I am a dad, inventor, explorer, wilderness first responder, and community builder.

 

I am inspired when technology connects people to enable shared real-world experiences. 

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In 2012 I saw a youtube video of a guy flying a homemade camera drone through a half-demolished skyscraper.  He used video goggles and a live video feed to pilot the drone. As an aviation nut and game developer, I was in.

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Flying drones is always more fun with friends, but finding local hobbyists is hard. So in 2016 raised money to develop Drone Squad, a community app that connected local pilots for meetups and races. Our scrappy team prototyped features on weekdays and tested them at weekend events. Rapid iteration with customers allowed us to come out of beta with a laser-focused product and grow to 30,000 hobbyists in 150 countries with no marketing budget.

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Next, we released the RaceTracker, a personal race timing system that allowed anyone to run a race at the fraction of the cost of the big events.  Our pilot network loved it and we saw app engagement and retention triple.

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Emerging government regulation and other factors stalled the growth of the sport. We proved that real-world gaming worked so we pivoted to a larger market: RC Cars. And that's where the story of xScape Games begins.

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In 2017, I took our technology and learnings from Drone Squad and developed an AR camera that enables “Real World MarioKart” with RC cars.  At xSCAPE games. Our technology combined the visceral thrills of real-life RC racing with the endless potential of video game mechanics.  The location-based startup ceased operations during the pandemic.

 

As a product innovation consultant, I continue to help high-growth hardware and software companies launch new products.