done

things

Boxouse (YC W17) Co-Founder (with Heather Stewart). Made off-grid, open-source tiny homes out of shipping containers.

Outcome: built ~11 boxouses, achieved CA-wide approval as factory built housing, then ran out of money and open-sourced plans.

Y Combinator Director of Hardware.

Outcome: Helped YC become the best place to start a hardware company.

Edyn Garden (YC W14) Co-Founder. Invented a solar-powered, wifi-connected garden sensor.

Outcome: Made it to the finals at Techcrunch Disrupt, raised substantial capital from hardware-focused investors, and got into Y Combinator. After I left, Edyn performed a successful Kickstarter campaign and made it to the shelves of Home Depot.

Shop-In-A-Box Inventor. I designed and deployed a shipping-container-based, off-grid-capable, open-source factory.

Outcome: collaborated between microfactories in Oakland and rural Kenya, iterating on hardware *almost* as fast as software. Also did CNC plasma cutting on the Gates Foundation's deck and at Burning Man:)

Re:char: CTO. Sequestered carbon and improved yields on farms in Western Kenya by selling farmers a novel, affordable biochar kiln.

Outcome: Manufactured and deployed several hundred biochar kilns in rural Kenya.

Wetique: Co-founder. Built a website to rate your friends and receive better media recommendations.

Outcome: went from idea to working product in 3 months by teaching ourselves everything we needed to build an MVP. Realized we hadn't made something people wanted.

Dirtnail Pedicab Founder. Designed, built, and operated a fleet of 25 bicycle taxis.

Outcome: learned to weld, provided jobs for a bunch of dirtbag bicyclist friends, and grew enormous calves.

Make Magazine: Writer. Covered sustainability for Make Magazine's blog.

Outcome: convinced myself that people making impressive things are no different than any of us.

Garduino Inventor. Developed a hobbyist-friendly automated garden controller.

Outcome: bootstrapped and shipped ~100 DIY kits, teaching myself circuit design in the process.

Bazaarvoice Partnerships Director. Developed strategic integrations with other SAAS etail products.

Outcome: realized I'm not cut out for a desk job;)

travel

I've traveled extensively (every continent but Antarctica) and written a book about my adventures thus far.

background

  • UPenn Wharton'05 cum laude. Concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Information Systems.
  • Oldest of 5 children
  • Avid cyclist (steel, distance)
  • Philosophy: act utilitarianism
  • Funniest thing I have ever seen: a potato I shot 50 yards straight into the air landing squarely on my uncle's upturned face
  • Food: spicy, lots
  • Beer: IPAs, yes please
  • running, spearfishing, and the like

press

make sunsets

We launch reflective clouds that cool the world.

baja

I'm enjoying building... somethings in Baja.

finding me

email firstnameatfirstnamelastname.com

An idea I cannot get out of my head, and a couple dozen other things I'd like to build.