About

A few thoughts on who I am.

Purpose

Life: To get closer to my ikigai (生き甲斐, 'my reason for being') every day.

Within life, work: "Working with a great team, making something that people will use — something that we feel will have an impact greater than our job or revenue." - Matt Mullenweg

Core Behaviours/Values

Kaizen (改善) - continuous improvement
Akesis - healthy hardship (more info - 1, 2)
Curiosity - follow the rabbit hole
Kindness - treat others well

My Journey

Always learning. Guided by curiosity. Excited about great digital products.

My fascination for technology began with circuits, not software. After school each day, I’d take apart old computers, build contraptions and I even tried my hand at radio broadcasting. I'd tinker with legos, Arduinos, soldering irons, wireless receivers, LEDs and all the rest.

Early entrepreneurship through high school lead me to the world of software. When I discovered this side of the internet, it felt like I'd uncovered a whole new set of legos. I built, launched, and learnt a lot of things - mainly outside the classroom.

Every week saw me researching and testing a new online platform or app. I would build websites for the fun of it. Systems for the challenge of it.

I began expanding my network, my skill set, and my mindset. Cold emails for coffee, days off school for conferences, podcasts and video content to expand my surface area.

Leaving formal education at the end of Year 11, I gave University a crack. I received an early offer into university to study business, but only a few weeks into study, I deferred, instead deciding to jump into early-stage startups — and create my own ‘personal curriculum.’ My excitement for great digital products grew.

I spent time at VetDB, Future Amp and Ammo Marketing, exploring the worlds of product, growth, operations and everything in between.

I’m now at Zipline.io, a fast growing B2B software startup solving frontline compliance challenges in healthcare.

I’m learning & growing in a Customer Success role, and as co-host of the Startup Jobs podcast.

For some time, I felt like I had too many interests. Different disciplines pulling me in different directions. Interested in APIs and low-code tools, but also marketing strategy, but also operations, and public speaking and media, and writing?

The phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none", would play in my head.

But with good mentors and the space for introspection, I began to see that the combination of interests amplified each other. 1+1=3.

The common thread was this: I love great digital products - discovering and using them, and also understanding how to validate them, build them, grow them and scale the businesses around them.

Why? The apps and tools I use every day empower me to do my best work, and my mission is to enable others' best work through great products.

As Steve Jobs said when speaking about the first Macintosh, "it is a bicycle for the mind."

One day, I want to start my own thing.
But I've got a hell of a lot more to learn, first.

On the side, I write occasionally, I advise youth-focussed not-for-profits, and I’m always on the search for the next great digital product. Early mornings and weekends, you can find me at the beach, doing something sweaty or spending time with family and friends.

Side projects

A list of the other various weekend sprints, month long projects or ongoing businesses I've started.

The Tech Thread Co (2016); My first business, a nerd/tech-themed clothing brand, with little product sold...but a whole lot learnt.
Millennial Studios (2017-2019); A platform for some of my earlier online content projects (podcasts, blogs) and more ambitiously, a media incubator empowering other young people to create impactful content.
Student Tutors United (2018-2019); Co-founded a peer-to-peer tutoring agency with a friend, becoming Australia's first agency specifically for high-school age tutors, with vetted, trained and empowered young tutors around Perth.
Australian Bushfire Donation Info Hub (2019-2020); A website that was a quick response to a devastating fire season here in Australia, a central place for up-to-date info on where you could donate and who needed help during the recent bushfire season.
Perth for Perth (2020); A website that was a quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an initiative to support local businesses in Perth, Australia who were reduced to only being able to serve takeaway/delivery.
My Funnel (2021); During my time at Ammo Marketing, I lead the development of a free tool that generates a marketing funnel specifically for your startup. We launched it out to the community into the top 5 of the day on Product Hunt. Since then it's been used over 100's of times by founders.

Running stats:

✈️ I've been to 5 countries
📚 I've attended 4 different schools
💻 I've bought 10 website domains
🎙I've started 3 podcasts
📲 I've owned 10 Apple devices (read:  fanboy)

Favourite Things:

NoCode tools. Guerrilla marketing. Electronic/House music. Cable management. Smart homes. Big dogs. The mighty Hawks.

Folks I'm Grateful For

A running list of all the organisations, companies, projects, initiatives, events etc. I have worked for, collaborated with, participated in, been a member of, interned at or contributed to. Ultimately, those who I feel I will forever be in debt to (in no order).

Centre for Social Impact
TEDxKingsPark
Fairbridge Festival
Youth Leadership Academy
The LEAP Foundation
IDEA Academy
altMBA / Akimbo Workshops
Purposeful
Draw History
Ammo Marketing
Vedi (prev. VetDB)
Up Banking
Zipline.io
EzLicence
TEDxPerth
TEDxKingsPark
Department of Education WA
YMCA WA
YACWA
Future Amp
Future Anything
YouthX
Skills of the Modern Age
zero2hero
KCR FM
Hit 929
ABC Radio Perth
Sticky Pronk
Man Up WA
STEM4Innovation
Santa Maria College
Willetton SHS
SEDA College
John Curtin College of the Arts
Walliston Primary School
Mazenod College
Curtin University
UWA Public Policy Institute
Notre Dame Student Association

Media stuff
Photo album
Favourite tweet
Archive of my old website
Contact me