I’m a General Partner at Contrary and invest across all stages and sectors.
You can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and email.
Check out Contrary Research, the only equity research focused on private technology companies, and Startup Search, our startup job-seeking site.
There are several business I would like to incubate. If you’re looking to start a venture-scale company and are in search of cofounders or ideas, please reach out.
Writing
Below is a selection of posts I’ve written for my blog or major online publications from 2016-present. If you’re hit with a paywall, contact me and I can send a PDF.
Request for Statecraft technological innovation can’t solve all problems. The answer is better statecraft
What VCs Are Building in 2023 my TechCrunch article about how venture firms are evolving
The Veblen Economy how the global economy is “Veblenizing” as it industrializes
Nth Layer Investing a framework for investing with a focus on leading indicators, not lagging ones
First Principles Interviewing how to hire for insight rather than experience by asking the right questions
Opportunities (and challenges) in church tech part two of the church tech TC series
Jesus, SaaS, and Digital Tithing a TechCrunch article about the church tech market
Voodoo Games: Three Narrative Violations my TechCrunch piece about how Voodoo upends recent startup trends
Venture Investing in Eldertech my TechCrunch piece about trends and opportunities in eldertech
Creating Product Stickiness how businesses can become more defensible… out of thin air
Reinventing the Wheel why anti-tech pessimists think the way they do, and how to reverse-engineer that
Analyzing Venture Opportunities Part 2: Thinking About People a list of things to consider when evaluating or pitching a team
Why Ownership Graphs Matter hidden complexity in politics and an interesting idea
3 Questions on Tech Companies a few brief thoughts on moats, successful teams, and evaluating people
Competition Matters Less in Software what makes tech companies unique?
Senior: My Time at Umbrella some learnings from working at Umbrella
When Insiders Were Outsiders stories of people who hustled and struggled their way to where they are now
Notes on The Elephant in the Brain some context and notes on one of my favorite reads
Degrees of Freedom don’t make your startup’s gameplan needlessly complex
Go-To Essays and Books what I like to re-read and recommend
Simpson’s Paradox and Thinking Rationally in Venture Capital how empiricism and pattern recognition can go wrong
Analyzing Venture Opportunities Part 1: The Product and Market a list of things founders should always touch on when explaining their startup
The Flawed Economics of Robinhood: Why Users Are Better Off Without It the reasons why Robinhood’s business model is misaligned with users’ needs
A Clever Malware Tactic and Why There’s Nothing You Can Do About It how I came across an innovative scam
My App Marketing Story: 0 to 100k Downloads the strategy and tactics I used to successfully publish an Android app