck for a local food shelf, picked up donated food from grocery stores, moved almost 20 tons of food a week, learned to drive a forklift, and (separately) worked as a valet, where I became serious about parking cars well. It wasn't the obvious path, but the feedback (and consequences) were immediate.
For a while, I thought maybe I was supposed to be less technical. So, I tried supply chain, and then consulting at Deloitte. But after 2 summers, almost 3 years, it was so clear. The best feeling still came from building something from scratch. It's crazy that I didn't see it sooner.
After accepting Deloitte's return offer, I changed my mind. I joined my friend's startup, Refine, where I worked on the core search ML. Later, I joined BountyLab, where we built one of the largest maps of the developer world and studied how software, talent, and attention move through networks of builders.
I care about ownership, ideas, and execution. I like people who build before they feel ready, and take their own ideas seriously enough to make them real.