Joining Gitcoin
I could not be more excited to join Gitcoin as General Counsel to help advance the coordinated buildout of digital public goods.
I am deeply in awe of our collective (global) reliance on open source software (OSS) thanks to the invaluable contributions of the developer community to each layer of the tech stack, from the Darwin kernel powering my OS devices to Node.js behind many websites I visit or Linux powering AWS servers behind some of the Netflix content I consume. Of course it makes perfect sense that OSS would prove among the most robust building blocks of the modern economy — as Kevin likes to note, “with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow.” OSS buildout also benefits from diverse talent working together — a key feature to success in addressing global challenges and one I’ve reflected on here in the context of the Aspen Action Forum. So it’s a happy coincidence that I get to put my skills to use in advancing the work of this great community.
I’ve spent the last decade structuring deals, most recently to help fintechs bank the unbanked, whether consumer or small business — essentially coordinating consumer or corporate borrowers and savers. Five years ago, I started to pay attention to crypto and explore how I could best contribute, swiftly falling down the rabbit hole and writing on legal issues in the space. For the last two years, I added some structure to my contribution by co-teaching legal, governance and tokenomic issues surrounding ICOs and DeFi at Cornell Tech to JD, MBA and CS students. Before BigLaw, I also had the privilege of spending time within multinationals like the World Bank and Barclays, as well as regulators like the SEC. In each of these roles I learned that coordination challenges are everywhere, so Gitcoin’s mission to tackle these issues head-on, especially in the context of non-excludable goods we all rely on to power our economy, is a super impactful opportunity for me. To get to do so alongside the likes of Kevin, Kyle and every other contributor and developer that sustains this tireless, optimistic and visionary community is icing on the cake.
Having had a chance to help slay Moloch in the context of coordinating capital for impactful fintechs, I’m excited to bring those experiences to bear and help coordinate capital and talent around web3. If you are building in the Ethereum ecosystem or adjacently, I encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter, join our Discord channel, tackle bounties, attend a Hackathon, fund Gitcoin Grants, explore the Kernel fellowship and otherwise engage with us!
