The
team
We’ve been thinking about decentralized messaging protocols long before blockchain was the hip thing to do. Our early iterations were on a project called Spatch.
We’ve been working in this space for almost 5 years. We’ve learned a lot through the false-starts and dead-ends. We’re tackling complex and difficult engineering challenges. With each attempt we’re getting that much closer to our ultimate vision: a fully decentralized and unstoppable communication network. Brick by brick, we’re laying the foundation for an essential layer of the new web. We’re building something that will change the world.
Don’t blink or you might miss it.
Team
We’re a team of 15 full-time people based mostly in Utah (a few remote developers). You can read our hiring values and better understand the types of people we try to surround ourselves with.
Mick Hagen
CEO/Founder
A Princeton CS dropout, Mick started Zinch which was later acquired by Chegg (NYSE: CHGG). Mick helped Zinch grow to an international, 8-figure revenue-run-rate startup that served millions of students and 800+ colleges & universities worldwide. Active angel investor/mentor in startup community.
Brad Hagen
Business Development & Sales
Experienced entrepreneur growing early stage companies. Focused in sales, biz dev, and biz strategy. Brad loves the hustle and puts deals together. Cofounder of Zinch (acquired), built/managed sales team (0 to $10m revenue run rate); VP Lendio (partnerships with top 100 banks); Cofounder of Studio/Brandr (acquired), owned biz dev/ revenue.
Cahlan Sharp
Head of Product
Passionate technologist, entrepreneur, investor, former engineer. Spent a decade building full-stack applications at various startups and enterprises. Founder and CEO of one of the largest and most successful coding academies in the US, at its height an 8-figure company, acquired in 2016. Obsessive problem solver.
Matt Larson
Business Development & Strategy
As a BD Executive, Matt has built global developer ecosystems for multiple startups, most recently at Xamarin (1 million+ devs, acquired by Microsoft). Since 2016, Matt’s been active in crypto/blockchain tech. He was part of the MS Blockchain Team, and he’s been investing in and advising startups in the space.
Doug Leonard
Back-end Engineer
CryptoKitty breeder, blockchain enthusiast, entrepreneur and engineer. Five year engineer, formerly spent as a mobile engineer and distributed systems architect. With his wife, runs a podcast focuses on married entrepreneurs. Has a Masters of Information Systems from Brigham Young University.
Duane Johnson
Back-end Engineer
Duane has over twenty years of experience in software development, including building infrastructure for trading systems, and web-based user interface design. He was involved in blockchain tech in 2010 when Bitcoin attracted attention, and later invested in the Ethereum presale. He has a BS in Computer Science from Brigham Young University.
David Sun
Community Management
A passionate crypto-advocate since 2013, David is experienced at multi-language community work for global blockchain projects. His eye opening experience working at Comcast, and subsequently studying Communications at the University of Washington has propelled him to become a fiery advocate for privacy and freedom of communication.
Investors & Venture Capital Firms
Our investors are deeply familiar with the world of messaging, collaboration & work-focused tools. It’s an honor to have these smart people believe in us. We’re also backed by some of the best venture capital firms in the world.
Lars Rasmussen
Founder of Google Wave
Previously lead for Facebook @ Work
Georg Ell
GM of Yammer
Collaboration product acquired by Microsoft
Andy Mcloughlin
Founder of Huddle
Enterprise collaboration product
Sam Khavari
Engineering Manager at Zimbra
Open source enterprise email
Hoa Viet Dinh
Founder of Sparrow
Successful email product acquired by Google
Shreyas Doshi
Product Manager at Twitter
Focused on Messaging
These venture capital firms have also invested in Facebook, Square, Uber, Docker, Viv, Dollar Shave Club, Honest Company, and many more…
