Five things I believe about technology in growing companies.
The rest of the site is downstream of them — the services I offer, the kind of operators I work with, why Bloom looks the way it does.
Most companies don't need a CTO.
They need someone who'll own the technology lane and tell them the truth. A full-time CTO is the right answer at a specific stage — and plenty of operators are years away from it, or never need one at all. They're at the stage where they need a partner who can sit in their leadership meetings, make real decisions, and ship.
Revenue-built, not venture-built.
My clients are typically operators running 10–300 person companies — revenue-built, not venture-built. Different problems, different cadence, different definition of "good enough." That's the lane I know.
Strategy without shipping is just expensive talk.
I do both because they're the same job. The strategy work I'm most proud of came from being in the code the week before. The build work I'm most proud of came from understanding the GTM, the sales motion, and the customer. Splitting these jobs into different people is how most companies end up with strategy decks that never get built and builds that solve the wrong problem.
Solo isn't a temporary state.
Bloom isn't a one-person agency on its way to being a five-person agency. The whole model breaks if I scale it. If an engagement needs more hands than mine, we'll talk about it before it happens and you'll know exactly who's doing what — but the default answer is me, and that's not changing.
I'd rather say no than do work I shouldn't.
I'm selective about who I take on, and I've turned down work that didn't fit. That's not exclusivity — it's the only way the engagements I do take on actually deliver. If we talk and I don't think I'm right for the work, I'll tell you, and I'll usually know someone who is.
I spent the start of my career as a software engineer at Fortune 100 companies, building software that mattered to the org but rarely to the end user — and never on the timelines I'd have chosen. The work that actually fulfilled me happened after hours: launching startups, building websites for local businesses, advising small companies that had no idea what to do with technology. That side of the work taught me everything the day job didn't — GTM, sales, operations, revenue, how to listen to a non-technical owner and figure out what they actually need.
I started Bloom in January 2021, mostly as a way to do that work in daylight. It began as web dev and SEO for whoever would hire me — low-hanging fruit while I was finishing school. As I kept listening to the people on the other side of those projects, the work got more strategic, and Bloom grew into what it is now.
Today I'm CTO of Ferris, a startup I run alongside Bloom. Most of my consulting engagements come through that network. Ferris is its own full-time job, so I'm selective about how many Bloom clients I take on — every one of them gets an unreasonable share of my focus, and I'd rather say no than dilute it.
Outside work, I live in Northern Virginia with my wife and two cats, and play more basketball than is probably reasonable.
I moved to NOVA in early 2022 for work and stayed because of the community. Four years in, my wife and I plan to keep building our life here. That's the reason Bloom For Good exists — not because pro-bono is a marketing strategy, but because the place I live is full of nonprofits doing important work without anyone in their corner who can help them with technology. Local matters because I'm local. I want to be the person who shows up.