Off-stage
The same instinct, in a different rig.
I spent my early twenties on stage in front of thousands of people. Then I spent fifteen years on a different kind of stage — running revenue infrastructure in rooms where the audience is your CRO, your data engineers, and the systems you're trying to wire together. Both jobs are about reading a room and holding its attention long enough to land something useful.
Grew up in the mountains. Access to the outdoors teaches you a relationship with the planet you don't get anywhere else. That's the baseline I'm trying to give my kids in Teton Valley now.
Went to Arizona State as an exploratory major. Had a great time, made lifelong friends, learned a lot about myself — but realized I wasn't ready for school. Music was starting to pull harder; some good things were happening with the band and I couldn't ignore it.
Dropped out of Arizona State, moved to Seattle, paid dues in the music scene. Service industry by day, shows by night. Recorded our first album at Macklemore's studio. Played with Macklemore, Blackalicious, Grieves, and more. Toured the country. The Jackson connection meant we played a lot of TGR and ski industry premieres along the way.
Realized the music path was tapping out, went back to school at Indiana for sport communication. Big advocate of that program. Started shifting toward telecom and media — landed at Slingshot SEO before I'd even finished the degree.
Moved to Portland and started my career in earnest. Sharpened my teeth in agencies and startups — wearing every hat, shipping under real deadlines, learning how revenue actually gets built. That stretch is where the operator I am today got forged. More on the work side →
Live on a small farmstead with chickens, two young kids, and a wife who's the actual reason this all works. Still skiing. Still making music — played our first show in 15 years with Souls of Mischief in Jackson recently, and we have new material in the works. The kids spend their time learning to use their hands, getting outside, and watching the world rewire itself around AI.
Most of what I learned about crowd engagement on stage — reading energy, breaking through nerves, turning a set into a performance — translated directly into the operator seat. The audience changed. The instinct didn't.