Metalabel (2021 – Present)
The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet (2019 – 2024)
Cozy Cozy (2020-2023)
The Bento Society (2019-2021)
This Could Be Our Future (2019)
Bentoism (2018)
The Ideaspace (2017 – Present)
Micd (2015 – 2017)
The Creative Independent (2015)
Kickstarter (2009 – 2017)
eMusic Selects (2006 – 2010)

Metalabel
Role: Director/Cofounder
Date: 2021 — Present
(link)

Metalabel is a new platform for releasing, selling, and exhibiting creative work.

The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet
Role: Editor/Author
Date: February 21, 2024
(link)

The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet is a beautifully designed, 208-page book combining text and images to tell an alternately harrowing and empowering story of life on the web, co-written by Venkatesh Rao, Maggie Appleton, Peter Limberg, Caroline Busta,  Do Not Research, New Models, Trust Support, Leith Benkhedda, and myself.

Cozy Cozy
Role: Guitar/Voice
Date: 2020 — 2023
(link)

Cozy Cozy is a musical project by my family inspired by the music of Don Cherry and Life Without Buildings and the spirit of a six-year-old who loves to make music. We’ve made a full-length album, The Family Album (2021), several full-length experiments, and our best work, the Animal Sounds EP (2022). All songs are improvised in a single take.

The Bento Society
Role: Creator/Community Manager
Date: 2019 — 2021
(link)

The Bento Society was a global community of people brought together by the philosophy of Bentoism. From 2019 to 2021, the Bento Society hosted virtual and IRL events for members to explore their values through conversation and role-play; set their weekly priorities; and connect with members from around the world. Bento Society activities included multiple seasons of Bento Groups — collections of ten people or less who went on scripted journeys across multiple months to explore their values. The Bento Society was hibernated in October 2021.

This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World
Role: Author
Date: October 29, 2019 (Published)
(link)

Published by Viking/Penguin, This Could Be Our Future makes the case for an expansion of values and an expansion of self in the 21st century. The book explores the challenges and limitations of financial maximization as society’s one key metric, and proposes a new approach, called Bentoism, to identify a wider set of values and paths forward. The book has been published in five countries and languages.

Bentoism
Role: Founder
Date: August 2018
(link)

Bentoism describes the philosophy derived from the Bento — a way of visualizing self-interest through four distinct dimensions: Now Me, what I as an individual want and need right now; Future Me, what my future self wants me to do in a given situation; Now Us, what the people who I rely on and who rely on me want and need; and Future Us, what our children and everyone else’s children want and need. The Bentoism.org website was created with artist Laurel Schwulst and software developer Taichi Aritomo, combining a simple hand-drawn slideshow experience and the serenity of clouds to help people learn and explore.

The Ideaspace
Role: Author/host
Date: 2017 — Present
(link)

The Ideaspace is a newsletter started in October 2017 to explore the frontiers of values and the self. The Ideaspace has published more than 60 essays, a podcast, and continues to be my primary vehicle for sharing new ideas.

Micd
Role: Cofounder
Date: 2015 — 2017
(link)

Micd was an audio-only app that let fans announce NBA games. A side project from 2015 to 2017 with cofounders Zack Sears (design) and Qanta Shinzu (Engineering), Micd was a precursor to Clubhouse and the later social audio wave. During its brief run, Micd was mainly distributed via TestFlight to fellow NBA fans.

The Creative Independent
Role: Cofounder
Date: 2015 (Launched)
(link)

The Creative Independent is a growing resource of emotional and practical advice for creative people. Offering one interview or essay by an artist almost every day for the past five years, The Creative Independent has featured wisdom from David Byrne, Philip Glass, Stevie Nicks, Ocean Vuong, and hundreds more artists.

Kickstarter
Role: Cofounder/former CEO
Date: 2009 (Launched)
(link)

A platform for bringing creative projects to life that pioneered and established the crowdfunding model. Through Kickstarter, more than 150,000 creative projects have been successfully funded, and more than $7 billion has been pledged to support creative projects.

eMusic Selects
Role: Creator
Date: 2006 — 2010
(link)

eMusic Selects was a digital-only record label launched from within the eMusic music service in 2006. The label released debut material from young artists who we found at basement shows and in scouring MySpace pages and blogs for new music. Our contract gave the label a 90-day digital exclusive, allowed the artists to maintain all the rights to their work, and paid the artist all proceeds from sales and downloads of their music. eMusic Selects released early material from Best Coast, Hurray for the Riff Raff, High Places, Homeboy Sandman, Girls, Breathe Owl Breathe, Rural Alberta Advantage, Mingering Mike, and others.