I've started over in a new country twice — China to Canada at seventeen, then Canada to the US for work. Each time I showed up as the outsider and earned my place from nothing. I bring it up because it's the most relevant thing about me for what I'm doing now: buying someone's business means walking into a room full of people who have no reason to trust me yet, and earning it. I've done that my whole life.
Career
I spent 15 years of my career as a software engineer and manager at Microsoft, Airbnb, and Virta Health. During my time at two of these companies, they experienced 10x hyper-growth. I experienced firsthand how products built by a handful of people can impact millions. Even as a new grad at Microsoft, I grew my team's impact by co-creating a US-patented system. At Virta, I rebuilt the billing system so the finance team could close the books on time. One thing that held true through all of this was engineering excellence. "Real artists sign their work," as Steve Jobs used to say. It didn't matter whether what we shipped was visible; what mattered was that we were proud of the work.
MBA and Workflowly
During my time at Virta, I found myself genuinely interested in learning how the finance and accounting team helped the company run smoothly, so I went on to get an MBA at Berkeley Haas.
During my studies, I grew increasingly interested in entrepreneurship. After graduation, a few friends and I co-founded Workflowly, an AI software venture for Canadian insurance brokerages.
The startup experience taught me a lot, but I came away knowing that zero-to-one isn't really for me. I'd rather take the capital I already have, the years I've spent managing teams, and the way I think through hard technical problems — and put all of it to work for a business in my own community. That's why I'm here.
What I bring
What sets me apart from most MBA-trained buyers is that I can actually build. Most businesses I look at run on a mix of paper, spreadsheets, phone calls, and one person's memory. I can see where a few well-placed tools would save hours every week, and I can build them myself instead of hiring it out and hoping.
Even as a software engineer, I've learned the hard way that you earn the right to change things. The first job is to keep the business healthy and the people in it steady. The software comes second, and only where it actually helps. I care about profit. I also care about the people who built the place, and about not breaking what already works.
Outside of work
I live in Oakland with my wife and three kids. Most weekends are swimming pools, martial arts dojos, and East Bay bike trails. In winter we head up to the mountains to ski.
Fun fact: it took me about ten years to actually learn snowboarding. Not because I'm dumb (maybe I am), but because I had two kids during that stretch. These days I bring my older kids with me to the mountain whenever I go.
On my shelf
A few books that have shaped how I think:
- A Philosophy of Software Design . The software design bible. Go read it if you have not.
- The Lean Startup . The founder's reference. MBAs tend to forget to build, and engineers tend to forget to learn.
- The Mom Test . Teaches engineers to be humble about other people's problems.
- Quit . Taught me about the cost of staying in something past its prime, and how easy it is to bias toward continuing.