Like any good entrepreneur, the path I have followed has been generally diverse and at times extremely focused. I began my career in the entertainment industry. Based largely on the inefficiencies I found in that business it became obvious to me that my mission was to take large scale complex problems, reduce them to their most basic components, and build solutions that reduced complexity.
The first problem I tackled was that of digital video editing and compression in the days where CD-ROMS were the content delivery medium of choice. Next, I turned my attention to the challenge of helping companies, large and small, make the transition from the analog economy to the digital economy. In the early days of the Internet it was not obvious how best to use this new communications tool. I found OpticNerve, Inc. for the purpose of providing comprehensive marketing, sales, user interface, and application design/prototype consulting to businesses primarily in the technology sector.
In the mid-1990’s I became very interested in the concepts and challenges of security on the Internet, particularly focusing my attention on the complexities of email. I identified some key security problems within SMTP that ultimately resulted in the development of the Sender Address Verification (SAV), Silverlisting, and other concepts related to the security of email communications. The result of this work culminated with the creation of Sendio, Inc. Sendio’s mission was to “Secure email one inbox at a time.”
The Sendio experience was a wild ride. I took the company from zero employees, zero customers, and zero revenue to 40 employees, 600+ enterprise customers (over 125K protected inboxes), 98% customer retention, and ~$3M in gross annual revenue of which nearly $1.5M was recurring. While at Sendio I raised ~$9M in venture capital, traveled throughout North America working with partners, and spoke with thousands on the topic of Internet security.
For the last 18 months I have directed the majority of my attention towards understanding the compelling synergies between the Internet, social media, and mobile computing. Since my departure from Sendio I found Killer App Factory, Inc. Through KAF I have been speaking, writing, and consulting on social/mobile/Internet convergence and have been developing mobile (iPhone/Android) applications.
I am a creator of things and the companies required to bring them to market. I am a hands-on person with deep, current, and relevant expertise working at all phases of corporate development. I am a sales, marketing, product development and business development person by day, and a software engineer by night.