I began my software development journey coding on my TI-84 calculator in middle school. In high school my goal was to write an iOS application to track my own migraine headaches and needed to expand my knowledge.
I learned C, C++, and then Objective-C. For my final project as a senior in high school I released two iOS applications.
I studied Computer Science in college at Northwestern University, had a number of software development internships during college and then co-founded my own software startup, Ryu Games, at the end of college which I co-led as CTO for 6 years before it was acquired by Treasure in 2024.
For more information check out the related sections below or follow along the timeline below:
Began iOS Development
Pictured above: First year sales numbers on the App Store
Learned how to code with C/C++ and then Objective-C. Released my first iOS application, MyMigraine in May of 2014 — an app to track migraine headaches.
Started at Northwestern University
Began working towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science in the engineering school at Northwestern University.
Released Draw Me That
Pictured above: Draw Me That game design doc
Released my first well-designed game, Draw Me That, on the iOS App Store, which reached 13,000 downloads.
Interned at Enernoc
Worked on a web app as my intern project during the summer in Boston.
Began working for Northwestern Student Holdings
Worked for the student-run company, Northwestern Student Holdings, first as a Technology Manager and then as the interim-CTO.
Released Slime Sports
Released the first of many versions of my game, Slime Sports. Over the years I have updated it and at one point re-wrote it from Objective-C into Swift. I eventually integrated it with the real-money gaming solution we developed at Ryu Games. The Slime games were downloaded over 70,000 times on the App Store.
Grubhub
Worked as a member of the iOS team on the Grubhub for Drivers iOS application. Interned the summer of 2016 and throughout the year part-time in 2017. Implemented high-impact features for the Grubhub for Drivers iOS application: catering, GPS navigation, and tip visibility. I was the only intern to work alongside the full-time engineering staff.
Amazon
Pictured above: Me standing in front of the first Amazon Go store in Seattle during my first week interning at Amazon
Built a bug reporting tool for the Alexa Data Services team using React and Java (Spring). Completed internship project six weeks early and contributed to codebase alongside the full-time engineers. Accepted a full-time offer to join the Amazon Alexa Machine Learning team after graduating from Northwestern.
Graduated from Northwestern
Graduated from Northwestern with a degree in Computer Science.
Began working on Ryu Games full-time
Pictured above: Me at a technology conference in Singapore presenting on Ryu
Attended and presented at a number of conferences around the world, including: Tokyo, Singapore, Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, and others. Began working on Ryu Games full-time (originally called Ryu Coin). Renegged on full-time offer from Amazon. Began development of an SDK for skill-based real-money gaming in iOS games.
Worked in Japan
Pictured above: Our view of Tokyo Bay from the O3 Labs office
Worked for three months from Tokyo full-time on Ryu Games. Shared an office space with O3 Labs overlooking Tokyo Bay.
Ryu Games moves to San Francisco
Pictured above: Our two-person WeWork office in the Financial District of San Francisco
Relocated to San Francisco and began working in the city. Moved into WeWork, entered 500 Startups and began scaling company.
Partnerships and first hires
Partnered with a number of iOS games and began releasing iOS games integrated with our real-money gaming solution. Made our first two hires.
Ryu Games raised $2.3M
Finished 500 Startups and raised a seed round for Ryu Games. Grew tech team to 7 people.
Launched Bingo Blitz and Hit 1000
Integrated real-money gaming solution into the games Bingo Blitz and Hit 1000. Launched both on the App Store in early 2021. Bingo Blitz was downloaded over 50,000 times and Hit 1000 was downloaded over 170,000 times.
Pivot to Steam for Web3
Pivoted to making a Steam for Web3 platform named Flame, a multi-chain desktop wallet and game store for games that use blockchain technology.
Developed and released Battle Blitz
Led development of Battle Blitz, a real-time multiplayer third-person shooter game built with Unreal Engine 5 and Google Kubernetes Engine.
Re-release of Slime on Flame
Pictured above: Slime Sports listed on Flame
In 2024 I updated Slime Sports to work for macOS devices and launched it as the first paid game on Flame. I updated all of the sports and improved multiple aspects of the game from physics, to performance, to design. I used this as an oppurtunity to develop the paid game system for Flame as well as developing our macOS SDK for games to communicate with the launcher.
Release of the Arbitrum Launcher
Ryu Games was accepted into the Arbitrum Long Term Incentive Pilot Program (LTIPP) and received a 75,000 ARB grant to develop the Arbitrum Launcher and award rewards to gamers for playing the games.
Ryu Games acquired by Treasure
Pictured above: The final voting result by the Treasure DAO on whether to acquire Ryu Games
Treasure DAO overwhelmingly voted to acquire Ryu Games. As part of the acquisition the entire Ryu Games team was hired to join Treasure to integrate our technology and I began my role as Technical Director at Treasure.
Integration of Ryu into Treasure
Began integration of Ryu Games into Treasure, including the launch of the Treasure Launcher and the sunsetting of the Flame and Arbitrum launchers.