Now

Building Alcova

My main professional focus is Alcova. We build software that helps financial advisers and client advice firms automate record keeping and secure their client interactions.

We’re trying to solve the boring but critical problem of compliance and data entry, specifically for firms that still rely on manual processes.

We’re in the early stages, iterating on the core product with feedback from our first cohort of pilot users. It feels good to be back in the builder’s seat after years of management.

Physical health

My physical health took a real toll in 2025. I ran the 2024 Queenstown Marathon right after a serious neck injury in the Red Bull Homerun snowboard race. It got worse quickly, and by April I couldn’t run at all without serious pain. In May I had a cervical spine foraminal injection, which helped at first, but by late June I was in hospital, sedated for excruciating nerve pain.

In August I went to London anyway. I was on so many different nerve suppressants that I was an absolute space cadet. I saw The Book of Mormon in the West End and I can’t remember a single part of it. I remember walking in, going to the bar, and then trying to wave down a taxi home through the West End crowd at the end of the night.

I’ve since recovered from the neck injury. A daily sauna and ice bath protocol, neck isometrics and less stress got me there. Along the way I took up cycling, and to my surprise I can push more power than I expected, typically holding 200 watts in training.

Now I’m running again. I’m doing a 20-week half-marathon training program with The Mill in Queenstown. It includes VO2 max testing, strength work and force plate testing. The race is on 15 November.

Decompression

To balance the startup grind, I take deliberate breaks to explore the backcountry. Living in Jacks Point gives me immediate access to the Remarkables, and I try to spend at least one day a week completely offline.

Current input

• Reading:
  • 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer, after hearing Acquired close every episode with it The Foundations of Business Strategy
  • Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
  • Outlive by Peter Attia The Science and Art of Longevity
• Listening: a very steady rotation of melodic and cinematic house from Nora En Pure and Ben Böhmer
• Tinkering: Evo, a custom agent harness I’m building in Go on top of Google’s Agent Development Kit. It’s the foundation for bootstrapping different kinds of agents across many different systems. Most of the work goes into the tool-calling interface, which is built to be token efficient and fast. Async tool calls mean long-running operations don’t hold the agent up.