Work with me
Product and AI, built on data you can trust.
Fractional CTO and product work. Sometimes the data is a mess and the roadmap depends on fixing it. Sometimes it is working out where AI actually belongs and what it is worth. I set the direction and build it with the team, hands on in the product and the design.
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I founded the Global Wine Database in 2017: one standardized source of truth for the world’s wine data, gathered from producers across continents. In 2019 I merged it with WineFolly.com and ran Wine Folly as CEO for seven years, turning a content brand into a formal education platform. Platforms on that data reached 20 million people. The AI work I do now started there, on top of a data layer I could trust.
Before it, nine years co-founding BlackSquare, where the product was direct-to-consumer commerce for beverage alcohol and the hard part was that licensing, tax and reporting change at every border. We built those rules into the platform rather than around it, across markets on four continents.
What I do
Start with the data layer
Most products break at the data, not the interface. I build the layer underneath first, clean and standardized and trustworthy, so everything you ship on top of it holds.
Design is not the last step
I came up through product and design and I still do the work, not just review it. The layer underneath exists so the thing on top of it is worth using, which is the part I care most about.
Scale without growing the org
I've taken platforms to 20 million people while the team stayed lean, and moved gross margin from roughly 50% to 80% on the way. Output that grows without headcount growing to match is mostly a question of systems and data.
AI that earns its place
AI built on data you trust, not bolted on for the pitch. I built it into the products at Wine Folly, including LLMs on private infrastructure when the data was sensitive.
How I work
I lead from inside the work, not from a deck. Strategy and execution in the same hands. I’d rather ship a rough thing the team can learn from than present a polished one nobody builds.
Get in touch
Let’s talk.
Tell me what you’re building. I’ll get back to you soon.