about

The person

Not the CV. The human.

I am a husband to an amazing wife, and a father to two exceptional children. I love my family with my whole heart.

I am curious. It is the most consistent thing about me across every context - professional, personal, intellectual.

I grew up in South Africa, and I think that shapes how I see the world more than most things. Building here means building in the presence of real constraints - infrastructure that fails, capital that is thin, institutions that are unreliable - and those constraints force a kind of creative rigour that comfortable markets don't necessarily require.

I believe strongly in holding opinions and being willing to abandon them when presented with better evidence.

Outside of work I read across genres and disciplines, think about things, and occasionally write. I also build software, mostly because I enjoy the combination of logic and craft involved, and because it keeps me up to date about what is actually technically possible. Vibe coding has helped me do more with less time. I always keep a human in the loop.

Beyond that I enjoy carpentry, mountain climbing/hiking, shooting, lifting, beer, braai/barbeque, rugby, golf, mountain biking

> see career & work

location:: South Africa
born:: 1994
reads:: Strategy, philosophy, fiction, history
builds:: Commercial systems & software & financial models

A few more things

things most people don't know

Afrikaans is my home language, English second Physical notebook > digital notes My record for finishing a 500ml beer is 1.34 seconds Got married at 23 Finished school at 17 Cold quit 2 very addictive substances Made my first money at 8 selling cassette tapes Have scrapped months of work and started over, more than once Can become completely obsessed with one idea until it is resolved Only have Twitter and LinkedIn, no other socials active anymore. My wish is to have none one day Discovering Twitter/X in 2024 has changed my view of many things I think best while walking, not sitting My phone is on silent 100% of the time I still use the same email address created at age 14 Have never broken a bone, which is surprising Prefer to send voice notes, but receive actual texts I read multiple books at the same time We got dial up internet when I was 13 (Keeeeyyy errrrr beeeep ong dee ong waaahhh urrrrrr.) Only got wifi when I was 18 The first time I ever shot a buck at 9 I got two with one shot 85% of my clothes are black, 12% dark green/blue/brown, 3% other only because I must I have had 3 very near death experiences When I was 8 I read 103 books in one year for a school competition (from the library, with a half page summary on each to prove it was read) and still lost by 4 books to a grade 7 girl I have been around a racetrack at >320km/h with a retired F1 driver and German champion. I learned that I like speed but not that much I have been on stage to sing a song with my favourite rock band at a large festival I track my days on +80 parameters - OR none at all I used to be obsessive about one thing every summer growing up. Cutting down trees using only an axe, writing poetry (+100 written in one summer but lost the books later), computer games, body board etc.