/now

Updated October 2023. Inspired by Derek’s /now concept, here’s a probably-not-so-quick snapshot of what I’m up to. Here’s my general bio.

I love meeting new people, and if you have a particularly keen interest in any of the projects below, you are welcome to reach out (DM on Twitter being one of the best channels).

Current Projects

I’m dedicating most of my waking hours to what I believe is my second mountain – building products and services to increase human connection and bring humanity back together again, and after selling my last company in 2019, I’m now pursuing a few projects under this theme.

Relatable: I believe that the most important asset for myself and millions of other professionals is the relationships we’ve surrounded ourselves with. I’ve spent the past ten years building CRMs to help with that, and Relatable is my newest project, bringing together all of my learnings and insights. If you loved Contactually, just wait til you see this.

BeMoreRelatable: While I initially set out to help people build relationships through software (Contactually, the Compass CRM, and now Relatable), I’ve come to learn that there are a wide variety of blockers people encounter, in addition to needing strategic guidance and accountability. After publishing a book in 2019, I’ve spent years coaching people in a cohort-based model.

The Sphere: I now publish a weekly newsletter all about relationship building – you can also find me on LinkedIn, YouTube, and yes… TikTok.

I follow my interest and excitement into a number of other areas, as well:

• Relationship Building: I love human connection. On any given week, I’m hosting a dinner, making introductions amongst people, and connecting 1:1 to deep dive with someone.
• Personal Growth: I’ve made significant shifts in all aspects – physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional. I’m always happy to talk to anyone about this.
• Advising and Investing: I do a teency bit of angel investing and advising in people/ideas/funds I believe in, alongside some STR real estate investing.

What I’m thinking about

Richard Feynman had this idea of always carrying around a number of problems you’re thinking about, to help hone what you read, think about, and discuss with others. Without further ado, here’s mine:

• What’s next? Who do I partner with? What is my role? Am I starting something, co-founding something as a technical founder, or joining an established venture?
• How does Relatable grow to 1M ARR?
• What does the target audience for Relatable need to hear?
• How does BeMoreRelatable grow to reach more relationship-oriented business owners?
• What are the second-and third-order effects of everyone having access to LLMs like ChatGPT?
• If the class action lawsuits against real estate commissions win, what happens to the entire residential real estate market?
• What’s my updated thesis on blockchain?
• What does Modern Friendship look like?
• As always, my own mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Other Stuff!

You can see what I’m currently reading or recently read on Goodreads. Top books I recommend the most are The Second Mountain and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

Since Jan 1 2019, I’ve lost ~55 pounds, exercise daily, and meditate daily. I had a 206 week Peloton streak at one point!

I’m back to being active on Twitter, so you can follow my ramblings there.

I meditate daily.

I think by writing, and publish some to /posts. If you’re interested, I have invested heavily in building up a Zettelkasten over the last couple of years.

Thankfully our family of four is currently healthy and safe at home in the DC area.

Less recent but still relevant:

• GoodSphere: I cofounded and led GoodSphere, a cohort-based training collective, helping professionals grow their business – and happiness. We’re leveraging my past ten years of experience building CRM, writing a book, and working on various training initiatives to improve our clients’ relationships to their sphere and themselves, through a combination of habits, tactics, accountability, and mindfulness. Despite starting this in January 2021, we’ve already had ~1000+ clients join our flagship program, reporting incredible results, and become part of our growing community. After our 13th cohort, we decided to move on, and I continue to coach via BeMoreRelatable
• After selling Contactually, my major “let’s change the world” mission became Camp Social. I believe that one of the biggest problems in the world is tackling the increasing loneliness we feel from the tectonic shifts we are seeing in our society. After years of research into the issue, I’m working on Camp Social, which strengthens digital communities by recognizing, and rewarding members for self-organizing community events. We never found a sustainable business model, so made the decision to focus on other projects in July 2023. 🔗 👋🏽 Camp Social 🔗 The Age of Belonging 🔗 The Next Social Platform Won’t Be Individualistic
• After Contactually (which I co-founded and led as CEO) was acquired by Compass in 2019, I was the GM of CRM at Compass and leading the product team focused on building out that part of the platform, as well as working cross-functionally on helping our customers implement relationship marketing best practices and creating a number of internal training/coaching initiatives. I left in Jan 2021 to pursue new ventures – back to zero!
• I joined On Deck‘s Founder Fellowship in June 2020 – I highly recommend it to anyone in the midst of exploring their next venture.
• After being in survival mode for the past 9 years, I’m focused on improving myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. I was the lead subject in a WSJ column in September.
• We bought a cabin and are now renting it out as an AirBnB
• I’m always working on a number of smaller side projects of varying states, to scratch my “maker” itch and keep my own engineering skills sharp. Projects include a location-driven story, a relationship manager, and a group journaling app. Will these ever see the light of day? I hope so.
• I host a breakfast in DC bi-monthly of awesome people that should know each other. As opposed to the DC Tech Meetup, the 27,000+ member-strong “big tent” meetup I co-founded in 2010, this is small groups, deep conversations. I have a specific formula that’s worked really well!
• I released my second childrens book, if you’re interested! It’s about creativity and finding people to share it with. I did one for my daughters first birthday (she’s four now), so did one for my son’s first.
• Some great books I’ve read recently: The Fourth Turning, Nick’s excellent book on how to host a cocktail party, The Second Mountain (book I recommend to pretty much everyone I talk to, despite some weak parts), The Square and the Tower (frames the current technological shifts in a clear way), A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Together (incredible book about the loneliness epidemic), Lost Connections (excellent companion to Together), Lessons of History (classic macro view of the patterns in human history)

I’m always happy to connect – best way though is via mutual introduction – otherwise, via Twitter.