Multiple Degrees (from Life U.)

A big part of what I bring to the table is a well-rounded (and somewhat unorthodox) diversity of experience and skills. I look at business through the lens of a grounded pragmatist as well as an artist and a philosopher, someone who's been around the block and done everything from construction to coding.

After graduating from UCLA as a Theater, Film & TV major, I was pursuing acting and writing in Hollywood when I started Mindbody. Oddly enough it was the perfect background for creating software that the boutique fitness crowd would relate to. Long before the term "UX" was widely known, I approached software architecture and interface design as an actor/writer, since that's what I knew. I put myself in the "role" of the customer, saw the world through their eyes, and made software not for myself but for them.

Many years and 65K customers later, I preach and teach the exact same thing. Customer obsession is easy to bray on about, but extremely difficult to do well. It's a mix of science AND art.