Startups & Engineering
A collection of posts about building and scaling technical startups, drawing from my experiences as both a founder and technical leader. These articles cover everything from engineering methodologies to team building and technical decision making.
From Theory to Practice: Building Real Decision Models with Petersburg
A practical guide to modeling complex decisions with Monte Carlo simulation using petersburg, featuring real case studies from startups and drug development.
Angel Portfolio Cira 2021-2023 Update
A narrative walkthrough of notable developments across my angel portfolio from 2021-2023, including Scout Space, Jericho, and Flex.
Management Technical Debt: The Hidden Costs of Quick Fixes
How shortcuts in engineering management create organizational patterns that seem efficient short-term but compound into major problems.
Metrics That Actually Matter (And the Ones That Don't)
Why most startup dashboards are full of vanity metrics that feel important but don't drive better decisions, and what to track instead.
The Efficiency Trap: When Optimization Kills Growth
How the post-2022 obsession with operational efficiency is creating a generation of companies that are profitable but can't grow - and what to do about it.
The Passive Resistance Problem: When Good Employees Go Quiet
How to recognize and address the subtle but devastating pattern when long-term employees comply with directives but stop delivering meaningful results.
Integrated Venture Engineering: Building Profitable Ventures by Design
How Cornell's IVE framework applies systems engineering principles to venture creation, treating profitability as an engineering requirement from day one.
The Three Pillars of Product Success: Why Good Ideas Still Fail
Why products need to be technically feasible, perceived as valuable, and actually valuable to succeed - and what happens when any piece is missing.
The Speed-Quality Paradox: When Fast Decisions Kill Startups
Navigating the tension between making decisions quickly and making them well-understanding when speed matters most and when quality can't be compromised
Data-Driven Decisions vs. Data-Justified Decisions
The difference between using data to discover truth and using data to support conclusions you've already reached, and why most companies get this backwards.
Build-Measure-Learn: Faster Decisions, Smarter Products
Explore Lean Startup's Build-Measure-Learn cycle. Learn how this feedback loop (MVP -> Metrics -> Pivot/Persevere) revolutionizes product development.
Finding Your World-Class Niche
Align your unique skills, passion, and market needs to find your world-class niche. Discover how focus creates unmatched value and advantage.
Exploring EOS: A Guide to the Entrepreneurial Operating System
Explore the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and its six key components: vision, people, data, issues, process, and traction. EOS helps businesses thrive.
The Art of Design in Technical Startups
Examining how design influences communication and success in tech companies, from customer touchpoints to brand perception and product development.
The Invisible Hand of Startup Culture
An in-depth exploration of how company culture shapes interactions, role boundaries, and trust in technical startups, influencing success and growth.
The Startup Leadership Guide
A comprehensive guide to startup leadership, drawing from years of experience and insights in organizational design, decision making, and technical leadership.
Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Lessons from Practice
Explore decision-making under uncertainty using concepts beyond expected value, like the St. Petersburg Paradox and cost of exploration in startups.
Atlanta VC Directory
A directory of Venture Capital firms and investors in Atlanta, connecting entrepreneurs with funding opportunities to support the local startup ecosystem.
Science vs. Engineering in Startups: A Tale of Two Methodologies
Examining how scientific and engineering methodologies intersect in tech startups, and why traditional project management approaches need rethinking.
Startup Structure and Information Flow
Framework for structure & info flow in early-stage startups. Understand core roles (Eng, Sales, Mgmt, Product) & managing the science vs. engineering divide.
Investment Review: Scout Space Systems
Reviewing my angel investment in Scout Space Systems, focusing on their alignment with my investment thesis and their unique value in space technology.
Investment Review: Jericho Security
Review of my angel investment in Jericho Security, focusing on their AI-powered security training and its alignment with my enterprise cybersecurity thesis.
Investment Review: Switchyards
A review of my angel investment in Switchyards, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition in community workspace.
Investment Review: DeepSentinel
Reviewing my angel investment in DeepSentinel. Exploring their fit with my thesis, unique AI-powered security value proposition, and hybrid human-AI approach.
Investment Review: Seer.ai
A review of my angel investment in Seer.ai, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition in AI-powered analytics.
Investment: Cambrium Bio
Angel investment review: Cambrium Bio. Exploring their synthetic biology platform for sustainable luxury materials and alignment with my investment thesis.
Investment Review: Beyond Aero
Reviewing my Beyond Aero angel investment. See how their hydrogen private aircraft align with my climate tech thesis focusing on luxury-first market strategies.
Investment Review: Alga Biosciences
A review of my angel investment in Alga Biosciences, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition.
Investment Review: Semicab
A review of my angel investment in Semicab, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition.
Investment Review: The Essential (formerly Move.co)
A review of my angel investment in The Essential, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition in the relocation space.
Investment Review: Homeroom
A review of my angel investment in Homeroom, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition.
Investment Review: Flexbase
A review of my angel investment in Flexbase Technologies, exploring how they align with my investment thesis and their unique value proposition.
Introducing My Angel Investing Journey
Explore my approach to angel investing, covering syndicates, SPVs, my investment thesis, and criteria for selecting early-stage companies to invest in.
Reflecting on 2018: A Year of Growth and Transitions
Reflecting on 2018. Predikto''s acquisition by United Technologies, the winding down of PedalWrencher, and the continued growth of Category Encoders.
Exit Interviews in Startups
Exit interviews are crucial for startups. Discover methods to gather honest feedback, identify systemic issues, and enhance retention from departing employees.
Building an Engineering Team Around Ownership
Clear ownership, not just cross-functional talent, defines high-performing engineering teams. Learn how role boundaries prevent micromanagement & build respect.
Journalism and the Perfect Pitch Deck
How the principles of journalism can be applied to create more effective startup pitch decks, using the 5 W's and 1 H framework.
Market-Product fit vs Product-Market fit
An exploration of the differences between market-product fit and product-market fit, and how to determine which path is right for your startup.
CyberLaunch: An Accelerator for Machine Learning Companies
Explore CyberLaunch, Atlanta's accelerator for machine learning and info security startups, its program details, and its impact on the local startup ecosystem.
Solving Inherent Stickiness in SaaS: The Power of Convexity
Explore how SaaS products achieve true stickiness through convexity and integrated offerings, creating competitive advantages beyond exit barriers.
Exploring Angel Investing: Insights and Strategies
Insights and experiences from angel investing in early-stage startups, focusing on deal analysis, portfolio companies, and investment strategy.
Startups & Engineering
Lessons learned from founding and scaling technical startups, with focus on engineering practices, team building, and technical leadership.