I launched my blog in January 2020 to reflect on my journey in the tech industry that began in 1996. That summer, I was 16 years old, and I accepted a summer internship in the City of Walnut Creek’s I.T. department. From there, I met a young engineer that introduced me to the early dot-com world and helped me obtain my first startup job at a San Francisco-based company at 19. Fast forward 20 years, and I have had the privilege of working at some of the “lucky ones” — startups that survived until maturation and paid back their investors many times over through either an IPO or an acquisition. Here is a quick summary of my background:
- I have sixteen years of experience in sales and fourteen years of experience working in various startup roles.
- I was one of the first employees at Sonos in 2005, growing a double-digit million business from scratch — a national sales lead for Sonos’s highest revenue sales channel by the end of 2011.
- In 2014 I joined FameBit as the Head of Brand Partnerships* (aka Sales), growing the sales division from scratch and generating enough revenue to fund its growth without external capital. Google acquired FameBit in October 2016.
- I have four years of experience working in Big-Tech (Google), post-acquisition, integrating FameBit, and scaling the business (now YouTube BrandConnect).
- I am an investor and advisor to multiple startups, helping with growth and sales strategy.
- I am a proud graduate of two U.C. schools: I have a Bachelor’s in Economics from UC Davis and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
- I live in Los Angeles, CA, with my wife, daughter, our poodle, Luna.
Over the past 24 years, I have seen many changes, made (and witnessed) a million mistakes, persevered, and learned a ton. I also obtained my MBA in my mid-career. Combined with my fourteen years of startup experience, I have a unique perspective on startup sales, marketing, and strategy. I wrote this blog to help other founders, startup sales managers, modern tech salespeople, and anyone who finds this subject interesting. I plan to post every week. I’d love to hear from you, and if you want to reach out, please email me at [email protected].
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” – Henry Ford
*By calling ourselves the “partnerships” team in 2014 at FameBit, rather than sales, we set the benchmark, and now every new media company refers to their sales teams as the “partnerships” team.