About

Experiences

Friction is the Signal

I didn’t start with a roadmap. I was a physics major who saw patterns early — and noticed that thousands of UNC students had only a few places to go out. People were literally paying to shuttle 45 minutes out of town for nightlife. I interned at KPMG to understand the business behind F&B, then co-founded a bar near campus to meet the demand. Later, I realized we were using ‘90s-era clickers to track capacity — with no way for people to know how packed a place was, even though they cared. So I assembled a team and built a better system.

When my brother was applying to college, tutoring felt rigid — so I backed a center that made it more personal and accessible. When loyalty platforms ignored real behavior, we built for the physical world instead. Each venture below began the same way: with friction I couldn’t ignore. From gifting products that store memory to agentic systems that secure AI infrastructure, I’ve built across categories — not because I planned to, but because the problem demanded it.
The pattern stayed the same — from college bars to launching ventures backed by NASDAQ-listed companies: spot the signal, rally the team, ship what matters.

2024

reAlpha AI Labs (NASDAQ: AIRE)

Associate Vice President

built reAlpha’s internal venture arm (after joining as AVP of International M&A). 

Problem: Real estate lacked automation. AI-native infrastructure was missing across compliance, ops, and underwriting etc.

Solution: Built an internal AI lab and venture arm from scratch. Recruited PhDs, Techstars alumni to build and seed agentic systems for legacy friction points.

Outcome: Incubated Xmore AI, focused on third-party cybersecurity risk. I remain active as strategic advisor on GTM and expansion.

2024

Xmore AI

Partner & Advisor

AI-native cybersecurity spinout from reAlpha AI Labs.

Problem: Third-party risk in AI systems was growing — but few platforms could autonomously handle it.

Solution: Partnered with a Michigan State professor and white-hat hacker to build a proactive, AI-native security engine.

Outcome: Became reAlpha’s flagship AI cybersecurity spinout. Built for enterprise scale and embedded trust at the infrastructure layer.  

Lesson: You can’t scale AI without trust. Solve the third-party risk, or risk the whole thing.

2023

Box to Blocks

Product Lead, Co-Founder

Co-founder, Director, and Product Lead at a software studio building digital tools for real-world behavior.

Problem: Loyalty systems were built for transactions, not behavior. They felt clunky, forgettable, and disconnected from how people actually engage.

Solution: We launched Box to Blocks to fix that. First product: an NFC-powered loyalty platform that rewards real-world engagement, not just clicks.

Outcome: Ran case studies with Porsche and McLaren owner clubs in Kuala Lumpur. Secured a buildout contract with the Luxury Rally Club. Then expanded the studio with:  

→ Memory Mate (live)

 A consumer-facing product that lets users attach digital memories (photos, videos, voice notes) to physical objects using NFC technology, retrievable with a simple tap — no app required.

→ Quanty (in development)

 A voice-powered backtesting tool for traders — designed to eliminate the need for Python scripts, spreadsheets, or manual analysis by letting users speak strategies and get results.

2021

Echo Labs

Co-Founder

Capstone Project turned Licenced Blockchain services company focused on emerging chains.

Problem: Newer blockchains were gaining traction, but most developers ignored them, the infrastructure was weak, and there was no support for small builders.
Solution: We built a lean team and delivered tokenized asset tooling and smart contract services for solo founders and small teams building on emerging chains.
Outcome: I joined the team early and became a partner. We scaled from 2 to 20+ people, generated $1M+ in revenue, and secured a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) license in Dubai. We shut it down post–NFT cycle when demand dried up.

Lesson: If you chase hype, you run out of road. If you chase problems, you build highways.

2020

Tutoring Venture (Dubai)

Silent Partner

Helped Launch a tutoring venture to make quality education more accessible and affordable

Problem: Expats in Dubai needed personalized tutoring — existing options were overpriced and rigid. (noticed this when my younger brother was prepping for college)

Solution: Raised $100K to help open a centrally located center, hired top tutors from India.

Outcome: Served hundreds of students. Tech tools showed promise, but the inperson model scaled faster and more profitably.

Lesson: Don’t overbuild. Find what people pay for and scale that with discipline.

2019

True Count

Product Manager, Co-Founder

We were legally required to track headcount — and the tools were a joke.

Problem: Bars had to manually count guests for legal compliance — most used $5 clickers with no visibility, no data, and no way to communicate crowd levels.

Solution: Built a mobile app that let bouncers tap headcount into a phone instead of a clicker. That data was broadcast live — letting customers check crowd levels, skip lines, and see real-time drink deals.

Outcome: Strong pilot traction. Venues liked the simplicity. Customers loved the visibility. Rollout stalled as COVID. shut down nightlife before scaling.  

Lesson: Right idea, wrong moment. Timing kills more startups than bad products ever will.

2018

Downtime Bar

Co-Founder, Partner

Built and launched a full-service bar while in college — from scratch. 

Problem: Thousands of UNC students were crowding into just a few campus spots — or taking shuttles 45 minutes out for nightlife.

Solution: After organizing packed student events and seeing the demand firsthand, I interned at KPMG’s F&B deals team, helped raise $250K, and co-founded a bar and restaurant steps from campus.

Outcome: Our team took over a distressed property with legacy foot traffic. We negotiated a competitive lease and rebuilt the space from the ground up — construction, branding, and launch. Served thousands of customers before shutting down post COVID.

Lesson: Building a bar teaches you everything you need to know about humans, cash flow, and chaos. Worth every 2AM.