Work

Making the most advanced liquid-cooling heat pump in the market, and unlocking grid capacity in the process. Working in CAD, DFM, Design, Product, Sales etc.

$12M raised, $10M+ in contracts. Wearing many hats, being a product, DFM, design, sales, and production guy. Vertically integrated down to the factory.

Highlights

• Making things that go boom.
• Mechanism guy, product guy, DFM guy, budget czar.
• Winning gov contracts and selling to largest developers in the nation.

Insights

• Hardware is hard, might as well be more ambitious.
• Still so many gaps in the US hardware supply chain.
• Avoid UL cert if you can. It will ruin your life.

Work

First hardware person as they entered the restaurant hardware space. Took the business to 1000+ restaurants and built an entire business arm. Went from 0 to $10M+ revenue. I led the hardware development, deployment, design and customer success.

Highlights

• Hundreds of printers bricked overnight. Total chaos. Visited angry customers in person and kept churn at zero.
• Out-negotiated Fortune 500s during the supply chain crisis.

Insights

• How to deploy complex hardware setup at scale.
• Always meet the customers where they are.
• Growth masks all issues, but culture can't be hidden.

Work

Part of a special project team at Zoox as a Technical Program Manager. An internal "task force", to increase the quality and output of the manufacturing operations. Worked with production, hardware, supply chain and quality teams to find inefficiencies and fix them.

Highlights

• Perhaps the best slide deck designer in the org.

Insights

• In large markets, execution speed matters less than staying alive through the downturns.

Work

Social Construct Co. was spun out of YC's internal research program. We set out to fix the way multifamily housing is built, using panelized parts and generative AI. A small team of 12 engineers built a 9-unit multifamily housing in Oakland within 2.5 years of inception.

I led supply chain and manufacturing, and spent every waking hour on the jobsite.

Highlights

• Near-miss as I flew down the stairs with heavy cabinetry. Earned a battle scar.
• Seven break-ins in three months. Fastest way to learn how to secure logistics.
• A little $1500 "stairclimber" robot literally saved the project.

Insights

• Factory-made systems break on the realities of the jobsite.
• Housing isn’t limited by technology, it’s limited by coordination.

Work

Solo-founder, backed by YC (W18). "Ikea 2.0" making customized furniture accessible and scalable for the D2C market. Shipped to over 1000 happy customers and made most of the first-time founder mistakes along the way.

Touched everything from brand, design, marketing, production and operations.

Highlights

• Switched manufacturers mid-production. Learned global supply chains the hard way.
• Spent months in overseas factories and supplier meetings. Picked up a few things.

Insights

• Kind Truths > Harsh Truths > Kind Lies.
• Always show up to the supplier. Deal with things in person. No substitution.

Work

Production engineering for final assembly - new vehicle launch. Designed production flows and commisioned equipments. Went from a junior to leading a line in short time, with some of the lowest downtime records.

Mastered the Toyota Production System spending countless hours in the factory. Launched RAV4, Corolla, RX350 and Tacoma across Canada, US, and Mexico.

Highlights

• Built a factory in Mexico during cartel unrest when no one else would. Came back with some wild stories.
• Daily ride: a bulletproof 4Runner. Security detail led by the OG Flash Gordon.
• Out-overworked the Japanese engineers. 2nd highest overtime in the whole company. Who was #1?!

Insights

• TPS is everywhere, and one of the most important inventions in manufacturing history.
• Genchi Genbutsu (Go and See): Always go to the source of the prolem.
• Working this environment humbles you. Ruthlessly prioritize.

Monogram

Helped design, prototype and DFM the orbital controller and controller module (2019).

Cue

Concept design for a dumbphone device (2023).