A New New Thing

It was an early December morning and I had just dropped my wife and son off at JFK. As I watched them pass through the security line, I had a small sense of freedom for the first time in the year since Crosby was born. I decided I would visit the new TWA Hotel and sat alone for breakfast at the bar while finishing the last few pages of Michael Lewis’ The New New Thing. I then decided I wanted a new new thing.

The name of the book itself is enough to inspire one to seek something new, but it was the story of Jim Clark’s lifelong pursuit of innovation that helped light a new fire. His obsessive nature of creating, tweaking, tinkering, both on personal and professional projects is something I’ve always seen in myself – a restless desire to innovate, create, push new ideas forward.

So, I am branching out on my own to start something new.

It’s a hard decision to leave the perfect role in a great company at Expa. When Garrett and I met up six years ago, we sought to create a different kind of startup studio, one that would be the best place for entrepreneurs to bring ideas to life. Now with our six Partners, I’m proud to say that we have accomplished that. We’ve had the honor to work with almost forty teams so far, and nearly 300 colleagues across all of our businesses. I have been more directly involved in helping to build a few of these including Current, Kit, Drip, Reserve, and Input.

Being a Partner at Expa has allowed me to live in all worlds of our industry: to be a founder, CEO, investor, board member, advisor, designer, coder, and educator. I am interested in and take great joy in this breadth of roles. I’ve always sought to be a kind of Renaissance man, a polymath, as one used to be called. But I am an engineer at heart and by training, and the role of the entrepreneur is always where I’ve felt most at home.

Though I am leaving Expa as a Partner, I will continue to be a part of the Expa network, helping our various teams and remaining on the board of Current. Thank you to my partners Garrett, Roberto, Vitor, Hooman, Milun and the rest of the Expa crew for an amazing six years and for supporting my next steps.

But now on to my new new thing. Though it is yet undefined, I would like to eventually start another great company, and will be tweaking and tinkering on personal and professional projects until I get there. While I explore new ideas, I’ll be hanging out at various friends’ offices in the city. And, to honor my wife’s long-term desire to return to LA, I’ll be spending a little time out West to see what might come up.

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