Work
Mewn Media
For the last 5 years I’ve been on/off consulting for large tech companies under my consultancy, Mewn. With past clients that include Ankr and Kadena, as well as a bunch of startups in between.
At Mewn I help companies build larger communities, align their messaging and narratives, and get people excited about their upcoming initiatives. Every company is different and every company requires unique solutions, which we do our best to provide. From go to market strategies, partnerships, launches, and events. Learn more at www.mewn.org
City Ships
City Ships converts retiring cruise ships into permanently docked residential properties. I started working on the idea in 2015 while researching overlooked solutions to housing. It’s been a long journey for City Ships, but we’re getting closer and closer to our goal turning cruise ships into affordable housing complexes. We’re looking forward to bringing the first City Ship to market by late 2021 or early 2022.
Akash
I spent 2017 learning about crypto currencies and building a distributed computing company in the space, The Akash Network.
Akash is a Hybrid Cloud Service Provider that allowed you to pay the lowest possible rate for AI Compute. We allow any cloud service provider (AWS, Azure, Packet, etc) to sell computing power on our platform, where developers purchase service at the lowest spot rate. That’s the simple version, the technical part is that none of these providers work well together and we automated the DevOps work to allow clients to move between providers in real time depending on who has the lowest price. The end result is a new SuperCloud Service Provider that is up to 90% cheaper than standard AWS services with around same quality of service.
We built Akash in 2017, but investors never came. We threw the parties, gave the talks, and eventually launched the product, but for some reason, it never inspired the right people. Then in 2020, AI started getting hot and by 2023 we were almost a billion dollar company! I wish I could say I stayed for the whole ride, but I departed long again and am thankful that we made it as far as we had.
vr worldwide
I spent much of 2016 and early 2017 learning about the VR industry and eventually building VR Worldwide. VRW is an entertainment company that builds VR Arcades, VR Arcade Operating Software, and VR Arcade games, all of which are on display in our VR Arcades. I built the company with my good friend Ben Taller, although neither one of us currently work in the company, as our investors thought they would do a better job running it then us.
VR Worldwide is still in operation today and is the largest VR Entertainment center in the US. As of mid-2018, we’ve raised over $5,000,000 in venture funding and are expanding the concept internationally.
A Better San Francisco
I spent most of 2014 and 2015 learning about homelessness and starting my first non-profit organization, A Better San Francisco. ABSF was a community group that I used to launch most of my non-profit initiative work including the Homeless Solutions Town Hall, ShelterTech, and Transition Centers.
Many of the things my team and I researched led us to discovering new solutions to affordable housing and in many ways, culminated in my current company, CommuniShip. You can learn more about my work with ABSF on my Non-profit work page.
AngelHack // Hackathon.io // HACKcelerator
In 2011, I moved to San Francisco with big tech dreams and started AngelHack, an hackathon events company, which scaled to being the largest hackathon organizer in the world. From 2011-2013 I launched AngelHack Hackathons across 50 cities around the world with over 100,000 developers attending my events.
At the same time, I built Hackathon.io, an online hackathon organization tool, and HACKcelerator, an global accelerator program for top AngelHack hackathon teams that wanted to build companies out of their hackathon projects. Hackathon.io was sold to AngelHack when I left in 2013 to build something else, which unfortunately didn’t work out like I planned.
AngelHack still produces the top rated hackathons in the world today for MasterCard, Paypal, EOS, QTUM, and dozens of other corporate clients. Our HACKcelerator program has also helped over 100 teams launch companies some of which have gone on to raise millions of dollars before selling to Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others.
Phone Nurses
I spent 2008-2011 building one of the first smart-phone repair businesses with my sisters friend, Ari Meltzer. Ari and I were super early to the phone repair business and if we were smarter, we could have built a huge company out of it like IBreakYouFix. However, we didn’t anything other than how to watch YouTube videos on how to fix phones, buy cheap supplies from China, and post CraigsList ads to get clients.
We built Phone Nurses into a great life-style business, but after a few years I could tell I didn’t know how to scale the company and packed my bags to move out to San Francisco and learn how to use technology to make more scalable products.
Weekend Gator
In 2007, I built Weekend Gator, a bus company that went from Gainesville, FL (UF Gators) to South Florida on the weekends. Similar to Bolt Bus, Weekend Gator sold tickets and made multiple stops in cities where there was demand. We were widely loved by the student body at University of Florida and if you were there in 2007, you probably remember us.
After 6 months of operations my partner made me an offer I couldn’t refuse and I sold Weekend Gator to him. He owned the buses and saw all the money that could be created and basically forced me out of the company. It sucked. He later sold Weekend Gator and his bus company for $50,000,000, which was CONSIDERABLY higher than what I sold Weekend Gator to him for.
Elite Promotions
In 2005 I started my first real company, Nocturnal Promotions, a nightclub and advertising company at the University of Florida. Not only was Nocturnal my first company, it was my first events company, something I would have a knack for (producing and promoting) my entire life. Together with my best friend AJ we threw some of the greatest parties at what was considered at the time, the #1 party school in the country.
Nocturnal eventually rebranded to Elite. And we eventually purchased a party bus. And a nightclub. And I left real quick because living that life was CRAZY! Still, those were some great years and I’m still best friends with AJ to this day.