Hi, I’m Chris! I’m passionate about helping entrepreneurs and small business owners—especially those without a technical background—use technology to improve their business.

I’ve spent most of my life immersed in technology, both as an entrepreneur and as a hobbyist. For ten years I was the CEO of a Web development and consulting firm, overseeing its operations and management (see “Business background,” below). I’ve been a high-tech enthusiast and general-purpose nerd for even longer than that—most of my life, in fact. As a result, I speak fluent “geek” as well as “suit,” and enjoy helping to bridge the communication gap between the two worlds.

Bits & Bytes 2.0 is the second incarnation of my blog about business and technology. [About this Website]

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Business background

In 1995 I founded my first company, GoTech, Inc., a Web development firm based in Seattle. As GoTech’s CEO from 1995-2005, I was responsible for managing the company’s growth and building our team as we expanded to 15 employees. Mostly, though, I stayed out of the way as my more able co-founders did the hard work of marketing our services and managing our projects.¹

From our humble origins as three teenagers with $700 in starting capital, the next ten years saw the company achieve significant growth and a number of notable accomplishments. GoTech earned a perennial listing in the Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of the region’s largest Web developers, and was profiled in the Seattle Times in a series on important local companies. We were repeatedly recognized for various honors by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and in 2004 received the City of Seattle’s prestigious Mayor’s Small Business Award (see photo, above).

GoTech’s client roster grew to included such regional and national luminaries as Microsoft, Hitachi, Regence BlueShield, the State of Washington, Embassy Suites Hotels, Blimpie Subs, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Schwartz Brothers Restaurants. Our projects spanned the entire field of Web development, including Website design, e-commerce, intranet programming, email marketing campaigns, online survey management tools, and more.

Ten years is a long time to spend in any job, nevermind the one I began when I was 19 years old. After exploring a variety of options, GoTech was dissolved in February 2006, and the three founders amicably went our separate ways.

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Personal biography

Born in New York, my family moved to Washington State when I was very young.²

The unfortunate fact that I was a mediocre student turned out to be the basis of my first career. While attending St. Lawrence University in 1994, all of the time that I should have spent studying was instead spent playing around on the pre-Web Internet (Bulletin Board Systems, Usenet, Gopher, etc). Then the first fully graphical Web browser (Mosaic) was released, soon followed by Netscape, and my studies didn’t stand a chance. I dropped out of college to start a Web development business, enlisting my two closest friends as co-founders.

The next ten years of my life were consumed by the roller coaster ride of managing a startup technology company. [See "Business background," above.]

My first love has always been the written word, and my entrepreneurial background now informs my new career as a writer and public speaker. I’m not accepting new consulting or speaking engagements at this time, but you can contact me here if you’d like me to get in touch once I’m available.

I have a number of personal hobbies and interests, starting with reading—particularly in history, business, science fiction, and philosophy. Having completed my first marathon in 2008, I’ve turned my competitive passion to triathlons. I’m also a big fan of the Seattle Mariners, though that has been more of a chore than a hobby in recent years.

Finally, here is my pictorial autobiography (in 20 photos or less!).

 

1. I may have provided the initial spark, but they kept the fire burning long past the time when my own meager contributions had dwindled. This isn’t false modesty, it’s simply a fact. I’m not very good at modesty, real or false. [↩]
2. Mt. St. Helens had erupted less than a year earlier, with the national news showing images of Washington as a post-volcanic wasteland full of devastated forests and decapitated mountains. I was greatly relieved when my new home turned out to be a lot less terrifying than I originally feared! [↩]