Miami Baddie
About Me
I've been a computer nerd since I was a little kid in my parents' basement. Back then no one knew who you were and the closest they could get was asking a/s/l. They judged you on what you knew. I found my tribe.
The Computer
My dad brought home our first computer in 1994, when I was ten. We had just moved to a new city and I didn't know a single person, so I spent that winter taking MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 apart to see how they worked. At thirteen, the University of Michigan invited me to a gifted program. At fourteen, they invited me back to teach C++ to college students. I lived in the dorms on North Campus. They had to call me a teaching assistant because you can't legally employ a fourteen-year-old.
Learning the Hard Way
I started a hosting company at fourteen and sold my first $20-a-month package in an AOL chat room. To an email spammer. The complaint calls started hitting my parents' landline at 4 a.m. I lost money on the whole thing and it was worth every penny. After high school I started buying 53-foot semi trucks filled with liquidated tools to sell on this brand new site called eBay. When they changed the rules, the business failed and took me down with it.
$1.25
Twenty years old, fifty grand in debt at 28 percent interest, back in my parents' basement. I went door to door in a Detroit winter selling phone service through bulletproof glass with a hole in one shoe I couldn't afford to fix. Some days I didn't eat. Every night I came home and worked on my own thing anyway. Then one night, past midnight, one lead paid me $1.25. I have never turned back.
“When I was a kid, I lost everything and this industry saved my life.”
and I mean every word of it
Sixty-five countries and counting
Seeing the World
I absolutely love to travel. My parents took me to almost all 50 states when I was a kid, and as soon as I got my passport, I was off. I've been to more than 65 countries now, my favorite being the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. You know, North Korea. I got invited to teach marketing to college students right after Dennis Rodman went in 2015. Haha.
For nearly a decade I moved from city to city to get as much perspective as I could. I've been working remote since before it was cool. Every year I would donate all of my worldly belongings to St. Vincent's or the Salvation Army and fly to a new city, sometimes without a plan. Well, that's not entirely true. I kept my clothes and my computers. It's a crazy thing to do, but I've lived a beautiful life and it's important to me to always give back. I've donated hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of things to those organizations over the years, and it has been an incredibly fulfilling experience.
The Food Thing
I also have a passion for food: how it's made, where it comes from, who makes it. I have a deep respect for Japanese food culture and I've been to almost every two and three Michelin star restaurant in Japan. There's a commitment to perfection there that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. When I saw Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I spent the next six months figuring out how to get a reservation. I was one of the last foreign customers Jiro ever served. I'm also a big fan of Rene Redzepi, the chef behind Noma, and I've chased him around the world to his pop-ups in Japan, Australia and Mexico. Now that I think about it, I've eaten at more than a hundred three Michelin star restaurants over the last twenty years, and I'm incredibly grateful for every one. They taught me how much the details matter, in everything.
Chlorine and Thin Air
When I was younger I was an avid swimmer and water polo player. I made it all the way to Junior Olympics before deciding I'd had enough of smelling like chlorine. In my twenties I got into rock climbing and mountaineering. I watched the sunrise from the peak of Mt. Fuji with some monks. I climbed Kilimanjaro with people I'd never met. And I did a winter ascent of Mt. Rainier with two guides who had summited Everest and told me that climbing Rainier in the winter is stupid. The universe reinforced their point on the summit by sending purple clouds and 95 mph winds out of nowhere. Running down the side of a mountain while wind gusts knock you over is wild. 5/5 stars.
Off the clock
Just Dance, It Will Be Okay
I don't drink. My friends call me Waterboy, and the nickname has been on the side of a building, which I consider a lifetime achievement. I'm an introvert who learned people skills going door to door, which is why I can be the most energetic person in a Vegas club, stone sober. My free time goes to music festivals, dancing, painting, writing, producing, designing products, building software, reading, and more Pilates than you would believe.
My priorities, in order: health, education, relationships, then wealth. I learned that order the hard way, and it's the subject of its own page. I won't negotiate with myself on it.
Finding My Soul
In 2023 I went to see ODESZA on their Last Goodbye tour. It was the first concert I'd been to in over a decade, and I was enamored. I had been so wrapped up in building that I forgot how much I loved electronic music. It's been a big part of my life since I was a kid. I'll never forget the look on parents' faces as they walked past my room at Bursley Hall and saw a 14 year old playing StarCraft with Massive Attack blasting loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage. It took them a second, but they eventually saw the sign on the door. You know, the one that said I was dorm staff. I digress.
The following year I watched Ultra from my place in Miami and couldn't believe my eyes. I immediately booked a trip to Vegas for EDC and had the time of my life. I managed to get artist guest passes, but they were never activated, so I walked halfway around the outside of the racetrack until I found a catering entrance and charmed the supervisor into helping me. It's always an adventure with me. Good thing I never give up.
My Epiphany
Later that night I bounced down the stairs from the artist colony and found myself in front of Kinetic Field, in GA, for Armin van Buuren. Out of nowhere his music grabbed my soul and for the first time I started dancing. It was an epiphany for me. All the stress disappeared and I fell into pure flow state. It was one of the most important moments of my life. I found my soul at 39 years old, surrounded by a bunch of kids. They stared for a moment, it was crazy, and then they absorbed my energy.
Since then, one of my favorite things to do is go out dancing. People film me constantly and post it, and they're always surprised to find out I'm powered by water and energy drinks. It's gotten so out of control that I take security with me when I go out. People feed off my energy. One of my favorite moments was a guy and his wife stopping me at Space here in Miami. He wanted a selfie because my book had changed his life.
Approach calmly and ask when I'm taking a break. I love interacting with people, but when I'm dancing, that's for me. If you run up screaming, fair warning: you may get tackled by an Army Ranger or a linebacker.
For the record
The Short Version
I'm the founder and CEO of Ringba, the author of The Pay Per Call Revolution and Customers On Demand, and the producer behind Another Life. I build companies, climb mountains, and make records. I live in Miami. I'm just getting started.