Bio

I founded and run Alabaster, a family office that invests in founders building companies with radical solutions, usually involving ''deeptech,'' that will have a positive, planet-level impact. Investor, advisor, and/or director in 47 early stage companies, mostly at the seed, series seed, or Series A stage. Themes in materials science, industrial biotech, sensors/semiconductors, HVAC, enterprise AI. Currently serving as CEO for Arevo (Alabaster portfolio company), an advanced manufacturing technology company that automates the design and production of large continuous carbon fiber thermoplastic composite parts. Demonstration products include: www.superstrata.bike, www.scotsman.me, www.mishima.studio Previously co-founded: * Impact Biosystems (2019)- novel muscle fitness sensing devices * Elemental Machines (2014) - hardware and software for lab operations monitoring and analytics * Misfit (2011) - fashion-driven wearables and smart home devices (acquired by Fossil for $260m, served as President and CTO for Fossil Group afterward) * AgaMatrix (2001) - blood glucose monitoring devices and digital health tech for diabetes * FireSpout (1998) - machine learning and natural language processing for autosummarization (acquired by Ask Jeeves) Raised $257m in funding across 22+ rounds for companies I’ve founded; assisted Alabaster portfolio company founders to raise a lot more. Before doing startups, I worked at Microsoft Research in NLP under Kai-Fu Lee, worked on a PhD in linguistics at MIT under Noam Chomsky and Ken Hale (phonology, morphology), and studied math at UIUC. Outside of work, when I’m not playing with my two kids, I’m mostly doing math, learning languages, or playing games (house favorite is Set). I’m here to help. If we haven't met, drop me a note.