Developer relations Developer relations
The seven-minute test
The critical step for attracting and exciting developers in your community is helping them compile the code. Here's the simple test: if an end user is slightly interested (but not religious) about your project, could they contribute something useful within seven minutes?
If so, great! Your community is growing. If not, you have a problem no amount of marketing can fix.
The seven-minute test is easy to say and hard to pass. It requires clear documentation, a working build system, a welcoming contribution process, and a product people actually want to touch.
Case study — Ethereum
In the Ethereum community, we helped to standardize how NFTs work. I am the lead author of ERC-721, the document that started the NFT industry.
- Helped to standardize how NFTs work
- Evangelized and onboarded developers
- Built the standards process for new standards
- Improved Solidity, the smart contracts language
Today, NFTs are the primary onramp for new developers to blockchain. And it is the only legal use case in China.
My work was sponsored in part by Ethereum Foundation and Microsoft/GitHub.
These photos show successful completion of my workshop where people (even with zero programming experience) created and deployed a smart contract.
Case study — TRON
I build communities for technology events and products. This includes hackathons like the TRON DAO Hackatron and exciting, interactive workshops to explain what is NFT/blockchain.
Here is a paid promotional video I did for TRON vs. Ethereum.
Hackathons and community events
Like any great party, you need a great theme. Don't pick the theme "a bunch of college kids showing up to learn about your product and do your work without pay," that's so 2010's! Instead, try "career development," "apprenticeship," "serene getaway" and nothing wrong with "performative," "experimental," or "turnt."
Usually these events are public, see some past appearances.
Smart contract audits & zero-day research Security
Crypto projects lose all their money immediately when they get hacked. Before you ship, know the exact risks no one talks about: bad message signing, dApp admin takeovers, and browser zero-days that can kill your product overnight — plus the simple fixes that actually work.
Code reviews / smart contract audits
Some typical design and code review work I have done includes:
Published zero-day research
- With Apple, Inc: Apple leaking private customer information over insecure HTTP
- With the FBI, FINRA, NCFTA: Trading stocks in other people's accounts on Zecco
- GitHub Pages: anyone can publish to your site
- CVE-2019-20809: Compound Finance: prices can move faster than advertised
- Discovered backdoor in OpenSea shared storefront
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Business plan & white paper reviews Advisory
The biggest unspoken desperation for most founders: "I need someone smart to look at my white paper / business plan / pitch deck before I burn another month or waste investor meetings."
In advisory sessions I do technical and business review on a weekly cadence with CEO and CTO, working on execution. This includes securitization models, revenue projections, on-chain vs. off-chain architecture decisions, liquidation mechanics, and pitch-deck narrative.
Live example: in Community Service Hour episode 137, I dissected an entire airplane-leasing business plan in real time — securitization, revenue models, tranches, and exactly which parts should be on-chain.
This is the same deep-dive review you get in your first advisory session. See achieved outcomes on my advisory page.
Standards, regulation & compliance Standards
From writing the ERC-721 standard to sitting directly with the new SEC Crypto Task Force — turn regulatory complexity into a competitive advantage that makes investors say "yes" faster.
- Lead author of ERC-721 (NFT standard)
- Contributed to the Ethereum standards process and EIP editorial review
- Worked with regulatory bodies on compliance frameworks for digital assets
Standards work creates a moat: when your project is built on top of the standard you helped write, investors and partners notice. Compliance done right isn't a cost center — it's a closing argument.
Client list Advisory & consulting
(With permission)
EY (Ernst & Young)
Reviewed the implementation of Nightfall, EY's first NFT project for supply chain. Contributed since before product launch with technical review, customer workshops, road show, and regulatory liaise.
Airbus A³
Advised on Airbus's first blockchain project through their A3 initiative.
Arianee
Started by reviewing the white paper, stayed on to advise the team through successful growth. Integrated into Breitling, Richemont, Lacoste, and Moncler. Contributed technical review and roadshow.
Treasure (TreasureDAO)
Helped Treasure recover and re-launch after a hack. Completed Bridgeworld Harvesters, Trove Marketplace, and Treasure Marketplace emergency contract reviews.
Dream Syndicate
Architected the product plan to launch Rawlings baseball gloves as their first NFT project.
TRON DAO
Ran interactive workshops for the TRON DAO Hackatron and produced a paid promotional video for TRON vs. Ethereum.
NFT.NYC
First closing speaker at the first annual NFT.NYC event.
Aleph Crypto Fund
First advisor to the fund, participating in all technical advisory and review.
BananaConf
Formerly BananaCorp, NFT Tallinn, ETH Tallinn.
Additional clients: Light.art, Origins NFT, Lucid Sight (MLB Champions), Nebula Revelation, Fog Works, Namefi.io, Kred, EPIK Prime, DLT.education, GenoBank.io, SOMOS Bustamante Labs, a checkout processor in the sports/events industry, a hedge fund, and expert witness for investor lawsuit.
Client brand projects
Work that reached these brands through my advisory clients:
Zero to one Products
Products I launched as a founder or part of a founding team.
Foggie by Fog Works, Inc. is a backup device that comes in pairs. All your files, always backed up, to two places.
