From Shark Tank to $300M exit. Marine. Founder @plated & @hopwtr. Now saving founders from making my same mistakes @GoIgnition
Santa Monica, CA
Joined December 2008
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Most benefits brokers won't explain how this landscape actually works.
We built @GoIgnition to change that.
Save money, deliver a better employee experience, and full transparency for your C-suite.
Have a listen:
youtube.com/shorts/VOaXb3Web…
Five years at Plated. Millions spent on benefits.
My broker never once re-bid our plan.
The data to get a better deal existed the whole time. I just was never shown it.
Short video on what that gap costs and what I'm doing about it.
youtu.be/cNGHTTjKRWg
The benefits renewal that arrives 30 days before your effective date, with a rate increase and nowhere to go?
That's not bad timing.
That's the play.
Wrote about the mechanics — and what actually different looks like. Take a look:
ignitionbenefits.com/blog/a-…
Today I'm launching @GoIgnition!
When I was building Plated, we were spending millions on health benefits. Our broker had been with us for years. What I found out later: he'd never once shopped our plan against the market — and we were overpaying 15–30%. On a 100-person company, that's $180K–$360K a year. Gone. Silently.
He had the data. He just had no reason to share it.
Ignition pulls the full market picture for companies with 25–500 employees — every carrier, no filter. We use the data carriers have always had. You just never had access to it.
We built Ignition because the system was built to profit off founder inertia — and we decided to do something about it.
Full story + the math behind why this keeps happening to founders doing everything else right: ignitionbenefits.com/blogs/i…
Just sold @HopWtr. Here's what building it actually taught me:
Great product ≠ great company. Distribution wins.
Customers will humble you fast. Good. Ego is the liability.
Think about your acquirer earlier than feels comfortable.
Gross margin, gross margin, gross margin.
Taking all of it into my next venture. Different category, leveled-up learning.
The company is on fire. Your team is staring at you. No playbook exists.
Here's what I actually do:
1. Stop. Don't spiral. Panicked moves create more mess.
2. Name the REAL problem. Not the symptom — the root.
3. List what you control. That's your whole world right now.
4. Pick ONE move. Buys time or information. Execute. Reassess.
5. Communicate before you're ready. Silence kills trust faster than bad news.
You don't need a perfect plan. You need a clear head and a next step.
2.Name
Fundraising hot take.
Investors aren't buying your certainty. They're buying your ability to hold a view under pressure and update it honestly.
Founders who fold at the first hard question don't get funded.
Neither do founders who can't admit what they don't know.
Conviction ≠ certainty. Learn the difference.
"Commander's intent" is the most underrated management framework in startups.
Tell your team what winning looks like and why it matters.
Then get out of the way.
The alternative is you become the bottleneck. And you will.
Intent > Micromanagement. Purpose > Process.