Hi, I'm Alex
Currently, I'm the Head of Internal Tools at Retool.
I also invest in early-stage startups as an angel and venture scout with CRV.
Previously, I led a marketplace startup through YC's S17 batch. Before that, I did branding and web development for a range of clients—from the Stanford d.school to global consulting firms. In college, I studied music and won an SEC rugby championship.
If you're a founder or want to talk shop about internal tools, reach out.
Selected Work
I enjoy building internal tools, testing out new tech, and spinning up niche side projects to scratch oddly specific itches. Much of my work isn't public, but here are a few pieces you can check out.
Babel Translate
2025Inspired by the babel fish in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This prototype translates your speech into 1 of 5 languages in real time, displays the transcription onscreen, and speaks the translated text aloud.
ReSlack
2025I cloned Slack's basic features in Retool in ~30 minutes during their Feb 2025 outage. Started as a joke, but it ended up being our official communication channel until Slack came back online. And again in May 2025.
Retool Home
2024An internal directory of our people, teams, and culture. Heavily inspired by Stripe Home.
Retool Help Portal
2024The primary interface for our customers to submit support tickets. Built in Retool, of course.
Retool Partner Portal
2024A portal dedicated to enable our partners and capture lead referrals. Built in Retool, of course.
Parent Fast
2024Universal playlist for your kiddo's favorite music. Built over winter break after a long SF -> LA road trip, when our son demanded the same 3 songs on repeat. Almost 100% of the code was written by Replit's AI Agent.
NFL Team Schedules
2023One-click to add your favorite NFL team's schedule to your calendar. Built on pat leave. Go Ravens!
Retool Homepage Demo
2020The original demo featured on Retool's homepage. Recorded one sweltering Saturday in a phone booth at our first office. I’ve given this demo to thousands of customers since.
Stanford d.school Library of Ambiguity
2019A strange and delightful project built in collaboration with the fine folks over at the d.school.
Stanford d.school Design Questions Library
2019A collection of nine design questions & hundreds of articles to help answer the age-old question "How does design work?"
Design & Web Development
2013–2019Ran a small design studio in Nashville. We build brands and websites for charter schools, construction companies, global consultancies, rare metal mining companies, CFOs, and more.
30 Days of Soylent
2013A playful daily writing + coding challenge.
Investments
Primarily, I invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies since that's what I know best. Small scout checks and smaller personal checks. I'm always looking to connect with & advise founders. I have a particular interest in GTM, deployed engineering, and customer success at B2B SaaS and DevTools companies.
I'd love to hear what you're building.
