From BASIC to Billions

My relationship with technology began when other kids were collecting baseball cards. There I was, age 9, hunched over an Epson 8088, copying BASIC code from a book because YouTube tutorials didn't exist. Each successful program felt like winning the lottery—especially when my screensaver actually spun!

In 1994, my "innovative" college application was really just me being rebellious. I sent a link to my AOL website with a note that basically said, "Everything's online, go here to read it?" Amazingly, it worked. But I also had to attend about 5 or 6 interviews and show them how to go online.

After realizing college lectures couldn't keep pace with the internet explosion, and just being bored, I left NYU to dive into the DotCom madness. By 20, I'd somehow convinced Chase Bank I knew what I was doing and could program, then joined Havas for a spin doing acquisitions of dotcoms, and then stumbled my way into MTV.

No-one really knew what we were doing... because no-one had ever done it before. Suddenly I was in a room of literal rockstars, often the youngest person..., pretending I knew exactly what I was doing.

I wrote my first patent at 21 as an application for managing our streaming solutions at MTV. We effectively wrote what turned out to became foundational for modern playlist management.

By 30, I had another patent for code security—primarily because people kept messing with our licensing code. We need to stop people from resetting timers, and I set tripwires.

Throughout these years, I bounced between tech roles like a pinball—fintech, e-commerce, product development—mostly because I get bored easily and each new challenge seemed shinier than the last.

Found myself managing a quarter-billion dollars in yearly transactions at a company the FTC suddenly took interest in. Nothing makes you update your LinkedIn profile faster than seeing government agents in the lobby.

After years of what I'd call "creative regulatory navigation," our legal teams eventually secured the company's future. I aged about 15 years in that period, but hey, that's what hair dye is for.

Somehow convinced my amazing wife to marry me in 2012, and we welcomed our daughter shortly after. They've been my greatest achievements—and the only ones who call me out when I start taking myself too seriously.

Built teams across Europe, the GCC, and the US—mostly by admitting I didn't have all the answers and hiring people smarter than me. Turns out "I don't know, what do you think?" is surprisingly effective leadership.

Took up endurance sports because running from problems seemed like a good metaphor for business. Turns out fly fishing, hiking, and triathlons are great ways to come up with solutions—or at least forget about work problems temporarily.

After decades of making mistakes and occasionally learning from them, I started NoFriction with a mission to help companies make money from their IP without all the usual headaches. Turns out all those years of trial and error actually taught me something useful.

Developed NoFriction's 'High-Touch, Digital-First' approach after realizing most IP strategies were stuck in the Stone Age. We're bringing them at least to the Bronze Age, possibly even the Iron Age if we're feeling ambitious.

Currently building an AI-enhanced CRM for IP monetization, combining human expertise with artificial intelligence—because if robots are taking over anyway, they might as well help us make money.