(I originally wrote this for LinkedIn and have copied it here for posterity.)
I am not the best at keeping LinkedIn up-to-date, so this is extremely late (I guess I pulled a Jess Waldeck in waiting so long). I have big news that most are aware of by now: that back in November, I left Crossbeam. I figured I should write up something to reminisce, give some details on the departure, and to let everyone know what I am up to now.
I’ll start with a brief-ish telling of my side of the Crossbeam origin story. My first attempt at building a company was back in 2011, when my brother, Kevin Ryan, and I worked on building a new financial modeling product. That venture didn’t work out, but it was a tremendous learning experience and lit the startup fire.
Following that, I was able to land my first real software job at RJMetrics, founded by Bob Moore and Jake Stein, and there worked with an amazing group of engineers, learning how to build software and how startups work. The company was later acquired by Magento, but around that time I was feeling the itch to found something new again.
I left Magento after about a year and started consulting under The Buck Codes Here. I had a great time working with various startups on data engineering and infrastructure, but my real motivation was to research and experiment with product ideas. Meanwhile, Bob Moore and I were checking in frequently, which eventually led to conversations about Crossbeam.
There were two aspects of Crossbeam that really got me excited. The first was the prospect of working with Bob again. I had seen and admired how he and Jake built RJMetrics and then Stitch and was eager to learn from his experience. Bob’s understanding of the market, how to tell a story, and his drive always stuck with me.
The second bit of excitement came when I started spending time with Bob doing research calls. I saw first hand the lack of data within partnerships, how it hindered partner managers from delivering massive amounts of value to their companies. It became clear how widespread this issue was. The network effect that could take hold in solving this problem began to show itself and at that point, I was sold.
I began building out the product in earnest and before long, building the team. The next 4-5 years were a tremendous learning experience. We faced all sorts of challenges as we doubled the team almost every year and as we scaled up to supporting 10k+ companies on the system.
There are many people to thank who helped me work through all these problems. I’ll avoid even making an attempt to be exhaustive since I’ll certainly forget someone. Instead I’ll call out and thank a few of the engineers who were there from the beginnings, grinding it out to build the product: 👨🏻💻 Eric Nograles, Nick McAvoy, Yiannis Nicolaou, Rebecca Stark, Richard Mugge, and Lindsey DeFalco (who, early on, coded a ton of the front-end, so counts as an engineer).
The decision to depart did not at all come easily, but it was the right time to move on. I felt I had completed what I set out to do, with the team reaching a size and level of sufficiency that no longer required me in as unique a way. There were personal reasons for leaving as well, such as wanting breathing room to spend some more time with my family (fun fact: 3 of my children were born during my time working on Crossbeam).
So what am I up to now? Since leaving I have been doing independent consulting and plan to continue that for awhile. I have been enjoying getting back into building things, focusing on back-end, data, and infrastructure engineering as well as advising founders of young startups. Let me know if you want to work together!
I’ve been spending more time in the garden and am now a beginner beekeeper (cover picture related). Most importantly, the goal of spending more time with the family has been pretty successful. Consulting has provided a lot more wiggle room to do random family things. It comes with a lot less stress too. I guess that’s why we’re adding to the fun with our fifth child on the way, due in November!