I fell in love with optimization in undergrad, but at some point, I realized that software was the best way serve the benefits of an optimization model at scale. Otherwise, I would have just been a math nerd solving one problem at a time in insolation. At that point, though, I didn't really understand how or what to learn in terms of software development.
I ended up having an intership at MITRE where I was assigned an operations research problem set as apart of an interdisciplinary team 3D printing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. On that project, I got to extend my work into software development and really fell in love.
The next few years, most of my free time would be dedicated towards learning software development by doing projects like building out a custom store in Magento before Shopify was big. Eventually, I was able to work professionally in software at USCYBERCOMMAND. Continuing to build my skills there, I felt a pull to eventually start a company. But first, I wanted to be fullstack engineer #1 at a company-- which would be a clould robotics company called Tend AI, which was backed by True Ventures.
After a year there, I was fortunate enough to partner with Ross and Zach Lipson and co-found dutchie where I built the first version of the product. It was a massive amount of work and I made a lot of mistakes, but the outcome was incredible. Next, I was a quant dev at Point72 which drew on a mix of (mostly) software and applied math skills.
I missed startups a lot, so I started a small VC firm doing early stage software investments and eventually joined as a partner at a bigger firm to do more early stage software investing. Still, I felt a pull back to being a builder, which is truly my roots and passion. So now- I spend most of my time combining all of my lessons learned in the last decade to build an Open Source toolkit and community focused on lowering the barrier to create wealth using software, particularly for underrepresented fam.
So if you find Prosperity Path intersting and have ideas about how to get involved, hit me up