I started this site to teach everything I’ve learned about building businesses, personal finance, and investing. If you’re new here, here's more about me.

Overview

I’m the founder & former CEO of Somewhere.com (formerly named Shepherd). In 2024 I sold a controlling stake at a $52m valuation to a private equity group led by Nick Huber. At the time the business was around 150+ people, generating 8-figure revenues. Now we're much larger than that. When I sold it, I stepped down as CEO and moved into an advisory role. I've kept about 13% ownership and a seat on the board.

Prior to Somewhere I built Need/Want, which turned into a small group of companies we started and own. Over the years we’ve created many different products and brands. Some of them failed, some were acquired, and others turned into multi-million dollar companies. I’ve sold million of dollars of my own physical product inventions. I don’t have any formal training – I’ve winged it ever since dropping out of college.

You can explore my businesses here.

Awards I'm Proud Of

• Inc. Magazine ranked my company one of the fastest growing private companies in America. In 2018 we were ranked #1 in St. Louis, #1 in Missouri, and #108 nationwide. We stopped applying years later.
• Forbes 30 Under 30 alumn.

Notable Stories & Projects

• I built & sold Somewhere.com in 4 years for $52m.
• I started & sold a boutique hotel in downtown St. Louis.
• My story was featured in the book Company of One by Paul Jarvis
• I worked at MetaLab as a Partner in their software division for a short time. I co-founded a software service called Peak with Andrew and the team there.
• I was kicked out of Canada while building Peak – fun story (for a future blog post). While I had nothing to do with it, I witnessed Slack get designed and built at MetaLab during my time there. That experience ingrained in me that massive things can have tiny beginnings.
• I funded my first startup at 21 by moving to Chile for an equity free grant from the Chilean government.
• I spent 2019 traveling full-time through Europe and Asia with my wife, funded entirely by credit card points.
• My longest running company (12+ years) is Peel, a minimalist essentials brand from Need/Want. Peel is most well known for creating the original super thin iPhone case. I sold the business in 2023.
• I built

Investing

I bought a boutique building in downtown St. Louis called The Ludwig and started buying residential rental properties in the area.

I occasionally invest in my friend's companies and startups. I’m a part owner in Loop Internet, a fiber internet provider in Pennsylvania. Finally, I've invested a chunk of my net-worth into Tiny as an LP. They run a fund focused on buying wonderful internet businesses.

What I Write About

I write and teach about a range of topics branching from my own experience being an entrepreneur for the last 10 years. Some popular topics I write about:

• Starting & Growing Businesses – I've started businesses in e-commerce, hospitality, services, digital goods, software, and real estate.
• Making Physical Products – everything from designing and prototyping a physical product idea, getting it manufactured overseas, building an e-commerce store, and growing a brand.
• Building Wealth – all things personal finance, investing, real estate, and passive income.
• Travel Rewards – one of my favorite hobbies has become accumulating and optimizing credit card points to travel for free.
• Productivity & Improvement – I'm always looking for ways to improve my life or free up my time through delegation.
• Car Collecting & Passion Projects – I'm an avid car enthusiast and collector. My wife and I have a mutual love of architecture, so we're always building something.

Today

I’m 34 years old and live in Frisco, Texas with my wife Jaimie and our 2 kids Finn and Vera.

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