The Story
The broken things
taught me everything.
Wrong about the timing. Right about everything else. For 25 years. First URL on live TV. First webcast. First digital record label. Cloud before AWS was trusted. Blockchain before the lawyers showed up. Psychedelic medicine before it was respectable.
Chapter One
Before the systems, there was the question.
It started with retail. Boutique shops, direct-response marketing, the unglamorous work of selling things to people who didn't know they needed them. The 1990s were a masterclass in hustle — launching businesses, selling businesses, learning that the distance between a good idea and a dead company is about six months of cash flow and one honest conversation nobody wants to have.
Then came Exodus Communications. A $37 billion IPO. Raindance Communications — running sales and marketing for a company that was scaling faster than anyone could steer. The lesson wasn't about scale. It was about what happens when growth outpaces wisdom. The answer: spectacular, instructive wreckage.
“The infrastructure that actually matters? Meaning itself.”
Chapter Two
$10 billion in truth-telling.
RampRate was born from a simple observation: enterprise technology vendors lie about what things cost, and their customers don't know enough to call them on it. So we put $10B+ in tech spend under a microscope. The SPY Index shows what infrastructure actually costs versus what vendors claim. Microsoft, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Nike. Hundreds of Fortune 500s.
Eighteen years of saving companies hundreds of millions of dollars. And then the question that changed everything: what is all this money for? Saving a corporation $40 million on cloud infrastructure is satisfying. But if that $40 million goes into stock buybacks while the planet burns, the victory is hollow. The work needed to point somewhere.
The Receipts
Chapter Three
Consciousness expansion isn't optional anymore.
ImpactSoul is a RampRate company and venture foundry that tokenizes high-value cultural and real estate assets to fund regenerative impact. Four live token ecosystems: BEYOND (ocean cleanup), REX (paleontology), SPACE (digital access), and BEING (mental health), putting everyday people into investments previously reserved for the 0.1%. Facilitated a multi-million-dollar grant for XPRIZE Foundation. Advised Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Centre. Championed tribal rights from Latin America to Africa under the Nagoya Protocol.
Investor in MycoMedica Life Sciences and five other psychedelic medicine ventures — from FDA Breakthrough Therapy designations to consciousness research platforms. Because the next infrastructure revolution isn't servers and switches. It's the operating system between our ears.
Spoke at Harvard's H+ Summit alongside Ray Kurzweil in 2010 on the convergence of humanity and technology. Keynoted at Davos, Paris Blockchain Week, UCLA, and more conferences than memory permits. Written up by Forbes, Wired, Business Week, and others who occasionally regret giving a platform to someone who says what he actually thinks.
“Everyone and their golden retriever is doing AI and data centers. The question isn't what to build. It's what's worth building.”
What I am thinking about now
AI is a memory machine with an energy problem. The people solving the energy problem will quietly decide what the future gets to remember.
I am following the collision of AI buildout, nuclear manufacturing, and the trust layer underneath every serious system.
Read the field noteThe Muse
Clarisse Abelarde
Behind every relentless builder is someone who reminds them why beauty matters. Clarisse Abelarde — artist, partner, constant source of inspiration for creativity and love for humankind. Her work is a permanent influence on everything here.
clarisseartist.comFeatured In & Quoted By
What They Say
“RampRate has been my most reliable global resource and is ready to perform for us at a moment's notice. Their inside knowledge and ability to handle high-level complex negotiations helped us move fast.”
“They saved us millions, created agility and new budget out of thin air. They are a secret weapon in my tool box for truth, transparency and actionable direction.”
“We can count on RampRate to be precise, timely and create millions in value. They are no-nonsense, data driven and responsive to a T.”
What Happens Next
The door is open. The work is ongoing.
The aligned are welcome.
Got an injustice worth exposing? A story that needs telling? Something broken that needs naming? The best thinking comes from people who refuse to stay quiet.
Santa Monica · Aspen · At Large