About me and this site
Learn more about my background and some of the motivation for this project. If any of this resonates, let's stay in touch.
You can find the full story of how we got to where we are now below, but if you are in a hurry, here are two actions you can take to help keep the conversation going:
- Sign up for the newsletter. I share crypto info about learning crypto every week.
- Let’s connect on LinkedIn. It’s about the only social media channel where I’m active and I create new content several times a week. It would be great to have you as part of my network.
Here's how I can help:
Positioning: Whether you are designing a new category, or taking on a market leader, I can help find ways to leverage a vision into brand-defining outreach.
Content marketing strategy: These days, good content marketing is all about finding tactics that are consistent and repeatable. I can help develop simple frameworks that will help you build from there.
Executive ghostwriting: In the age of AI, trust and expertise are only becoming more important. If you are looking to develop an executive content strategy or series, I have experience helping leaders turn thoughts and ideas into posts and articles.
If any of that resonates, please message me on LinkedIn.
OK, now on with our story:
I launched this site in 2006 with very little idea of what I was going to do with it. I had just returned from living in rural Nicaragua for a couple of years as an environmental education Peace Corps volunteer.
My ambition, at the time, was to become a writer. I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about, or how to make a living as a writer, but I did know I would probably need a website.
It’s crazy looking back now, closing in on 20 years later, where that journey has led — and how much this website has changed over that time (we are on version five or maybe six).
When I first started out, I would get up early and write random blog posts, or craft pitches that were bound for the rejection pile, before going to work as a carpenter.
Eventually, I attended the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, where I focused on environmental and science magazine writing. It was an interesting time to be studying journalism, and magazine writing in particular.
It was in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis and during a time when web2 and user generated content started to really compete with the business model of traditional newsrooms.
I think watching that transition — and actually being a part of it (trying to launch a career in the midst of all kinds of turbulence) — helped give me some context and perspective about the value and importance of web3.
In 2014, I wrote a story about digital currencies. As a journalist/magazine writer, I’ve written plenty of stories that allowed me to take a deep dive into a topic — read books, interview experts, etc. Usually I would cover a story and then move on to another topic.
But once I started digging into digital currencies — this was when Bitcoin was still fringe and Ethereum hadn’t even launched yet — I was hooked. What kept my interest is all of the intersections between economics, technology, global impact, and the need for alternatives.
Eventually I started blogging about crypto — more as a way to learn out loud than anything else. Then I started working in the crypto industry as a writer and content producer.
Since then, I’ve written content/produced media for a handful of leading crypto companies and crypto publications.
In 2020, during one crypto’s notorious winters, I set out on a new path and co-founded a media company. By day, I lead content efforts for a rapidly growing firm in the education space. During my free time, I still read and write about crypto — maybe now more than ever before.
Why? And why now? I think crypto is at a major inflection point and I’m convinced it is one of the most important technologies emerging during our lifetime. Crypto (and its relatives) are getting mature enough and now have enough of a global user base/liquidity that crypto-enabled tools like DeFi and web3 applications are finally getting really interesting and impactful.
And two, crypto just experienced a coming of age moment in the form of the entirety of 2022. The year started with crypto Super Bowl ads and ended a massively high-profile case of fraud — including billions vanished (from a company that was featured in a series of Super Bowl ads none-the-less).
During the rest of the year some other crazy stuff happened, some of it positive, some of it also shady, all against the backdrop of choppy global macroeconomics.
Which, in a way, leads us back to this site and what keeps me motivated to keep learning and sharing information. I use this as a gathering place for some of my past crypto work and produce new content related to crypto education because I believe getting more people involved only makes crypto networks more valuable and more secure.
Also, I think all of the up, down, and sideways crypto trends happening right are a great lens to understand some other massive societal shifts related to the internet, digital transformation, and the massive reorganization that’s happening elsewhere.
Like I mentioned at the top, the best way to stay connected is via the weekly newsletter or on LinkedIn.