The Buffalo Group
On June 5th, I was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of The Buffalo Group, the Latin American political consultancy.
Founded Checkraise
Ask me about it. Checkraise built the most modern poker technology on the market — including the first in-browser, real-money, fully legal poker game. And it gave me an excuse to spend most of my time in São Paulo for a few years and learn Portuguese.
Founded Tinak: Aramaic Art
Created the market for modern art ketubahs, taking ancient Aramaic texts and using them in modern art. Led the company to profitability, and built a fantastic and loyal community around our art and style. Now I’m Chairman–just because that makes me sound important!
Won a Presidential Election
As CEO of The Marketing Scientist, I ran the digital for Álvaro Colom Caballeros’ candidacy for the Presidency of Guatemala. We won.
Founded The Marketing Scientist on 27/7
The Marketing Scientist. Started an applied psychology lab: figuring out how to get 1+ million people buying your product. I’ve done it a few times :)
Began Wordcounter
Wordcounter. Founded the first & leading site to count the number of words in a document. Sold and exited, thank you very much!
Was Senior Analyst @ Basex
Basex. Analyst, then Senior Analyst, then VP of Research at Basex. Focusing on Knowledge Management research.
Founded Tripsmith
My very first company: one of the first print-on-demand systems. Got lucky, right before The Crash.
Began the Inflation Calculator
Inflation Calculator. Began the first & most visited site to calculate the US inflation rate.
Began the Cliche Finder
Cliche Finder. Began the first & most popular searchable database of cliches. I don’t hide my love of cliches.
Began Westegg on 9/11 (no, not that year)
When still a baby bopper, I founded my first site & bought my first domain on date that most people remember for some other reason that happened a few years later.
Discovered ‘The Net’ and Made Some of the Very Early Interesting Pages
I discovered ‘the Net’ (information superhighway?) and had lots of ideas for web pages–and taught myself programming, made them, and years later, they still get a ton of traffic. There are many, but here are a bunch, for Memory’s Sake: Yiddishisms: Yiddish Sayings (I also interviewed my relatives and wrote a book on my family history but that’s not for public consumption!); the first Antoine de St Exupery page; the first Albert Einstein page; the first Simpsons Quote page; the first Ogden Nash page; the first Francis Bacon page; the first site about my hometown Great Neck; my long-time game of finding words-in-other words; my favorite etymologies; my long-time favorite poem; my thoughts on wandering around; my game of trying to understand business-ese; the only guide to walking around NY’s ethnic neighborhoods; some ancient quotes that once influenced me; my cv; books that moved me; and pre-Facebook photos of me.
