Talk for West Coast EA retreat, Apr 2026

What are projects?

• projects vs schoolwork
• projects vs employment
• projects vs “orgs” or “startups”
• so: a project is a labor of love, starts small, on the side

some of the projects I’ve started:

• Manifund, nonprofit charity
• Manifold, tech startup
• Mox, coworking space
• Manifest, conference/festival
• Taco Tuesday, weekly dinner series
• many, many websites and apps

Why start projects?

• it’s fun!
• you get to make a thing happen, the way you want it to
  • a lot of impact comes from founding the thing, ability to shape and steer
  • projects can then scale up, take on a life of their own
• you learn a lot
  • learn a lot faster when you’re directly responsible
  • also, covers things that you don’t learn as an employee
    • full spectrum: leadership, sales, marketing, eng, product, finances, etc
    • ultimate responsibility, hero license
• “good for resume” “prestigious”
• “EA needs new projects”