Hey, I’m JK 👋 welcome to my little corner of the internet.
Quote on my mind lately:
“You’re under no obligation to be the same person you were 5 minutes ago.” – Alan Watts
About
I am on a mission to live a fun, interesting, and meaningful life and to help others do the same. Currently I am doing that by 1) building software that solves my own problems (e.g. IPOs.fyi) 2) pursuing a clinical master’s program in therapy 3) coaching & AI consulting 4) investing in startups reducing toil and suffering.
Before this, I chased founder status. I started a healthcare technology company and shut it down due to lack of PMF. I wasted a lot of time in the “idea maze” trying to find a startup idea that would be successful. I then met a co-founder and started an AI company in the employee benefits space. We built a product, raised money, and got customers. I had achieved my dream of running a VC backed company but something felt wrong. On the outside things were going well but on the inside, I was the unhappiest I’d ever been and it started to affect my mental health, my marriage, my relationships, and much more. While doing cold outreach for my business, I accidentally stumbled upon a therapist that changed my life (at the time I believed therapy was bullshit – ironic, eh?) and it became clear to me that I was chasing the wrong things and was wrong about the ingredients of what I wanted in my life. So I decided to leave and figure out what living a meaningful life meant to me.
Before all of that, I led engineering teams at Affirm building the next generation of financial technology within the new product accelerator. We built the first version of the Affirm Card and a crypto product. Prior to that, I led the Solutions Architecture function defining and building new technology and integrations for the biggest retailers in the world. It was a blast going from 400 to 2400 employees in 3 years! Before Affirm, I spent 1.5 years at Engagio (acquired by Demandbase).
I graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in Cognitive Science (Computational Modeling and Data Science).
My pillars of wellbeing are:
- Physical health: gym, dojo, and high quality vegetarian protein
- Purpose: reducing suffering
- Family: both the one I grew up in and the one I’m building with my wife
- Spirituality: God, meditation and breathwork, calmness and awe
- Social health: friends and fun
I invest in and build companies working on important problems that reduce suffering out of Window Ventures.
Reach out
- If you’re an entrepreneur: I can help you build a company grounded in purpose and meaning and support you with engineering and fundraising along the way.
- If you’re seeking a meaningful career in tech: I can suggest (and answer questions about) great startups, review your resume, make intros, negotiate offers, etc.
- If you’re thinking “what should I do with my life?” or thinking through a big decision and trying to getting unstuck. I draw inspiration from many philosophical, psychological, and business perspectives that I’ve been told brings a good balance of inspiring, affirming, and no bullshit.
You can grab some time to chat with me here.