Helping leaders turn ideas into experiences that people enjoy using.

Think of me as an on-call CIO, CTO, and CPO who loves to roll up my sleeves and work towards desired outcomes. I love complexity and making sense of interconnected systems of people and processes.

How I Can Help

Strategic Innovation

Bringing clarity around what you want to accomplish and how it maps to your organization's essence. Defining what steps to take first and how to approach building or nurturing what's needed.

Build Something New

From minimum viable products to full platforms. I use cutting-edge technologies, experience, and intuition to pull together the right foundational blocks. Each project is a different puzzle.

AI & Emerging Tech

Thoughtful adoption of generative AI, blockchain, and emerging technologies. Ensuring new capabilities serve your mission without compromising integrity or creating unintended harms.

Team Empowerment

My goal is to not be engaged any longer than necessary. The work centers around empowering your team with patterns and knowledge so they can eventually take over and own the ongoing work.

Skills & Expertise

UX & UI Design Data Architecture Strategic Innovation Generative AI Community Engagement Social Media Marketing Mission & Impact Agile Development Content Strategy Organization Design

Favorite Projects

Xbox Windows Microsoft Dynamics ActionSprout Facebook Non-GMO Project Funcert Producers Trust Gates Foundation Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative USAID Global Health Misha Collins Bellingham Angels Big Idea Lab Salish Current

About

I'm a serial entrepreneur and innovator who has helped launch dozens of products. From the very first Xbox website to an app that powered tens of thousands of nonprofit Facebook pages with combined weekly reach in the hundreds of millions.

I'm a strategist, engineer, designer, marketer, community organizer, and leader. I love data and use research and insights constantly in my work. I surf the tension between functionality and aesthetics with ease.

I'm one of those rare individuals who has the skills to do it all. From building a tech stack, to designing the user experience, to understanding the market and financial models. I've been an angel investor in dozens of ventures and helped screen hundreds more.

When I'm not helping advise ventures or building web apps, I create generative art using code that transforms into physical artworks cut from layers of paper with a high-powered laser.

What to Expect

  • Clear communication. Going above and beyond to make sure there is shared understanding.
  • Result-oriented approach. Success is based on defining and measuring desired outcomes.
  • Agile ideation. Constantly learning and iterating until the right solution emerges.
  • Collaborative creation. Building on top of each other's ideas through additive creation.
  • Empowerment over dependency. Transferring knowledge so your team can own the work.

Studio

Let's Chat

If this sounds interesting, let's connect and chat about what you're looking to create.

Bellingham, Washington

shawn@upspire.studio