I'VE BEEN BUILDINGTHINGS SINCE BEFOREIT WAS COOL.

The Story

I made an all-in decision in 2011. Left Minnesota for San Diego with nothing but a plan and a willingness to figure it out. Since then, I've built, launched, scaled, and occasionally crashed 200+ companies across every industry you can name.

From 2014 to 2017, I went deep on digital marketing — 8 years of courses, projects, and trial-by-fire learning. In 2017, I joined Swarm Network as CMO alongside Joel Dietz, an early co-founder of Ethereum, and spent the next two years raising $100M across 12 crypto projects. I averaged 6 consultation calls a day and worked with 400+ startups between 2017 and 2019.

In 2022, I invested $50K in learning community building. In 2023, I spent $150K and 3,000 hours testing over 300 AI tools. I subscribe to 120+ tools and have scrapers that alert me the moment a new one launches. I don't just follow the AI wave — I'm in it every single day.

Today I run JustBadge, a venture studio with three arms: the Authority Engine (my 17-year go-to-market framework), Elite (an AI-powered workforce platform — Carfax for people), and iRocket (programmatic ad tech and SaaS ecosystem). I take on a max of 2 clients at a time as a fractional CMO and product builder. I build bigger together — that's the philosophy and the practice.

Career Timeline