I love the outdoors, technology, film, literature, my family, and freedom.
In July 2020, I was contacted by Paul Ahlstrom, coauthor of Nail It then Scale It and storied Utah venture capitalist with more investment experience than can be enumerated here. Paul was frustrated at the lack of visibility in the Utah tech and business ecosystem. Even during the pandemic, there were deals happening every day, with new ventures, investments, mergers, acquisitions, and more. The problem was there was no single clearinghouse for that information. If you were well connected and paying attention, you might hear about some of it through the grapevine, but that was it. Paul wanted to change that, and recruited me to cofound TechBuzz News.
The Beehive State is a rising power on the national business scene. 24/7 Wall Street named Utah as the strongest state economy in 2020, and research from the University of Utah shows we have the most diverse economy as well. The state also had over $30 Billion in exits in 2020. By 2023, Utah had the second-highest number of unicorn startups, just behind California. As tech companies go fully remote and major firms flee Silicon Valley, Utah looks even more appealing.
With TechBuzz News, we want to shine a light on the business growth and technology innovation happening in Utah. Everybody benefits from greater visibility, including founders, investors, partners, and even customers. It’s our goal to help drive Utah to become the top economy in the nation by every metric.
In the Spring of 2019, I connected with the founders of Mission.org (on Twitter of all places). They invited me on as a guest to their flagship show Mission Daily, but the dialogue didn’t end after the episode aired. They liked my previous media work, and I liked what they were putting into the world. Making something together seemed a natural fit.
As executive producer, writer, and cohost for their newest podcast Hidden in Plain Sight, I explored how the massive amount of data being created every day was illuminating solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems. I outlined topics and episodes, interviewed global experts, integrated client feedback, and crafted narrative scripts discussing large scale, data-driven initiatives. In total we developed ten 22-minute episodes narrated by film and television star Sophia Bush.
While at Mission I also produced, wrote, and hosted Season 3 of The Journey. Each week I interviewed from a wide range of entrepreneurs, distilling their story, lessons, and experiences into ~12-minute episodes.
In 2017, I was recruited to join the team at Mainframe in promoting their upcoming token sale and launch. I introduced the idea of turning crypto “airdrops” literal, with physical tokens falling from the sky. We held an Airdrop Tour through five cities in Asia, another six cities through Europe, and an Airdrop party in New York City at Consensus 2018. The move was unique enough to generate earned press from major outlets (like Fortune and VentureBeat) and generate huge interest in our token sale, leading to the immediate launch of our token onto major cryptocurrency exchanges. I also had the pleasure of playing emcee at our numerous events.
After the token sale, we continued to build the name of Mainframe with creative media and events to compellingly communicate with everybody we encountered.
In 2015, I was contacted by BYUtv and asked if I could create a show for a young adult audience. After working on the project for almost two years, The New Creatives went to air Summer 2017 . I acted as creator, writer, host, and creative lead. In each episode we explored how independent creative professionals express themselves through new media, new tools, and new platforms. Our season included ten 25-minute episodes with ten truly unique guests, as well as additional interviews and web-exclusive content, featuring YouTube stars, musicians, activists, filmmakers, and more.
I’m really proud of what we put together, and it was incredibly rewarding to work with so many artists I personally admire, including my own crew.
Learn more about The New Creatives on Facebook, Instagram, and at BYUtv.org.
In 2013, for the first three months of our post-honeymoon life, my dazzling wife and I lived using bitcoin for every living expense. That included gas, rent, groceries, insurance, entertainment, and travel.
Our goal was not only to learn about this new and incredible technology, but to educate others. We successfully crowdfunded a documentary film about the experiment, raising over $70,000 on Kickstarter and significantly more in direct cryptocurrency contributions and sponsorship. Through our lifestyle experiment, we spoke with experts, skeptics, and evangelists, and offered audiences a human story through which they could learn an otherwise technical and difficult subject.
Despite announcing our efforts the same week as the Edward Snowden revelations, we still got coverage in major tech (Fast Company, PandoDaily), finance (WSJ, Bloomberg), and film (Variety, Hollywood Reporter) press. In addition to the lifestyle experiment on camera, I ultimately took the helm as director and editor of the film as well. It was an amazing experience that took us around the world.
You can see film now on Amazon, VidAngel, iTunes, Vudu, Roku, Plex, and Tubi, among others.
