Dad.
Husband.
Product guy.
Likes building things.
Now ๐
Co-founder at POPSMASH using AI to help Shopify brands personalize marketing and recommend the perfect products to grow conversions (CVR), order value (AOV), and slash returns.
Why now? AI gives us all a generational opportunity to reinvent every industry. This is especially true in industries where incumbents predicated on pre-AI assumptions can’t adapt without destroying their current business. At POPSMASH, we’re starting with the sliver that’s possible today, anticipating the rate of AI improvement will catch up to our needs tomorrow. Read more โ
Current hobby ๐ค
I’ve been working on various AI products over the last year, so I’d like to understand better how AI works at a fundamental level.
To help, I’m re-learning math and working up to the math for machine learning course with Math Academy, a startup founded by a friend.
About me ๐
- Grew up in California
- Have B.A., M.S., and M.B.A.
- Served in the Marines for 8 years
- Spent 2 years in Iraq & Afghanistan on combat deployments operating on small embedded teams
- Left the Marine Corps as a Captain to found a startup (journey)
- 10+ years working remotely
- Love business & strategy
- Invest in equities & real estate
About my family ๐จโ๐ฉโ๐งโ๐ฆ
Talks ๐๏ธ
- Growing WordPress by Reducing Complexity & Fragmentation – WordCamp Phoenix 2020
- The Future of WordPress: Reducing Fragmentation & Complexity – WordCamp Long Beach 2019
Things I’ve built ๐ทโโ๏ธ
POPSMASH – 2024
We use AI to help Shopify brands personalize marketing and recommend products to grow CVR & AOV.
A Social Sweepstakes App – 2020
A free app to help people run giveaways on social networks I built with a friend. It uses NLP to pick the right post, then generates and tracks the campaign. It has over 10,000 users today and continues to grow, though we haven’t touched it in a couple of years (now that’s quality!).
GymProxy – 2019
A curated site of workout-from-home content, which primarily included VR workouts. I got this idea after getting an Oculus Quest while on paternity leave. Unfortunately, I got bored with this project just months before the COVID pandemic started. #timing
GiftMacro – 2019
Give the Perfect Gift in 60 Seconds: Stress-free, hassle-free, time-saving gift giving for every occasion. I built this for fun while on paternity leave as an extension of my wife’s retail store. TL;DR customers could fill out a form describing the person and occasion. Then the staff would use their expertise to put together a gift package. This showed promise, but I lost interest.
Gutenberg Challenge – 2019
A microsite to help WordPress users get educated and confident enough to try Gutenberg, the new WordPress editor/data model. I shared very early thoughts on Gutenberg here before it was live in core.
WordPress Cape Cod – 2018
A local WordPress meetup group on Cape Cod with 400+ members. We met in person until COVID when we switched to Zoom. I stepped away as lead organizer in 2022.
WPlnk – 2018
A WordPress-specific URL shortener. Get readable, speakable, shareable WordPress links in seconds. Unsurprisingly it became a spam magnet, so I shut it down.
ProfitPress – 2018
A free resource to help current and aspiring web professionals learn to earn money with WordPress.
Ship Yo’ Self – 2017
A fake logistics company for an MBA project. Slogan: Shipping so fast you’ll ship yo’ self. Ship everything, ship everywhere: Ship bricks, ship pants, ship yourself. The professor didn’t think it was as funny as I did.
EasyDocs – 2017
EasyDocs: Simple Documentation Software. The app allows users to create documentation sites in 60 seconds. I built this app over Thanksgiving break to experiment with a few new concepts and technologies.
Cogly – 2016
Small project experimenting with React, Redux, and WP REST API WordPress theme, subscriptions using Memberful and AI autogenerated post summaries. Cogly shared curated articles daily, auto-posting to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Medium, and a Medium Publication.
RealtyMotor – 2014
Automated lead gen platform for real estate professionals with a website builder, CRM & email marketing automation. I joined as CTO/Cofounder and rebuilt the platform, website provisioning system & template engine.
A Smart Kid – 2014
A microsite with curated content to cultivate intellectual curiosity in kids. Slogan: Making Makers.
To Duh – 2014
A simple to-do list extension for Gmail. Because you’re not an entrepreneur until you try to build another to-do list app, amirite?
Room Splitting – 2013
Weekend project app that helps conference attendees save money by finding others to split hotel rooms with.
Just Add Content – 2013
My first ‘real’ startup made it easy for small businesses to create websites and automate parts of their business (think Wix meets Zapier). Getting my first paying customer was magical, but my approach was too broad to be effective. I should have narrowed my focus to a specific industry. Thankfully, I was able to repurpose the code and infrastructure in exchange for equity at my next startup.
Mays Financial – 2009
I was working towards becoming a financial advisor to help people make better financial decisions. While studying for my CFP certification, I read dozens of books, learned a lot, and wrote many articles on what I learned. These articles became the foundation of this project. But then I deployed to Afghanistan for 1 year, which put my life on a different course.