Experience
I believe in design. Deliberate and thoughtful design is essential to effective communication whether on screen or in person.
As a startup operator, I've worked tirelessly to develop the skills that help me objectively evaluate teams and products and subjectively understand how networks can support or suppress growth.
In the past, I've co-authored 5 issued patents for the use of algorithms to detect and display photos based on a ranking system.
Work
OWNER at common grounds | 2018
Common Grounds is a new type of modern eatery, opening in Oakland’s KONO District in 2019.
Founder & CEO at propeller, inc. | 2013 - 2018
Propeller is an agile design and development consultancy specializing in mobile, web, VR, and connected technology applications. Our work spans enterprise and consumer tech and includes finance, productivity, fitness & health, media & social networks, commerce & mobile marketplaces, education, recruiting, enterprise, telematics.
Notable clients: Arup, Old Navy, HeartThis (Thumbtack), Cruise (GM), Worklife (Cisco), Mixpanel, Vision Critical, Corcoran, Credible, Teneo Holdings
HEAD OF PRODUCT AT LINEA PHOTOSHARING | 2013
Linea introduced a smarter photo viewing and storage experience on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices by analyzing photo data and creating beautifully organized stories in a patented mosaic display.
DIRECTOR at post+BEAM | 2012-2013
Post + Beam began as a traditional New York ad agency, but quickly morphed into a full-stack product ideation and implementation firm when it opened in San Francisco.
Notable clients: UBS, Guggenheim, Sephora, University of California, Amgas, HunterDouglas
Investing & Advising
CloudApp—Investor & Product Advisor (2015+)
Invested in the Seed Round of the productivity software company, which recently raised a Series A Round led by Adobe
AngelHack—Batch Advisor (2018+)
Advising companies for the AngelHack SF Hackathon, focused on pitch delivery and product usability design
Silicon Climate—Batch Advisor (2016+)
Advising environmentally-conscious technology startups, focused on product development and design mentorship
Free Ventures—Design Mentor & Batch Advisor (2015+)
Advising UC Berkeley’s premier startup incubator for 2 batches each academic year, focused on product development and design mentorship
Galvanize—Product & Design Mentor (2015+)
Advising for Galvanize’s internal mentorship program, focused on product development and design mentorship
General Assembly, DevBootCamp, Product School—Instructor & Lecturer (2014+)
Interim instructor and guest lecturer for several technology and startup school businesses for product design and development
Assisted in creating design best practices curriculum in User Experience and User Interface
Patents
RHYTHMIC MOSAIC GENERATION METHODS, APPARATUSES AND MEDIA
Patent date: Issued Aug 6, 2015 | Patent number:us 20150221117
A request to generate templates for a template set may be received. A template set member from the template set may be selected and the template set member’s dimensions may be determined based on an initial cut. A desired number of image tiles for the template set member may be identified, and templates having the desired number of image tiles may be generated for the template set member based on logical rules.
MOSAIC GENERATING PLATFORM METHODS, APPARATUSES AND MEDIA
Patent date: Issued Jul 3, 2014 | Patent number: us 20140185958
A group of images may be obtained. The number of images and dates associated with images in the group may be determined. Possible template configurations for the group of images may be determined based on the number of images and the dates associated with the images. A mosaic may be generated from the group of images in accordance with an optimal template configuration.
Tablet display screen with a graphical user interface
Patent date: Issued Dec 2, 2014 | Patent number: us D718776
Smart phone display screen with a graphical user interface
Patent date: Issued Dec 2, 2014 | Patent number: us D718778
Monitor display screen with a graphical user interface
Patent date: Issued Dec 23, 2014 | Patent number: us D719964
Education, Certifications & Competencies
UC Berkeley—Political Economics (2006–2010)
Co-founded largest on-campus club for technology and startups — Startup@Berkeley (2006)
Attended 2 semesters of UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) at Beijing Normal University — Chinese Mandarin (2008)
CSLB—General B Contractor #1043644 (2018)
Software & Tools
Design — Sketch.app, Adobe XD, Adobe Photoshop
Prototyping — Invision, Adobe XD, Marvel, Origami
Production/Assets — Sketch.app, Zeplin
Project Management — Pivotal Tracker, Trello, JIRA
Design Experience
Market & Competitive Research
Stakeholder & User Interviews
Personas & Core User Flows
LoFi Information Architecture
High Fidelity User Interface
Conclusory Sprint Interviews
Design Patterns & Style Guide
Project Management Experience
Apply Agile Process (SCRUM/Kanban)
Organize Sprint Release Schedule
Conduct IPMs (Iteration Planning)
Handle Inter-Departmental Priorities