My efforts in crowdfunding have collectively raised about $1.5 million in pre-sales, and many millions more after product launch.
I co-wrote, produced, and directed this video for Snappower. The brilliance of the product made the work easy. Their campaign raised over $839,000 in pre-orders on Kickstarter.
I wrote, produced, and directed this campaign video for Plugfones’ second product. The campaign was a huge hit, generating over $427,000 in presales during the Kickstarter run.
At Orabrush, we launched our second product via Indiegogo. Extensive customer feedback told us there was a strong market for a dog tongue cleaner. We called it Orapup. We raised $62,000 in a month, and pre-sold $750,000 worth of product before shipping just a few months later.
If a wedding and marriage weren't challenging enough, my wife Beccy and I did something completly different. We crowdfunded a film about living entirely on the new currency Bitcoin for over 3 months. The campaign raised $73k on Kickstarter and even more via outside sponsors.
In 2014, I co-founded the Pocket Film Fest, the festival of mobile made films.
Our vision was simple. Great films come from invention, creativity, and story. We want to see what happens when everybody, from the seasoned film pro to the aspiring teen auteur, uses the gear we already have in our pocket. Whether it's a masterpiece filmed on iPod, a vision edited on Android, or an action-cam thrill ride, we want to see it. What can you do with the camera already in your pocket?
We saw thousands of submissions from dozens of countries, viewed by hundreds of attendees.
The Pocket Film Fest hosted two very successful years of activity before work on The New Creatives demanded my full-time effort.
Beginning in 2009, I worked with a brilliant team to build the Orabrush brand from no sales online or offline to millions of brushes sold in tens of thousands of stores in hundreds of countries.
Our entire strategy was founded on YouTube video. Our Bad Breath Test was named one of the most Iconic Ads of YouTube's first decade alongside brands like Old Spice, Dove, and Pepsi. We were also honored as Webby Award nominees. In addition to incredible buzz online, we earned mainstream press from The New York Times, Nightline, the Wall Street Journal, numerous mentions from AdAge, and countless other.
We produced literally hundreds of videos. Many of our best were part of initiatives that never launched, and the videos never publicly showcased. Some of those are listed here.
Orabrush has been a favorite case study among YouTube internally, has been written about in marketing textbooks, and has been the subject of countless blog posts, fan media, and professional and armchair analysis. We crafted, told, and retold our story many times to great effect.
In early 2015, Orabrush was acquired and became a Dentek brand. Kudos for this accomplishment also go to colleagues at the Harmon Brothers, Ackermania Creative, and Molio.
I've spoken and hosted many times at marketing, video, and tech conferences across the country and internationally, in places like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, London, Prague, Beijing, and more.
Google invited me to keynote a conference they hosted in Mumbai India, but the challenge of getting a visa ended my plans for that trip. ( ಠ╭╮ಠ )
I write, produce, voice and act in film and video of all kinds. Across all channels, my videos have received roughly 100 million views online.
In between projects, I’ve taken independent directing and producing gigs. In Dec. 2014, I produced this behind-the-scenes look at a record breaking music video, the world's largest live nativity, which I was also a creative contributor to. The record breaking video has 8 million views.
As a creative lead at Molio, the ad-tech firm spun out of Orabrush, I wrote and directed videos for household name brands like Wilson Golf.
While at Molio, I wrote and directed this piece for ghd hair. It was one of my favorites from my time there.
Often I pursue projects simply because I want them to exist, not because it has the imminent prospect of making me money. And sometimes it’s just for fun.
Never Launched
In 2015 I got the wheels rolling on a hardware startup I was calling Shadowcast. I was hopeful to launch on Kickstarter. I entered the #StartMadness pitch competition. The concept was well received, but I was encouraged to develop further before seeking funding. But when BYUtv approached me and asked if I’d produce a show for them, I took that opportunity to develop The New Creatives.
Just for Fun
In college, I did a little YouTube channel with my roommates called No Parents TV. It was a ton of fun, but alas, life happens, and our little channel ended when we all got busy.
I flirted with the idea of starting my own YouTube channel. This is one of my favorites, filmed during my crazy talking-with-my-hands phase. Forgive the hands.
Then one time I did this video with Teddie Films. Now over 3.1 million people have seen me on a toilet.
Once I accidentally became an internationally renowned Bigfoot hunter. That was fun.