Thousands sold & online, space is rented as blockchain tokens. I contributed strategic advisory, product design, marketing, road shows.
physical device blockchain enabled
EY Nightfall is an enterprise supply chain tracking protocol. This product is foundational in building the EY global blockchain team.
Early enterprise pilots and ongoing use cases. I contributed since before product launch with technical review, customer workshops, road show, and regulatory liaise.
physical device NFT enabled
Arianee is a product authenticity and customer engagement company.
Integrated into Breitling, Richemont, Lacoste and Moncler. I contributed to the whitepaper and business launch planning, technical review, and roadshow.
physical device NFT enabled
GenoBank.io is your DNA, anonymized with NFTs.
Secured government mandate to require its product for all passengers arriving to country. I contributed product development, software lead, marketing, development documentation, solutions architecting, retail packaging, laboratory integrations.
physical product NFT enabled
Modern Training Solutions creates world-class learning experiences and systems for students.
We have been the exclusive government provider for CPR training in Pennsylvania child care facilities. I am the founding owner, responsible for growing the team to 20 workers, securing government and commercial sales, and leading product development.
Ethereum is the founding smart contract platform.
I started developer relations at Ethereum with the current community-run standards process. I also contributed the NFT specification ERC-721 and secured favorable government treatment for this trillion dollar asset class on each continent through extensive legwork. Zero to trillion.
Su Squares is the first ERC-721 NFT. The demonstration for a new trillion dollar asset class.
3,000 minted. I founded the project, contributing and open sourcing all code.
Light.art is a curated art collection with the best digital artists.
4 successful series launches. I joined the founding team and contributed development lead and management advisory.
Solopreneurship projects
- Learn with Echo (iOS) — hear yourself and native speakers to improve pronunciation.
- tbone AI — a template-based AI platform to deploy your own LLM assistants to your own team.
- Who's the Impostor? (iOS) — spy game with your friends. Top 100 games chart in MX, RU.
- Nineteen Eighty-Five (book) — a non-fiction edition of the George Orwell classic.
LISA is a 2035 planned NASA/ESA measurement constellation to find celestial bodies 10× farther than any other instrument.
I contributed the technical and business proposals which won NASA funding and achieved NASA design win for the photodetectors in this mission.
Open source templates are a collection of best practices and starting points for developers.
Achieved design integrations in 1,000+ iOS apps. 50,000+ GitHub stars (top 1%). Templates in Swift, GitHub Pages, Moodle and 100+ other open source projects.
For other projects I did not start from zero, see historical projects and advisory pages.
Historical projects Archive
Earlier career work showing depth across industries.
Pacific Medical Training 2013–2024
First company in the world to provide accredited CPR and advanced life support courses completely online. One of two brands qualified to sell life support training to the United States Army. I worked with investors to acquire the company and served as general manager.
Legal: Successfully protested tens of millions of dollars of federal procurements. Changed state regulations.
GitHub, Travis CI, OpenStack, LAMP, WordPress, Jekyll • 160,000 LOC; 30,000+ physicians, nurses, paramedics trained
CDI Corporation / L.R Kimball & DSPCon 2010–2013
Designed enterprise-wide budgeting and forecasting system, unifying planning across all subsidiaries globally. Product lead, requirements engineer and programmer.
IBM Cognos Planning, Oracle 10i, Excel • 80 systems replaced; $1B revenue budgeted • LinkedIn review
Discovery Semiconductors / CISCO 10Gbps Lab 2008–2010
Planned transformation of semiconductor manufacturer into systems company. 8-figure capital infusion involving site selection, tax planning, joint-venture structuring. Built 10 Gbps optical network laboratory for CISCO integration.
SONET, OC-192, CISCO 15000 ONS, EXFO • $400k system value • Discovery 10G • CISCO ONS
Naval ship system code auditing 2002–2004
Wrote and performed engineering test cases on ship networking and sensor systems at NAVSEA Philadelphia. Created code documentation tool for ADA. Software deployed on USS Ticonderoga class warships.
VMEbus, ADA, C, DOS Batch, Perl • Over 1M LOC per ship; each ship has custom code base
SEPTA rail scheduling collaboration 2008–2014
Collected 6 years of rail on-time performance data. Created proposed schedule modifications for consistently late trains. Results used by SEPTA's service planning group.
NBC Philadelphia • Metro Magazine • Technically Philly • Transit Wire • Grist
Security auditing for online financial systems 2008–2010
Led collaboration with FBI, FINRA, SEC, and investment banks to identify and resolve security holes allowing unauthorized access to retail investors' accounts.
Over 1M investors vulnerable • SMS spam case study • LinkedIn privacy • TD Ameritrade privacy
MRI producer study 2009
Lead analysis of operational best practices including surveys, interviews and psychological profiles of top employees at network of recruiting firms. Presented at global conferences.
400 survey participants, 300 offices • MRINetwork 2010 Pacesetter international convention
Management Resources International 2012
Managed migration and consolidation of management reporting systems. Data warehouse with Oracle to transform and connect separate systems.
IBM Cognos Report Studio, SAP Crystal Reports, Oracle 10i • 24 reports, live consolidation from 3 systems • LinkedIn review
