About Me

I'm a technologist and Venture Capitalist currently located in the SF Bay Area.

I started out as a software engineer and served as CTO at two startups with 1 exit. I created the first Emmy-nominated chatbot and was an early proponent of using bots on Facebook, Twitter, and SMS for big brands like WB, MTV, and NBCUniversal. After that I transitioned into Venture Capital, serving as Principal of Kiddar Capital's Venture Group. Deals I led at Kiddar include Aquicore, NextGen VP Fund, Kanler, CargoSense, BuildingConnected, EverCharge, UpsideDoor, Rhumbix, Greensight Agronomics, and Mobalytics.

Venture Capital

See here.

AI/ML/Natural Language Processing

I have spent over a decade solving problems in natural language processing, particularly on automated social media interaction and evolving language, like webspeak parsing, chatbots, and paraphrase detection. Technologies I have used in this work range from modern toolkits like spaCy and NLTK to proprietary implementations in a variety of language and platforms. (This space is changing so quickly, but math stays the same!)

Esports/Gaming

My love for esports started with hosting 8-person Starcraft LANS in my parent's basement as a child. I regularly attend eSports events, especially DoTA 2 and SC II.  I was a World of Warcraft gladiator (top .5%) as paladin-warrior and won the Blizzard Holiday Baking Contest in 2007.

Background

I was born in Palo Alto, CA and grew up in Northern Virginia. My grandmother was the first woman to earn a Computer Science Master's from Mississippi State University, my great grandfather sold mainframes at IBM, and my abuela sewed at a Dickies factory in southern Texas. I have a BS in Computer Science and Psychology from The College of William and Mary.